The Gift Of The Magi Analysis

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.

This leads to her idea of selling her most prized possession: her hair, to get Jim his present. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his most prized possession which was a pocket-watch that was passed down from his grandfather to his father and then to him. He sells that watch and buys Della a set of beautiful tortoise shell combs for her hair. Thus leading to the use of situational irony in which they both receive gifts for something they gave up in order to give the other a gift.

Jim gave the greater sacrifice because Della's hair can grow back. In maybe less than a year, Della's hair can grow out to the point where she can wear the combs in her hair. Jim cannot simply replace his watch unless he bought it back, and he did not make very much a week, as said here; "...the income was shrunk to $20 a week..." (page 360) Although Della's hair was very important to her looks, and confidence, as this quote backs up, "Della's beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters" (page 351), one might assume Jim's watch was of more value and more important. Even though Della felt absolutely awful about cutting her hair off for a gift Jim couldn't use, her hair could grow back. Jim would have to

The art piece that caught my attention was at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The piece is called The Adoration of the Magi, painted by Girolamo de Carpi. The Holy Family and the Three Magi’s are illustrated in the painting. They seem to be sitting outside on the ground behind a home made of brick. A sense of space and perception is created because in the distance, behind the people in the painting there is a beautiful view of a mountain and the sun in the sky far from where the people are. In the artwork, de Carpi paints clothes on each person besides baby Christ, and the clothing differ in color; there is red, green, yellow, blue. The colors seemed somewhat bright, in a way indicating that the painting is representing a happy time. Also painted are horses depicted behind a short wall, next to the horses seems to be a servant giving one of the Magis a vessel of some sort.

Strapped for cash and wanting to give her beloved husband the most luxurious gift for Christmas to express her deep passion for him, we are immediately introduced to the initial situation at hand. With only a dollar and some change to spend on Jim, Della is forced into a situation

First, Della tries her best to impress and show how much she cares through her actions. When the author writes, “She had put it aside, one cent and then another and then another, in her careful buying of meat and other food” (Henry, pg. 1). This shows how Della wanted to save all the money she could in order to portray her love to Jim. She spent all of her time compiling money in order to get a gift just right for Jim. After Della counts all of her money, she realizes she did not achieve her goal. The author then states, “There was nothing to do but fall on the bed and cry. So Della did it” (Henry, pg. 1). When

In “The Gift of the Magi,” the wife and the husband both gave up their prized possessions to get their significant other a gift. Since the couple were poor and wanted to satisfy each other with a wonderful gift, they had to give up what they never thought they would have before. I believe this shows charity in their relationship. They both wanted the best of the best for each other and kindheartedly gave up whatever they had. Della, the wife, asked someone to buy her long, silky, brown hair. “Will you buy my hair?” asked Della. “I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.” As you can see, the wife sold her hair to buy her husband a gift which was a watch band for his watch. The husband then revealed to his wife that he sold his watch to buy her a comb.

O. Henry shows this when he stated, “They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone. ”(O. Henry 108) Della proves this because she thought if she cut her hair to get enough money so she could buy her husband a nice chain for his watch he would be happy but, because he sold his watch to get Della nice combs they both ended up sad because they sold their most prized possessions to make each other

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

The theme is firstly revealed by using the character traits of Della. Della is described as generous, selfless, and optimistic. As the passage states, “She (Della) got to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love.” This describes Della as generous, because she chops off her hair, her most prized possession, just to buy Jim an expensive present because she loves him so deeply. Della is also selfless, because she puts Jim before herself just because she couldn’t live through one Christmas without giving him a thoughtful gift.

In the end we find out that Jim, Della’s husband, sold his watch for her gift, a set of beautiful combs for her long hair.

In all three stories the three women have similarities with each other. These three stories have different plots, but their characters don’t differ as much from one another. In “The Gift of the Magi,” Della is poverty-stricken. The author isn’t direct about it, but we can assume that she and her husband are poor. For instance, “Tomorrow would be Christmas Day and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result.” (on pg. 247) This helps us indicate her situation at the moment. In “The Necklace,” Mathilde is very unhappy, and poor as well. The story says, “Unable to afford jewelry, she dressed simply…” (on pg. 294) Like Della, Mathilde is poor as well. Mrs. Mallard is also miserable with her life, and has a husband as well. As said in the story, “There would be no one to live for herself...” (katechopin.org/story-hour/) This shows that there was something in her

When Jim gets home, Della just tells Jim that she sold her hair to get him a present and he doesn’t get mad because he did the same thing. “They’re too nice to use at the moment. I sold the watch to get the money for your combs,” (p. 251). Jim knows that it is okay that they don’t have anything to use their presents with and they can just sit with each other and be happy.

When she opened her gift from Jim, she was surprised with a set of beautiful combs she has had her eye on for a very long time. Jim had to sell his watch to buy her the combs, so he had no watch for his chain and she had no hair for her combs. The presents they bought for each other showed love and sacrifice and that’s better than any gift money could buy. The situational irony is that Della was selfless in giving up what she loved in order to give Jim something to better his most precious belonging just to find out he did the same for her.

“My purpose is to show that in every human heart there is an innate tendency towards a respectable life; that even those who have fallen to the lowest depths in the social scale would, if they could, get back to the higher life…”(Rollins 7-8 ). O`Henry came up with this philosophy when writing his many different, entertaining stories. “The Gift of the Magi” was initially published in 1906 in O`Henry`s second collection of stories. “The Gift of the Magi” is a perfect story to illustrate how people do anything for the ones they love. The main characters each sell their most valued possession in order to buy the other the perfect Christmas present. They each bought the other something to complement their prized possession. Ironically, they had both sold their prized possession to get the other a gift.However, they bought gifts that were now useless to one another. Themes have some aspect of life, general truth, or moral that is shown throughout the story by the author. The themes in this short story really stand out to the reader. The way in which the two main characters demonstrate their selflessness for each other helps to emphasize the three major themes: poverty, love, and sacrifice.