Generosity, And Poverty In The Gift Of The Magi

Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is a moral tale that depicts the protagonist’s Ebenezer Scrooge’s moral journey from selfishness to redemption. It can be seen that his new found way of life is derived from the desire to be a good man of the community and to assist others such as Tiny Tim. The idea of Scrooge’s transformation not being selfish can also be seen in his aspiration to contribute to the wider community that suffers from a poverty stricken way of life. In addition to this, Scrooge also reforms his way of life in order to feel love and care from family, which satisfied his nephew Fred aswell as himself. However, this selflessness is only to an

Following this bitter blow, the Ghost of Christmas Present leads Scrooge on a tour of two more families: that of his nephew and of his clerk. The vision of Scrooge’s clerk’s family – the Cratchits – paints an intricate example of the beauty of family. As Dickens explains, “They were not a handsome family; they were not well dressed; their shoes were far from being water-proof; their clothes were scanty… But they were happy, grateful, pleased with one another, and contented with the times…” (page 54). The Cratchits possessed minimal earthly wealth, and even had an ill son, yet they displayed incredible joy! The joy, warmth, affection, and laughter surrounding the Cratchits’ Christmas celebration brought Scrooge to the realization that the “Christmas spirit” does not depend on any material possessions, or even on situations. Joy is a choice, and that choice is made easier when we are surrounded by the ones we love.

Great ideas come from the least expected places. That's what happened to famous American short story writer O. Henry. He found himself a career by writing in a jail cell. Although this seems like a weird place, many of his famous pieces came from him writing while serving time in jail. O. Henry was famous for his surprise endings and also put a lot of his life experiences into his stories. Two of O. Henry’s stories where he incorporates his life into the most are “A Retrieved Reformation” and “The Gift of the Magi.”

For one thing, the theme is shown all throughout the short story heavily. The clerk in the grocery store, Sammy, shares his every thought about the girls as they strut around the

It was one week from Della's 30th birthday and Jim didn't have enough money to

As a result of the weak action made by Lennie, Candy and Crooks in the novel, the theme is revealed. The events that were taken place and the responses from the characters showed that they were weak and couldn’t handle situations. Weakness which cannot be improved until they are

It can be argued that Christmas as a holiday is far removed from the way it was first envisioned. That said, there are certain element that many people share or celebrate making it an arguably complex holiday. As the preeminent children’s author of his generation, Geisel serving heavily on the minds of his young readers helped shape what Christmas means for many people with his narrative How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Though at the surface the work is a simple morality tale that promotes unity over consumerism, it has subtle nuances that make the work interesting on several

The story was written by O’Henry in 1906. The story was centered around a seemingly poor couple who did not have enough money to buy each other the gifts that their significant other deserved. The story took place during Christmas. The Gift of the Magi is like a classic wisdom story in the bible. O’Henrys choice of title depicts symbolism between the three magi that brought gold, frankincense, and mur, to the baby Jesus and the gifts that Jim and Della had given to each other which mainly consisted of selfless love, Della’s hair and Jims pocket watch. This itself ties into the theme of his story. These gifts all entail the act

The theme I chose for the first stave of A Christmas Carol is selfishness. Scrooge on cared about himself during the holiday season, not anyone else. This made Christmas feel like it was just another day to Scrooge. On page 5, you can see that Scrooge doesn’t even care about his relatives, when his nephew tells Scrooge, “merry Christmas”, and Scrooge just says “Bah!”. Another example is on page 8, where Scrooge ignores the merry Christmas calls from everyone, and he responds back with “ Good afternoon!”. These examples show selfishness because Scrooge thinks about Christmas his own way, and doesn’t make anybody around him feel like it’s a special holiday. That’s why many of the people are hesitant to be near Scrooge, because they want to enjoy the holiday spirit.

the needs of many suffering out on the streets. The Spirit of Christmas Past teaches scrooge some

The main theme in stave 5 of A Christmas Carol is surprise. Everybody in the town was very surprised to see Scrooge being nice. His nephew saw his uncle Scrooge at the door of his house and was surprised to see him there. Scrooge bought the biggest turkey and sent it to Bob Cratchit's house. Cratchit was surprised that someone sent him a turkey and wondered who and why they sent it.Scrooge told a boy to go and buy the turkey and he would give him fifty dollars if he was back in five minutes. Scrooge was like a second father to Tiny

Joyce uses the setting of the story to help create a mood and to develop characters and themes throughout the

One way the author conveys the theme is through the main character’s actions. She strives to be like an American girl and is stubbornly blind

Conflict is opposing actions, ideas, and decisions that hold a plot together. Clugston (2014) states “Conflict is the struggle that shapes the plot in a story” (4.1 Plot, para. 4). Conflicts are also encountered in most of the literature we read for pleasure. It can create personal connections and instill deeper meanings to our experiences as we read, especially if we can relate what is read to our personal life.

Stories of love and sacrifice abound in literature. Perhaps one of the most well known stories among teens and adults is the tale of a poor, young couple struggling to find the perfect Christmas gifts for each other using their very limited means. They each manage to get what they think is the perfect gift for the other, but only accomplish this by selling a prized possession which effectively makes the new gifts impractical. This bittersweet narrative, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, illustrates the moral idea that a person, motivated by nothing but love for another, can possess a willingness to give in a self-denying way which necessitates that the reader consider that wealth be measured by something more than having money