Classic American Short Stories

by Mark Twain, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane, Sherwood Anderson, Herman Melville, Jack London, Edgar Allan Poe, O. Henry, Bret Harte

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Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

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Reading Pointers for Sharper Insights

To enjoy and better understand “The Gift of the Magi,” note the following:

Plot:

Pay attention to the development of “The Gift of the Magi” and how the characters' situations and decisions stem directly from the plot. Nothing could have happened as it does without the love between the main characters.

Themes:

  • Sacrifice and unconditional love are the most important parts of life.

  • Christmas is the time for putting someone else ahead of one's self.

  • Material goods mean less than people think.

  • Poverty is less significant than it seems on the surface.

Setting:

Christmastime in New York City is an especially effective setting for this short story:

  • It is winter and cold, which emphasizes Della and Jim's bleak living quarters.

  • It is the traditional time for giving gifts, yet the main characters are very poor.

  • The time of the original biblical story allows O. Henry to liken the characters to the Magi.

  • New York is traditionally thought of as a harsh, unsympathetic place.

Unique Elements in O. Henry's Story:

  • Readers can identify closely with the characters in “The Gift of the Magi”.

  • Optimism is an important part in the story; O. Henry looks on the cheerful, positive side of life, offering hope rather than despair.

  • The twist, or surprise ending, is typical of many of O. Henry's stories.

  • Sabbath lull – Sundays were days of rest, not work
  • their impropriety was professional – The women were prostitutes, and their behavior was suitable and businesslike; therefore, the town felt justified in exiling them.
  • expatriated – a person forced to leave his or her home
  • cavalcade – a group of people
  • Parthian volley of expletives – an allusion to the ancient country of Parthia, near Iran, which was known for archers who pretended to retreat while continuing to shoot; Uncle Billy's curses are designed to insult Poker Flat, but he must leave, regardless.
  • coquetry – flirtatiousness
  • malevolence – ill-will; a desire for bad things to happen to others
  • Sierras – a high rugged range of mountains in the West
  • precipitous – very steep
  • precipice – the edge of a cliff
  • curtly – rudely and quickly
  • “throwing up their hand before the game was played out” – Oakhurst makes a reference to poker; it involves a person quitting or throwing in cards before the game was finished.
  • prescience – knowledge of an event before it occurs
  • maudlin – emotionally or overly sentimental
  • recumbent – lying down
  • equanimity – composure; patience, even temper
  • ominous – threatening
  • guileless – without deceit
  • Temperance House – a place that would refrain from serving liquor
  • amiable – friendly
  • sylvan – relating to nature or the countryside
  • celestial guardians – angels watching over them
  • sotto voce – [Italian] spoken in an extremely soft voice
  • extemporized – improvised
  • professional tint – rouge; woman in the 1850s did not generally wear make up, and color showing through the Duchess' rouge would indicate that she is blushing.
  • cached – hidden
  • beguiled – misled
  • ostentatiously – showily; to gain attention
  • camp-meeting hymn – a camp meeting was a popular time for religious revivals in the 1800s
  • vociferation – loudness of voice
  • Covenanter's – an allusion to Scottish Protestants of the 1600s
  • sententiously – like a proverb or a truth that is simply stated
  • commiseration – sympathy
  • malediction – a curse
  • vituperative – abusive
  • Mr. Pope's – a reference to Alexander Pope (1680 – 1744), a British writer who translated the Iliad into English poetry
  • Iliad – the epic work of the siege of Troy by the Greek poet Homer
  • vernacular – common language
  • Homeric demigods – the mythological gods that Homer wrote about
  • Trojan bully and wily Greek – another reference to Homer's writing; Trojans were citizens of Troy, but the Greeks, who tricked their enemies with the famous Trojan horse, were crafty and sly.
  • son of Peleus – a reference to Achilles
  • Ash-heels – Tom Simson mispronounces Achilles' name.
  • swift-footed Achilles – the only vulnerable part of Achilles was the heel of his foot
  • Homer – the Greek poet of the eighth century who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey
  • querulous – full of complaints
  • bones – the castanets that Tom Simson used previously
  • like white-winged birds – referring to doves, which are symbols of purity, virtue, and peace
  • gulch – a narrow and deep river valley
  • Derringer – a small, but powerful handgun
  • “beneath the snow. . .outcasts of Poker Flat.” – Note how the perception of Oakhurst's character has changed because of his suicide.

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