O. Henry author of the short story “The Gift of the Magi” the main characters Jim and Della go to great extents to get their loved one a gift for Christmas. They go to such great extent that they both give up their most prized possessions to buy their loved one the perfect gift. In “The Gift of the Magi” the theme of love can be seen in Della’s selfless act, her desire to buy Jim a gift that she cannot afford, and her husband’s reaction when he receives the chain for his pocket watch. An example of love in “The Gift of the Magi” can be seen in Della’s selfless act. Della sacrificed the one most prized possession that she could claim as her own. This was her hair, it was so long and pretty, it was what she was known for. O. Henry goes in to such detail as stating “Della would have let her hair hang out the window someday to dry just to depreciate the Queen of Sheeba’s jewels”1. Her love was so great for Jim that she was willing to give her hair up so that she could afford the perfect gift …show more content…
“Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling – something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim”1. She searched all the shops and went through all the pocket chains until she found the perfect one. She went home and pondered on how she was going to get Jim this gift. When she came to the conclusion of selling her hair, she went straight to the hair dresser and asked her how much she would buy her hair for. ““Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practiced hand. "Give it to me quick," said Della”1. After cutting her hair off, she went and bought the chain for Jim pocket watch. This shows great love that she has for him because she was willing to give her most prized possession up just to make Jim happy and to get him the perfect gift for
It was one week from Della's 30th birthday and Jim didn't have enough money to
Did you know that you can use only three literary elements to get your point across? Edgar Allan Poe, James Hurst and O. Henry all used conflict, foreshadowing, and irony in their stories to send the reader different meanings. In Edgar Allan Poe’s story, The Cask of Amontillado, he uses three main literary elements: conflict, irony, and foreshadowing to convey his message of humility. Poe wrote, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I borne as best I could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.
In The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry (1906), Della is one of two main characters, the other being her beloved husband, Jim. On Christmas Eve, Della has saved very little for a present for Jim when she decides to sell her most prized possession, her long beautiful hair, for more money. After doing this, and buying the perfect gift,
In the short story, ”The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, the main characters, Jim and Della give up their most prized possessions to buy each other an exceptional gift for Christmas. O. Henry, portrays tasteful language in this story in several ways. Henry uses a special syntax, an unique diction, and remarkable figurative language and imagery. This variation of writing enables the reader to understand and connect with the story and experiences that the characters go through. O. Henry’s use of figurative language and imagery in “The Gift of the Magi” emphasizes and enhances the reader’s understanding of this sensational read.
“Gift of the Magi”, short story by O’Henry, and Gift of the Magi, directed by Lisa Mulcahy, is about a young newlywed couple that sell their most valuable possessions to get each other what they want for christmas, yet discover the true gift they got was love. The conflict in Gift of the Magi has many differences and yet few similarities. The conflict between both the short story and film is that Jim, the main male protagonist, and Della, Jim’s wife, struggle to purchase gifts for each other for christmas. In the short story, Della gets her hair cut off to buy Jim a chain fob for his watch, and Jim sells his watch to buy combs for Della.
Della Dillingham is the devoted wife of James Dillingham Young. She loves her husband so much that she literally saved pennies for months to buy him the perfect Christmas gift. Despite her efforts Della is only able to save a measly $1.87. Desperate, Della decides to sell her most prized possession, her long brown locks.
In the story, Della sacrifices her hair for her husband. Her hair was cut so she has money to buy her husband a chain for his watch. Her hair was a symbol of pride to her, but she was willing to give up that for her husband. This is her response to the situation that she will cut her hair for her husband. This displays that she is selfless, loving, and caring.
The Gift of the Magi is a short story about a poor couple, taking place on Christmas Eve. The story was published to newspapers roughly around 1905, later being transferred into book form on the tenth of April, a year later. The Gift of the Magi has adapted into various forms over the years, varying from films to plays. The widely known ending of the story revolves around situational irony.
I think Della is prioritized. One reason why I think Della is prioritized because she was able to give up her hair and buy something for him. For example, she could have bought more stuff for herself and forget about buying her husband a gift. I also think she is prioritized because she knew when to be home. According to the text it states that “At seven , Jims dinner is ready for him. Jim was never late.” This evidence suggests she knew when her husband would be home so she knew if she wanted to surprise him with the gift. That is why I think Della is
In The Gift Of The Magi the setting and characterization build the themes of love, generosity, and wealth and poverty.
Irony flooded "The Gift of the Magi." Della placed emphasis on acquiring a worthy present for Jim by Christmas day, as did Jim. The couple decided to sell their prized possessions in secrecy, just to obtain nice presents for each other. The ironic part comes into play when we find out that Della decided to sell her majestic hair to purchase Jim a new platinum chain for his prized gold watch. Well, Jim sold his prized possession to purchase Bella the comb set she had longed for. Without hair to comb and a watch to be carried by a platinum chain, the gifts were deemed unusable until the future. Without the plot twist, this story would lack necessary substance and irony. Although, the plot twist is important, it solely does not make the entire
To begin with, Della is a poor, beautiful woman living in an eight dollar flat. Despite not having much money, Della is still very thankful to have a roof over her head and food in her stomach. She is also a very determined and giving person. An example of when she was resilient and sacrificial was when she '"had cut off my hair and sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a present'" (O'Henry 100). Her long hair is something
The married couple just stabilized their income and have finally enough money to buy a more comfortable home. The Young's purchase a €160 flat just off the side of their favorite coastline near Brighton. To congratulate the purchase of the new home, Jim decided to invite hisbest friend, Timothy Ashfield over for a little get together. At the same time, Della did not wantto be alone chatting by herself, so she forced Jim to invite Stella Richett, an old friend of her’sand Jim. Around 6:15 p.m, the two guests pulled up in a yellow carriage-sized cab with gifts tocongratulate the couple for all their diligence and effort.“My, there was no need to get us such gifts, you coming here was enough” pronounced Jim.
One of the points made is that Jim and Della have the gift of true love. We see Della’s love for Jim by what motives her to want to buy a nice gift. She did not want it to empress the neighbors, or to out give Jim. She simply wanted “Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.” We also see
Della battles to discover an answer for her bind, she needs to get Jim a present that he will treasure and properly merits for the greater part of his diligent work, yet she just has $1.87 to spend. At that point she gets a thought. The most profitable thing she has is her hair. Her hair is long and delightful and she thinks about it to the excellence of the Ruler of Sheba. She rapidly puts on her "old dark colored coat and her old darker cap" and rushes off to a beautician named Madame Sofronie. Sofronie removes Della's hair and gives her $20 for it.