Literary Analysis of 'The Gift of the Magi'

This scene demonstrates situational irony when Della receives beautiful expensive combs for her hair which is now too short to be adorned with the combs. In the quote "They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession." she tells us they were really expensive. Since I know that Jim doesn't earn that much money, I can deduce that Jim sold something of his to pay for the combs. Jim had a strange look on his face because he just spent a lot of money to buy combs for his beautiful wife and her long hair, only to find out she cut it for him. So it must have taken a minute for Jim to register this

short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. In this selection the author states, “So

Jim and Della perform an act of selfless love by their willingness to give something that held great value to them in order to get special presents for each other on Christmas. They do all of this out of love for the other. However, you will see that these gives prove to end up having no use in the end but that is not the main point. The main point is that although this ironic situation occurs, they both find joy in the thought that they would do this for each other. This love that they have for each other is far greater value than any gift that could be given. Jim doesn’t overreact or get angry with this conclusion.

For example in both stories, the characters give up something in order to get something for the other character. They both also want to make the other one happy on Christmas and this leads them to preforming a very generous and kind task of giving something they are really attacked to up. This is proved by two quotes, the first one from the original Gift of the Magi, "... there was two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch....

Whereas the exposition of The Gift of the Magi, Della is portrayed as someone who is a wonderful, poor and adores her husband. The inciting incident occurs when Della is counting money and realizing that she doesn’t have enough money to get a present for her Jim. She counts $1.87 exact. The rising action happens when, Della decides to sell her hair to the wig shop so she can afford the perfect gift for Jim. Della earns $20 by selling her hair the only thing she had pride in that she owned. At last she was finally able to purchase a platinum chain for Jim’s watch. During the climax, Jim looks at Della weirdly, pulls out the package and tosses it on the table. Della opens the package to find out that they were combs for her hair that she just

In The Gift of the Magi, Della and her husband both scramble to find money to buy each other a gift. In The Necklace, Monsieur and Mathilde Loisel need money to replace lost jewelry that they borrowed. In each story, it is the absence of money that limits their options. Della had to cut off her hair. Jim sold

THe movie is faithful in terms of keeping the main cast’s personality and the moral lessons it teaches to the readers. It retains the characters’ selfless personality from the book. In the book, Jim tells Della, “Let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em for a while. They’re too nice just to use as presents.” This was stated after Jim and Della have exchanged their gifts with the cost of them losing something of their own (Della’s hair and Jim’s watch). The movie depicts the selfless acts Della and Jim did for each other and therefore, also teaches the same lesson as the book: to show our love for someone, we must give up something of our own. Despite retaining the same story and theme, the movie is told in a different manner.

In "The Gift of Magi," Della and Jim sacrifice their prized possessions for each other and for love. Irony is represented in this story when Della and Jim both get each other gifts that mean a lot to each other. However, what they did not realize is that when Della cut her hair to to buy Jim a chain for his watch, she was unaware that Jim was going to sell his watch to buy her combs for her hair. The irony of their gift exchange is monumental as their unconditional love for one another took over for their own personal possession. Jim exclaims, “I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first." The magi which are described as wise men also signifies irony because Della and Jim's presents were more than wise. They represented that a gift does not need to be expensive to have value. A gift can be more meaningful just by the thought.

In The Gift of the Magi Della and Jim truly loved each other and sold their prized possessions to buy something nice for each other's trophy and in the ironic twist they had no use for each other's gift but in The Necklace Mme. Loisel was ungrateful and borrowed a necklace from her friend to go to a ball and losses the necklace that

Expressly, Della’s infatuation for her husband motivates her actions, her chief desire “to buy him a gift worthy of his nobility” (Howes 1). Therefore, Della makes a drastic decision and sells her most prized possession-her lengthy hair, described as being so beautiful it would make the Queen of Sheba green with envy. Short haired and nervous, Della prepares her gift, a twenty-dollar watch chain, hoping Jim will focus on the gift instead of her. On the contrary, Jim does not bother with the gift, but informs Della that her outward appearance does not influence his adoration for her. He also reveals his gift; an exquisite set of combs, the funds for such coming from selling a seemingly priceless heirloom, Jim’s watch.

Della is willing to cut her gorgeous and flowy hair so that she can afford a Christmas present for her husband Jim. Della’s hair is admired by everyone, but she would have felt guilty if she did not get Jim a present. When Jim is standing before Della and her shortened hair, she gives him a fob chain. Also, Della explains to him that she, “couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving [him] a present” (Henry 264). Della has an altruistic disposition whereas Madame Loisel has a selfish and greedy personality.

Love is a defining force for Della and Jim too, overshadowing the poor condition of their finances. Jim and Della do not have much. They would most certainly be considered to be in the lower class, living in a little $8 a week flat in the city and going from a sufficient income of $30 a week to a less than adequate $20 a week with Jim in need of a new overcoat and pair of gloves (Henry). Henry articulates how their love for each other transforms their drab house and surroundings and gray circumstances into a warm and inviting refuge called home. “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all Della had,” not nearly enough to get a gift worthy of her beloved Jim (Henry). She desires nothing but to please him and considers him worthy of something

Situational irony is another element that is present throughout the short story. Della and her husband both buy each other gifts for Christmas at the end of the story. Ironically, Della and her husband bought each other gifts for what they gave up: Della bought her husband a wrist watch strap and Jim sold his watch to buy Della the combs she wanted for her hair. In the short story, Jim is seen grieving about the fact that she had cut her hair off, “I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on,” (O. Henry 121). The ending is situational irony because the reader was expecting that Della would buy her

In The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry (1906), Della is one of two main characters, the other being her beloved husband, Jim. On Christmas Eve, Della has saved very little for a present for Jim when she decides to sell her most prized possession, her long beautiful hair, for more money. After doing this, and buying the perfect gift,