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Irony In The Gift Of The Magi

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Irony In The Gift Of The Magi
"The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry
In the short story, "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry, irony is used to make the reader expect something to happen but the opposite happens. For example, Della had bought Jim a fob using the money she got for selling her beloved and prized hair. When she showed him his present he said, "I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs." (306) This shows that they both had sacrificed the things they had been most prideful of just so that their partner could be happy, which was nice by foolish. It was unexpected to them that the the other would sacrifice their favorite thing, making the gifts useless because they were not able to use them. In addition, the name Dillingham from Mr. James Dillingham Young
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