The Gift of the Magi -

Summary
"The Gift of the Magi" is more than a story of a young couple who
give up their greatest treasures in order to buy gifts for each other. It
is a story about sacrifice, and the value of love being greater than the
value of worldly possessions.

The story begins the day before Christmas with a young woman named
Della sitting at home counting her savings. The home she lives in with
her husband, Jim, is a cheap, furnished rental apartment. When they first
moved in Jim was earning more money, but the couple has fallen on hard
times and now live in poverty. Della has been putting money aside after
buying groceries for many months. She is sad and anxious because
despite her efforts, she has not saved enough money. She had been
hoping to buy Jim something special for Christmas with her savings.
Della begins to cry on her couch as she realizes she does not have enough
money to buy Jim a Christmas present.

After she stops crying, Della cleans up her face and looks out the window
lost in thought. She suddenly catches a glimpse of herself in the dingy
mirror on the wall and gets an idea. She lets down her long brown hair
and looks at it for a little while. Della’s hair, notable for its beauty, is her
prized possession. She puts on her old coat and hat and visits a shop that
buys and sells hair. The shopkeeper, Madame Sofronie, agrees to cut and
buy Della’s hair. Della spends the rest of the day going around the city
looking for the perfect gift for Jim. His prized possession is a gold pocket
watch that has been passed down through his family. She wants to buy
him a nice chain to go with it, something special and rare. Eventually, she
finds the perfect platinum chain. It costs all the money she got from
selling her hair, plus most of her savings. Della goes home feeling very
excited to give Jim his present.

When Della gets home, she tries to style her new haircut as best she can.
She worries that Jim will be angry and will no longer think she is pretty.
When Jim sees Della has cut her hair, he gets a strange look on his face.
Not knowing what it means, Della goes to him and quickly explains that
she sold her hair to buy him a Christmas present. In response, Jim hugs
her and tells her he loves her no matter what her hair looks like. He then
gives her a Christmas present: a set of jeweled tortoiseshell combs she’d
once admired in a shop window. Della loves the present, but she bursts
into tears when she realizes she is unable to use Jim’s thoughtful gift. As
Jim comforts her, she reassures him her hair will grow back quickly. She
then excitedly gives him the platinum watch chain. Jim laughs and
reveals he sold his prized watch to pay for the combs. The narrator
concludes the story by praising the couple for their selfless gifts of love,
calling them even wiser than the three wise magi who brought gifts to the
baby Jesus on the first Christmas Eve.

The gift of the magi questions

and answers
A. Answer the following questions in one
or two words
1. What is Jim's full name? (2016, 2017)
Ans: Jim's full name is James Dillingham Young.

2. How much money had Della managed to save for

Jim's present? (2016)
Ans: Della had managed to save one dollar and eighty-
seven cents for Jim's present.

3. Who did she go to, to get money for Jim's

present? (2018)
Ans: Della went to Madame Safronie to get money for Jim's
present.

4. What was Jim's gift for Della? (2018, 19)

Ans: Jim's gift for Della was a set of beautiful tortoiseshell
combs, side and back that she always longed for.

5. What was Della's treasured possession?

Ans: Della's treasured possession was her long and
beautiful hair, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown
waters.
B. Answer the following questions in a
few words.
1. Who were the Magi? (2017, 20)
Ans: The Magi were the three Wisemen - Gasper, Melchoir,
and Balthazar who traveled from the East to Jerusalem to
see the infant Jesus born in a stable. They were guided by a
star and they carried precious gifts for Jesus.

2. Why was Della worried? (2018)

Ans: Initially Della was worried about arranging the
required money to buy a nice gift for Jim at Christmas since
she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents. Hence, she
sold her beautiful hair and brought a gift for James. Now
her new look troubled her as she looked more like a truant
schoolboy. Della was really worried thinking that Jim might
be critical of her appearance.

3. What did Jim do to get a gift for Della? (2017, 19,

20, 22)
Ans: Jim sold his precious golden watch, a family heirloom,
in order to get a gift for Della.

4. What did Della do after reaching home? (2018)

Ans: On reaching home Della got out her curling irons and
lighted the gas and went to work repairing the damaged
hair. After forty minutes of hard work, she looked
wonderfully like a truant schoolboy with tiny, close-lying
curls on her head. At 7 o'clock, she made coffee and got the
frying pan ready to cook the chops.

5. What was Jim's reaction when he returned

home? (2020)
Ans: Jim was foxed for a moment to find Della without her
long beautiful hair. His eyes were fixed upon Della but the
expression of his eyes was unintelligible to her, rather it
terrified her. It was not anger, surprise, disapproval, horror,
nor any of the sentiments that Della had been prepared for
James simply stared at her fixedly with a peculiar
expression on his face.

C. Answer the following questions briefly

in your own words.
1. Bring out the relation between Della and the Queen
of Sheba. (2020)
Ans: Queen of Sheba, a biblical character, was a rich and
powerful queen who came to king Solomon with a wealth of
spices, gold, and jewels to test for herself whether king
Solomon was truly wise. In the story 'The Gift of the Magi'
the author O' Henry draws the relation between Della and
the Queen of Sheba to reflect on Della's beautiful hair.
Della, a key character of the story, had a prized possession
of long beautiful hair, rippling and shining like a cascade of
brown waters. It reached below her knee. In a light-hearted
comparison it was stated that if the Queen of Sheba lived in
the flat across the airshaft, she would have been jealous of
Della's locks of hair, out of the window in order to dry. Her
wealth would have paled/devalued in comparison to Della's
beautiful hair.

