The Gift of the Magi

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.

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

Throughout this lay, there is a sense of hope in the author's tone, almost good-natured and kind hearted. She also sets a series of sorrowful tones that creates an atmosphere for the troubles the lovers have gone through to be in the presence of each other. However, the majority of the story is the happiness and joy from the lovers finally being with one another. Toward the

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

O. Henry used elements in “The Gift of the Magi” that created suspense for the reader. His structure of writing created suspense from beginning to end. In the first few paragraphs we could infer that Della was going to try and make money to buy Jim a Christmas present. Towards the middle of the story we could predict that Della was going to regret cutting her hair, and by the end we could infer that Jim and Della enjoyed a Christmas spent sharing their love for each other. The sequence of events that O.Henry used created suspense as we anticipated what would come next. O.Henry finished the story by talking about the Magi, and we had to analyze the meaning behind his use of the Magi. We also had to analyze O.Henry’s meaning behind the reference

Did you know that you can use only three literary elements to get your point across? Edgar Allan Poe, James Hurst and O. Henry all used conflict, foreshadowing, and irony in their stories to send the reader different meanings. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Cask of Amontillado, he uses three main literary elements: conflict, irony, and foreshadowing to convey his message of humility. Poe wrote, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.

Richard Connell and Edgar Allan Poe, two of the most famous authors at the time, are recognize by the different types of literature they wrote. Several of these pieces are still popular today. In many cases the life of the author can impact the different themes, or the techniques they use in their stories. Richard Connell’s and Edgar Allan Poe’s backgrounds reflects in the writing techniques they used to captivate their audience.

The Scarlet Ibis and The Gift of the Magi both use incredible diction, tone and plot development to creating a powerful and moving stories. The stories differ greatly in many respects because they are told from different viewpoints; The Scarlet Ibis told from first-person and The Gift of the Magi told from third-person. Both Hurst, the author of The Scarlet Ibis and O’ Henry the author of The Gift of the Magi use varying types of storytelling to create masterpieces. However, they are both similar because they explore the similar theme of not knowing something is good until it is gone. The Scarlet Ibis and The Gift of the Magi differ in many respects because of the way the authors use diction, tone

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,

The thunder rolls, and the lightning strikes, another love grows cold. Their whole world, over. We are lead to believe that their love compares to a dying ember. The husband leaves his wife. It’s unexpected. The wife cries, she isn’t ready to let go of their love. He packs a bag with enough necessities that he needs in order to start a new life. The wife tries to act like she’s glad it’s over,

Throughout American literature, stories contain themes that can be similar or different. The themes are as diverse as the stories themselves. Three stories will be discussed in this paper -- first, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado tells a dark tale of revenge. Next, in Shirley Jackson’s The Lottery, it is shown that a tradition can be dangerous when followed blindly. Finally, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown deals with the loss of innocence and faith.

The comparison O. Henry makes between the story of Jim and Della and that of the Magi is rather relevant as the Magi were the ones who are credited with being the origins of the “giving nature” of the Christmas season. In this story, we see a man and a woman so blinded by love that they are willing to make ultimate sacrifices for the happiness of the other. Similar to the Magi, Della and Tim put each other before themselves and through their generosity and considerable lengths they both went to achieve that generosity is something more admirable than any materialistic gift they could ever offer each other, thus making the uselessness of their gifts irrelevant.

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

“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.

Authors use literary elements to enhance their writing through details to describe a scene in the author’s writing, or use language to elevate the story. “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, both use many literary elements to give their writing more depth. “The Gift of the Magi” uses irony throughout the story when Della and her husband, Jim, both do not have enough money to buy each other gifts for Christmas. “The Necklace” uses a lot of detail to show what Madame (Mme.) Loisel dreams of at the beginning of the short story. “The Necklace” is one of the many short stories that use literary elements to elevate the story and keep the reader engaged in the author’s writing.