The Gift of the Magi | Essays and Criticism

  • Varying Critical Opinions About O. Henry's Work

    In the following essay, the author discusses the varying critical opinions expressed about O. Henry's work, maintaining that stories such as ''The Gift of the Magi'' are carefully crafted, achieve the author's intentions, and successfully speak to the audience for which they were written.

  • Cheap Rooms and Restless Hearts

    In the following excerpt, Blansfield explores O. Henry's role as a popular artist; she employs the auteur theory of criticism, which Blansfield describes as an approach that emphasizes an artist's "entire body of material to discover and analyze structural characteristics and stylistic motifs."

  • The Idea for O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi"

    In the following essay, Rea traces some of the events and stories that may have led O. Henry to write "The Gift of the Magi," pointing out the differences that make his story superior to its models.