Gift of the magi literary analysis PDF

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Running head: Gift of the Magi literary analysis

“Gift of the Magi” literary analysis Ben Yorish Jennifer Micheals James Madison H.S.

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Running head: Gift of the Magi literary analysis

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The Gift of the Magi, written by O. Henry, is a story that uses several instances of irony, metaphor, and foreshadowing. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in New York during 1901, the main characters seem to be living in a poorly maintained apartment. Within the first paragraph, you could already tell that Jim and Della didn’t have a lot of money, but they were particularly desperate to get the perfect Christmas present for each other, which led Della to do something drastic; she sold her hair and got twenty dollars for it, which is a lot more than the one dollar and eighty seven cents she originally had. The element of foreshadowing came into play when Della stated that the two most important belongings that they owned was Della’s hair and Jim’s pocket watch. This led the reader to make the assumption that they would do something drastic to buy a gift for their significant other. As the story unravels, Della is running through stores looking for the perfect gift through Jim that is in her price range. She then comes home empty handed when she realizes that she could sell her hair to buy a chain for Jim’s pocket watch. The irony exposes itself when Jim comes back home, and they reveal their presents and Della gets the hair combs she always wanted. After Jim got his new chain for his pocket watch, he sits on the couch and tells Della that he sold the pocket watch which is ironic because they essentially ended up with nothing. Also, during the original Christmas, there were three wise magi that gave baby Jesus gifts, but Jim and Della, on the other hand, were not wise because they sold their most prized belongings to buy something for each other. In conclusion, The Gift of the Magi is a story of how a couple sell something they love to buy a gift for the person they love end up regretting what they did. This story is also about fear of breaking tradition and disappointing the people you love most. I believe that Della is the smarter one of the two because she can grow her hair back, but Jim can never get the pocket watch that is

Running head: Gift of the Magi literary analysis

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worth more than money can buy because his father and grandfather both owned the watch before him. The main conflict of the story was that they were in a poor financial situation and they wanted to get the perfect Christmas present for each other, and after they made substantial sacrifices to buy their gift, they ended up being useless because they could not use the gifts they received.

Running head: Gift of the Magi literary analysis

References Marinaro, F. (2017). Study.com. [website]. Retrieved from: https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-gift-of-the-magi-by-o-henry-summary-themeirony.html Porter, W. S (1905). Americanenglish.com. [pdf]. Retrieved from: https://americanenglish.state.gov/files/ae/resource_files/1-the_gift_of_the_magi_0.pdf

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