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HR O Henry

The story 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry follows a couple, Della and Jim, who are deeply in love but financially struggling. On Christmas Eve, Della sells her hair to buy a platinum chain for Jim's watch, while Jim sells his watch to buy Della combs for her hair, rendering their gifts useless. The moral emphasizes that true happiness comes from love and sacrifice rather than material possessions.

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Pauline Nantes Paco
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56 views1 page

HR O Henry

The story 'The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry follows a couple, Della and Jim, who are deeply in love but financially struggling. On Christmas Eve, Della sells her hair to buy a platinum chain for Jim's watch, while Jim sells his watch to buy Della combs for her hair, rendering their gifts useless. The moral emphasizes that true happiness comes from love and sacrifice rather than material possessions.

Uploaded by

Pauline Nantes Paco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as TXT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Author: O.

Henry

Characters:
Della
Jim
Madame Sofronie

Settings: Flat in New York

Plot-

Exposition:
When the story opens, Della and Jim are living in a simple flat on $20 a week. It
is Christmas Eve and Della is lovingly dreaming of buying a gift for Jim.

Conflict:
Della has only $1.87 to buy her husband a gift, which is not enough.

Rising Action:
Della decides to sell her hair for money so she can purchase a gift worthy of Jim.
She gets $20 and uses it to purchase a platinum chain for Jim's heirloom watch.

Climax:
Della and Jim exchange gifts. Jim has sold his watch to buy Della a beautiful set
of combs. Neither one of them will be able to use their gifts.

Falling Action:
Jim and Della decide to put their gifts away until they can both use them.

Resolution:
Despite their errors, Della and Jim still love one another, and learn a valuable
lesson about sacrifice and love.

Theme: The theme of the story is about Love & Sacrifice.

Moral lesson:

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 make him happy--he already has a wife he adores.
Della, for her part, loves Jim and doesn't need hair combs to make her happy. In
other words, they already have what truly makes them happy--each other--and the
Christmas presents are secondary. The sacrifices they make for each other, as Della
sells her hair and Jim sells his watch, show how much they love each other and show
the sacrifices they are willing to make for each other. This love and willingness
to sacrifice what means the most to them for the sake of the other person are their
true presents, not material goods.

Reaction:

I think this short story is both heart-warming and humorous. Heart-warming because
the couple sacrificed dear possessions to buy each other a Christmas present, and
humorous because their gifts end up going to no use. I think this story is a great
way to showcase love and comical irony.

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