The Gift Of The Magi
O. Henry
Setting
Conflict
The conflict is very evident in the short story “The Gift of the Magi”. It is a few days before Christmas and Della, the main character of the story, is looking for a present for her husband jim. Because Della and Jim are very poor she only has one dollar and eighty seven cents to find Jim a present. Della is determined and motivated to find a great present to please Jim for Christmas.
Climax
Theme
Point of View
Characterization
A dynamic character is a character that undergoes a change in their thinking and their inner feelings throughout the story. They are most often the protagonist in the story.
A static character is a character that doesn't have very many assets and isn't very detailed. They could be described in a sentence.
Della
Jim
Jim is a working class man in a large city. He doesn't make much, but is very passionate about his wife Della. He has some valuable possessions that he treasures dearly.
Jim is considered a static character because Jim doesn't have very many assets. Also Jim isn't elaborated on except when they describe what he looks like and his job. Otherwise, Jim is just present to emphasize that the feeling of love from Della is a powerful force and can cause her to sacrifice things that she appreciates for love. Also, Jim is present in the story to explain the moral of the story and keep the story more interesting. In other words, Jim is a support character.
Irony
Irony is a state of affairs or events that seem contrary to what one states or expects. It is often amusing as a result.
Irony: there are some good examples of irony in the gift of the magi. For example, at the end of the story when Jim came home to see Della and they exchanged gifts, their gifts contradicted the the theme of the story which is that love can cause people to sacrifice the things they treasure for the person they love. This shows irony because the fact that their gifts didn't work and where the opposite of each other was ironic to the theme of the story.
Literary Elements
- Simile
A figure of speech in which two fundamentally unlike things are explicitly compared, usually in a phrase introduced by like or as.
“Della’s beautiful hair fell like a cascade of brown water.”
“That made her looks like a truant schoolboy.”
- Personification
An inanimate object or abstraction is given human qualities or abilities.
"Her heart had simply craved and yearned over them"
"The next two hours tripped by on rosy wings"
- Imagery
The use of vivid or figurative language to represent objects, actions, or ideas.
"So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her."