The Demonstration of Self-Sacrifice
Stephen Mihalis
Prof. Carmelo Tropiano
EAC 150
Tuesday December 13, 2011
The Demonstration of Self-Sacrifice In the stories "The Gift of the Magi," written by O. Henry and "The Cabiluwallah," written by Rabindranath Tagore, there is an indication of how self sacrifice is used and where people feel that they need to do special things for others. Mr. Henry shows that when people have feelings for another, they will do absolutely anything to make that person feel special, where Mr. Tagore demonstrates that doing favours for others, is the right thing to do and makes you feel like a better person. Della's decision of cutting and selling her hair to make enough money to buy her husband an amazing gift for Christmas, and Mini's father giving Rahmun his own money so he could actually see his own daughter, are examples of how self sacrifice is made within each other's own decision and how decisions are made to not just make yourself feel good but to make other's experiences feel ecstatic and almost indescribable. In both of these stories, both authors deal with a type of sacrifice that makes the reader understand the right decisions to be made as a person. Self sacrifice are both easily shown throughout both stories where money issues, self appearance and poor effort never got in the way of showing the audience what they are trying to prove as authors. As Mini's father realized that Rahmun was a poor man, "I forgot that he was a poor Cabuli fruit-seller," he thought about, as a father, how horrible it was not to see his own daughter. (Tagore 6) At the end of the story, he looked beyond money and realized that it would be wonderful if Rahmun could see his daughter again. "'I took out a bank-note, and gave it to him, saying: "Go back to your own daughter, Rahmun, in your own country, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!"'(6) This part of the story basically describes about what goes through the author's head, as a writer.
Prof. Carmelo Tropiano
EAC 150
Tuesday December 13, 2011
The Demonstration of Self-Sacrifice In the stories "The Gift of the Magi," written by O. Henry and "The Cabiluwallah," written by Rabindranath Tagore, there is an indication of how self sacrifice is used and where people feel that they need to do special things for others. Mr. Henry shows that when people have feelings for another, they will do absolutely anything to make that person feel special, where Mr. Tagore demonstrates that doing favours for others, is the right thing to do and makes you feel like a better person. Della's decision of cutting and selling her hair to make enough money to buy her husband an amazing gift for Christmas, and Mini's father giving Rahmun his own money so he could actually see his own daughter, are examples of how self sacrifice is made within each other's own decision and how decisions are made to not just make yourself feel good but to make other's experiences feel ecstatic and almost indescribable. In both of these stories, both authors deal with a type of sacrifice that makes the reader understand the right decisions to be made as a person. Self sacrifice are both easily shown throughout both stories where money issues, self appearance and poor effort never got in the way of showing the audience what they are trying to prove as authors. As Mini's father realized that Rahmun was a poor man, "I forgot that he was a poor Cabuli fruit-seller," he thought about, as a father, how horrible it was not to see his own daughter. (Tagore 6) At the end of the story, he looked beyond money and realized that it would be wonderful if Rahmun could see his daughter again. "'I took out a bank-note, and gave it to him, saying: "Go back to your own daughter, Rahmun, in your own country, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!"'(6) This part of the story basically describes about what goes through the author's head, as a writer.