The Gift of the Magi and its Background Mindy Phillips Introduction to Literature ENG125 Instructor Julie Alfaro January 21st‚ 2013 In my paper I am going to be describing the short story The Gift of the Magi. Throughout my paper I am going to describe what I feel is the theme of the story itself. I will also be explaining and identifying symbolism used and described in the story‚ as well as talking about the point of view that the narrator used in the story. Finally‚ I will be describing
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Irony in “The Gift of the Magi” In The Gift of the Magi‚ O Henry uses irony to place special emphasis on love and sacrifice. O Henry is known for his use of irony in his short stories. Irony is defined as: “the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning” (dictionary.com). In The Gift of the Magi‚ O Henry uses verbal‚ situational and dramatic irony to tell his story. The most obvious and prominent type of irony used in The Gift of the Magi was situational irony
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THE GIFT OF MAGI Della and Jim Young‚ the main characters in "The Gift of the Magi‚’’ are a young married couple with very little money. Jim has suffered a thirty-percent pay cut‚ and the two must scrimp for everything. On the day before Christmas‚ Delia counts the money she has painstakingly saved for months. She is dismayed to find she has less than two dollars‚ hardly enough to buy anything at all. After a good long cry‚ Delia determines to find a way to buy Jim the present he deserves. As she
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In the gift of the magi by O. Henry‚ he shows two people who love each other so much that they will sacrifice their favorite things for the other. The gift of the magi is about two people; Della and Jim. It is Christmas Eve and Della wants to give her husband Jim a nice gift but all she has is $1.87. She ends up giving up her prized possession (her hair) to get a chain for his watch‚ and her husband sold his watch (his prized possession) to get combs for her hair. They end up with a gift that they
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to understand what the theme of a story actually is. The theme of “The gift of Magi” is selflessness. Symbolism and Plot are two literary elements in this story that contribute to the theme. The theme in a story is associated with an idea that lies behind the story (R.W. Clugston‚ 2010) To understand what the theme of the story is we have to figure out what the literary symbols are and what they stand for. “The Gift of Magi” tells a story of what lengths Della and Jim would go to make each other
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Summary “The Gift of the Magi” “The Gift of the Magi” is a wonderful short story. It is the brilliant story that shows the true meaning of selfless love that the author tries to let the readers to know from the Christmas gifts. It is not what the gifts are ‚ but the meaning behind the gifts is more important. This text is a story about Della and Jim Young ‚ a married couple with very little money. On the
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necklace which doesn’t turn up and have to work hard to pay it off not knowing that the necklace is of little value. Contrariwise‚ in O. Henry’s short fiction “The gift of the Magi‚” the characters Jim and Della selflessly use the little wealth they have to buy each other a gift for christmas and then soon come to find out that their gifts were useless. At the end they see that their actions weren’t worth it and could’ve been avoided. The theme that these stories share is that love will force you to
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short story “The Gift of the Magi” puts in a very important theme into this story. The theme is centered around the main characters Della and Jim. In this story both of the characters are faced with an important choice to make. Henry tells a theme through irony and the characters’ actions‚ that shows that it’s important to make sacrifices for love and happiness and there are many ways to prove this theme throughout the story. Firstly‚ In the story “The Gift of The Magi” both of the main
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The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry and the Sesame Street version are about friends sacrificing their valuable possession in order to make their friends happy. To understand both versions of the story you must take a closer look at the key of friendship. A discussion of comparing and contrasting must include two different versions but the same meaning. An examination of the to version will reveal what is similar in the two version and what sets them apart from each other. The impact of friendship and
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Across the world‚ many people struggle with insecurities‚ of their money and love‚ taking over their lives. In the wonderful story “The Gift of the Magi” By O’Henry‚ Della‚ the thoughtful main character‚ is struggling with these same issues‚ but she then learns that love can be shown in many different ways. She learns this as she is trying to find a gift good enough for her husband‚ Jim. Throughout the story‚ Della shows many signs of her insecurities‚ but in the end she learns that there is no need
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