The Gift of the Magi
The Gift of the Magi
In the short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry I feel that there is more than one theme that can be seen through the story, that of love, giving and sacrifice. The theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. (Clugston, 2010) The main idea is that the best gift is that which is most sincere and comes from the bottom of the heart instead of an extravagant, lavish possession that would bring nothing to the warmth of the human relationship. The author 's idea is especially emphasized when both of the main characters discover that what they had received would not be of any use to them. In this way, the gifts that the two loving spouses give each other become symbols of the passionate love that they feel for each other and that will never be extinguished by their poverty. The idea of what is material and indeed lacking in their world steps even farther back to let the reader understand that those two souls have given and received the wisest and most precious gift, that of emotion and affection. The story’s theme is helped by the narrator’s third person point of view with limited omniscient, he 's the storyteller, telling the story as an outsider looking in . It 's as if he sees everything, but limits himself to Della 's point of view by choice to help the storytelling purpose. If the narrator described everything that was going on, it may ruin the ending. The story is mainly told as we follow Della. Though Jim is a big part of the story we do not see much of his character and when we do it does not show us much as with the reaction to Della’s new haircut. We know the narrator is really more like an omniscient being, because he speaks as an outsider in order to make more of a general view. This is seen when the narrator speaks about the magi which is not something Jim or Della has realized within the story itself. But there are other places too, like when he zooms out from the weeping Della to describe the
In the short story “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry I feel that there is more than one theme that can be seen through the story, that of love, giving and sacrifice. The theme in a story is a representation of the idea behind the story. (Clugston, 2010) The main idea is that the best gift is that which is most sincere and comes from the bottom of the heart instead of an extravagant, lavish possession that would bring nothing to the warmth of the human relationship. The author 's idea is especially emphasized when both of the main characters discover that what they had received would not be of any use to them. In this way, the gifts that the two loving spouses give each other become symbols of the passionate love that they feel for each other and that will never be extinguished by their poverty. The idea of what is material and indeed lacking in their world steps even farther back to let the reader understand that those two souls have given and received the wisest and most precious gift, that of emotion and affection. The story’s theme is helped by the narrator’s third person point of view with limited omniscient, he 's the storyteller, telling the story as an outsider looking in . It 's as if he sees everything, but limits himself to Della 's point of view by choice to help the storytelling purpose. If the narrator described everything that was going on, it may ruin the ending. The story is mainly told as we follow Della. Though Jim is a big part of the story we do not see much of his character and when we do it does not show us much as with the reaction to Della’s new haircut. We know the narrator is really more like an omniscient being, because he speaks as an outsider in order to make more of a general view. This is seen when the narrator speaks about the magi which is not something Jim or Della has realized within the story itself. But there are other places too, like when he zooms out from the weeping Della to describe the
References: Clugston, R. Wayne. (2010). Journey into Literature. (Ashford University ed.) Bridgeport Education: San Diego, CA Henry, O. (1906). “Gift of the Magi”. Journey into Literature. (Ashford University ed.) Bridgeport Educations: San Diego, CA