The Gift of the Magi

Most people are aware of the expression “It's the thought that counts,” meaning that it's not what you give that matters but the thought behind it. And this longstanding truism undoubtedly...

The title does allude to the three wise men from the Bible, kings that come from far away to bring the Christ child gold, frankincense, and myrrh: expensive and precious gifts to honor him....

The situational irony in "The Gift of the Magi" is that both Jim and Della sacrifice their most prized possessions for an object which is rendered useless by the sacrifice of the other. Della sells...

An excellent example of O. Henry's figurative language in "The Gift of the Magi" can be found in the paragraph in which the author describes Della's pride in her beautiful hair and Jim's pride in...

The story takes place in New York during the Christmas holiday season. Della and Jim, the couple who are the main characters in the short story, live in a tiny but well-kept apartment. It is...

"The Gift of the Magi" is filled with symbols of material poverty and wealth. The symbols of poverty include the "letter-box into which no letter would go" and the "electric button from which no...

Exposition: The narrator speaks directly to the reader and we learn within the first few paragraphs that the story will be about a young couple that has fallen on hard times. In fact, the very...

One of the moral lessons of "The Gift of the Magi" is that we often don't value what we truly should. Jim loves Della, her hair included, and he doesn't need a fancy watch chain for Christmas to...

Imagery is used in “The Gift of the Magi” to add humor and description to the story, so that we feel like we are there with the young couple. Imagery is descriptive language that creates a picture...

Writers use allusions within a story to reference something that exists outside the text itself. Allusions can invoke a wide range of subjects: they can draw from history, culture, or other works...

Jim's problem should not be included as part of the main conflict in "The Gift of the Magi." Della is the protagonist and the viewpoint character. It is her story from beginning to end. Her...

A work of literature can be diagrammed in terms of five elements: exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. The story hinges on being told from Della's point of view....

For most of the story, the narrative perspective is told from the third person omniscient perspective. The narrator is telling a story about two people. The narrator is not a part of the story,...

Tone in a literary work, shows the author's attitudes toward the subject and toward the audience. The tone can take on a variety of styles and may be formal, informal, sad, depressed, happy,...

O. Henry uses several intriguing metaphors and similes in "The Gift of the Magi," and he uses a little personification. With two intriguing metaphors he compares Della's long hair to the Queen of...

That Jim and Della are simple working class people is revealed in Della's speech: ""Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?"...

When Jim walks through the door, he possesses an unreadable expression that utterly terrifies his tremulous wife. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the...

In "The Gift of the Magi," Jim and Della prove their amazing love one for the other. Della desires to buy Jim a platinum chain for his golden watch. Jim's watch is an heirloom, passed down to him...

Sacrifice and love are two key elements of "The Gift of the Magi." They learn these two lessons both as givers and receivers. Each gave up something valuable out of love for someone else, and...

O. Henry uses a variety of literary devises throughout his classic short story "The Gift of the Magi," first published in 1905, which has been adapted into many films—as early as 1909—and into...

Alliteration can be defined as the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. A classic example would be the famous tongue-twister "She sells...

Jim’s most valued possession was his watch, and Della’s was her hair. Jim and Della were a young couple who loved each other very much, but were not wealthy. What they did have they valued highly....

The irony of the ending of "The Gift of the Magi" is the fact that both Della and Jim unselfishly sacrificed their most prized possessions in order to purchase gifts that the other would be...

O. Henry draws an analogy between his story of Jim and Della and the story of the Magi in the New Testament. Both stories take place at Christmas time. In fact, Christmas begins with the birth of...

In "The Gift of the Magi," Jim and Della are representative of the Magi. The Magi are the three kings that visited the Christ child and gave the ultimate gifts as far as giving is concerned. Jim...

The Magi referenced in O. Henry's short story are the three Wise Men who brought gifts of frankincense, gold, and myrrh to the infant Jesus in the Biblical tale; this was a risky gesture, as it...

Della buys Jim a watch fob because his watch is his most prized possession. Della and Jim Young do not have much money. Despite this, Della really wants to buy Jim a good Christmas present. She is...

Paragraph five of "The Gift of the Magi" evokes the connotation between long names and the upper echelons of society. That is, royalty, professionals, and those belonging to the "upper classes"...

Jim's gift was indeed suitable. It was a set of combs for Della's hair, of which she was extremely proud. The love displayed in this work is evident from the outset. Both Jim and Della's...

O. Henry is using the wildest hyperbole to describe how Della and Jim valued their family treasures: her beautiful long hair and his gold watch. The references to the Queen of Sheba and King...

All the narrator's talk about how valuable Della's hair is to her, especially after her eyes begin to shine brightly and her face goes pale, seems to foreshadow that Della will sell her hair to buy...

There is no evidence in the text to suggest that the relationship between Jim and Della, in O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi," is anything but an ardent love between two very devoted...

This is Della's story and is told entirely from her point of view. She has a problem. She wants to buy her husband a nice Christmas present but she has only managed to save a dollar and...

There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with...

After Della realizes that she only has 1.87 to buy her husband a gift, she sits down and cries. Then she gets an idea, she decides to check out the idea of selling her beautiful long hair. Della...

The main idea in O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" is in the idea that the value of a gift comes not in its actual cost, but from giving from the heart. While the narrator of the story calls Jim...

There are four major types of conflict in a story: character versus self, character versus character, character versus society, and character versus nature. In this story, one might argue that the...

"The Gift of the Magi" is told through the eyes of Della. She is characterized as a caring person who dearly loves her husband Jim. She has been saving for a Christmas gift for him for a long time,...

Verbal irony is when a speaker intentionally says one thing but means something else. One example of verbal irony, somewhat of a stretch, is at the end when Jim says their presents are "too nice to...

The writer calls Della and Jim foolish and wise at the same time in “The Gift of the Magi” because, although they were foolish in giving each other useless gifts, they were also motivated by love,...

I would argue that the characters in this heartwarming story are called magi because they are both givers of gifts, and this is the center of the story. The word "magi" is most widely known in...

Part of what makes this story by O. Henry work is the parallelism of the two characters as each tries to demonstrate his or her love to his or her spouse by giving the best possible Christmas...

O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi is a classic Christmas story that is often retold in television and movies. Della and Jim are a young, married couple who have little money to afford gifts but are...

Irony is a literary device that occurs when the author uses elements of the story, like plot or character development, setting, or action to show contrast or the opposite of what the characters or...

Della saves money by squirreling away a few pennies here and there, wherever and whenever she can manage. The narrator tells us that she's [...] saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the...

The message of this short story is that love is the most important gift that two people can ever give to one another. By deciding to sell her treasured hair so that she would have the money to buy...

Della in "The Gift of the Magi" is a loving wife and a selfless person. The story starts by telling us that she has only $1.87 to buy a gift for Jim. She has spent much of her time scrimping and...

In "The Gift of the Magi," O. Henry utilizes both direct and indirect characterization to depict the lives and marriage of Della and Jim, as well as the nature of the relationship that they share....

The allusion to the Magi seems inappropriate at first to the reader. For, after all, the Magi (the Latinized form of the Greek word for magic) were a select sect of hereditary priesthood who had...

The allusion to the Magi of the Bible, extends to the idea that these men traveled from afar to be in the presence of the greatest gift of God to mankind, His only Son: For God so loved the world...