2. Bring out the relation between Jim and King

Solomon.
Ans: King Solomon was a rich and powerful king of Israel
and the son of David. His name is synonymous with
wisdom. In the story 'The Gift of the Magi' the author O'
Henry draws the relation between Jim and King Solomon to
glorify the ancestral gold watch of Jim. Jim, a key character
of the story, possessed a precious gold watch, a family
heirloom, in which he could take a might pride, and even
king Solomon might have been envious. In a light-hearted
comparison it was stated that if king Solomon had been the
Janitor with all his treasures piled up in the basement, he
would have enviously plucked at his beard to find Jim
pulling out his gold watch, every time he passed by.

3. Show how the 'twist in the tale' makes the story of

Jim and Della a moral lesson. (2017)
Ans: In the story, 'The Gift of the Magi' Jim and Della had to
sell off their precious possessions to buy gifts for each other
on Christmas Della in order to a fine, rare, and sterling gift
for Jim sold her long and beautiful hair beautiful enough to
make the Queen of Sheba jealous. Finally, she bought a
platinum fob chain, simple and chaste in design, for Jim's
gold watch. On the other hand, Jim sold his precious gold
watch, a family heirloom, that even King Solomon might
have been envious of to buy an expensive tortoiseshell comb
for Della's beautiful hair.
The ironic 'twist in the tale' is that both Della and Jim
traded off the very treasures each possessed and for which
the gifts were meant. the ardor love of the couple ended in
a situation which Jim beautifully reflected when he said-
"let's put our Christmas presents away and keep them for a
while. They are too nice to use just at present"

This 'twist in the tale' makes the story of Jim and Della a
moral lesson that selflessness a desire to add the happiness
of the one who receives the gift and the spirit of sacrifice
are the essence of gift-giving on Christmas.

D. Give suitable answers to the

following.
1. Examine the significance and appropriateness of
the title of the story.
Ans: The author O' Henry has appropriately chosen the title
'The Gift of the Magi' for the story of Della and Jim. The
Magi were the three Wisemen - Gasper, Melchoir, and
Balthazar who traveled from the East to Jerusalem to see
the infant Jesus born in a stable. They were guided by a star
and they carried precious gifts for Jesus. The Magi invented
the tradition of giving gifts on Christmas. Being wise, their
gifts were also undoubtedly wise.

The story centers around a young couple Della and Jim who
are poor but hardworking and their existence is full of
struggle but they manage to experience joy through the
power of their love for each other. They planned to make
Christmas eve a special one with a wonderful gift for each
other. Jim and Della had to sell off their precious
possessions to buy gifts for each other on Christmas Della
in order to have a fine, rare, and sterling gift for Jim sold
her long and beautiful hair. Finally, she bought a platinum
fob chain, simple and chaste in design, for Jim's gold watch.
On the other hand, Jim sold his precious gold watch to buy
an expensive tortoiseshell comb for Della's beautiful hair.

But the gifts of Della and Jim are unique and wise in the
sense that they reveal the true essence of gift-giving on
Christmas i.e. selflessness a desire to add the happiness of
the one who receives the gift and the spirit of sacrifice.
Through O' Henry terms the couple as 'the foolish children'
he points out clearly that they value the human relationship
and their mutual love and generosity make them the 'Magi'.
Thus the title is quite significant and appropriate.

2. Based on the events, attempt a justification of the

story as an example of comic irony.
Ans: In 'The Gift of the Magi' the author O' Henry uses
comic irony with a view to emphasizing the moral of the
story Jim and Della, two key characters of the story, had to
sell off their precious possessions to buy gifts for each other
on Christmas Della in order to a fine, rare and sterling gift
for Jim sold her long and beautiful hair. Finally, she bought
a platinum fob chain, simple and chaste in design, for Jim's
gold watch. On the other hand, Jim sold his precious gold
watch to buy an expensive tortoiseshell comb for Della's
beautiful hair.

The ironic twist in the story is that both Della and Jim sold
off the very treasures each possessed for which the gifts
were meant. A faint smile spread across the lips of the
reader with this ironic twist in the plot. but this irony makes
the story of Jim and Della a moral lesson that selflessness a
desire to add the happiness of the one who receives the gift
and the spirit of sacrifice is the essence of gift-giving on
Christmas.

The Brook ( Poem)

Alfred Lord Tennyson

I come from haunts of coot and hern,

I make a sudden sally

And sparkle out among the fern,

To bicker down a valley.

By thirty hills I hurry down,

Or slip between the ridges,

By twenty thorpes, a little town,

And half a hundred bridges.

Till last by Philip's farm I flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

I chatter over stony ways,

In little sharps and trebles,

I bubble into eddying bays,

I babble on the pebbles.

With many a curve my banks I fret

By many a field and fallow,

And many a fairy foreland set

I chatter, chatter, as I flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

I wind about, and in and out,

With here a blossom sailing,

And here and there a lusty trout,

And here and there a grayling,

And here and there a foamy flake

Upon me, as I travel

With many a silvery waterbreak

Above the golden gravel,

And draw them all along, and flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.

I steal by lawns and grassy plots,

I slide by hazel covers;

I move the sweet forget-me-nots

That grow for happy lovers.

I slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,

Among my skimming swallows;

I make the netted sunbeam dance

Against my sandy shallows.

I murmur under moon and stars

In brambly wildernesses;

I linger by my shingly bars;

I loiter round my cresses;

And out again I curve and flow

To join the brimming river,

For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.