THE GIFT OF

MAGI
By: O. Henry

WHAT ARE THE ELEMENTS OF a

SHORT STORY?

 Characters:
o DELLA YOUNG: A girl who cut her hair to buy a watch chain as a
Christmas gift for her husband.
o James DILLINGHAM YOUNG (JIM): He sold his watch which was passed
on from his ancestors to buy a comb as a Christmas gift for Della.
o MADAME SOFRONIE: An owner of a salon shop that brought Dellas hair.

 Setting
o In a cheap apartment, during Christmas time
o Shabby little couch
o Broken letter box
o Broken door bell

 Plot

RISING ACTION: She brought a

watch chain for Jim to wear
with his watch. She went back to
the apartment to prepare food.

RISING ACTION: She sold her hair to

Madame Sofronie to earn money.
RISING ACTION: Della's hair is very
important to her. Della hesitates to
cut her hair, however, she thought
about selling her hair.
EXPOSITION: This story
takes place during Christmas
eve. This story is about Della
(a young girl) and Jim (her
husband). Della and Jim dont
have a lot of money. Della
wants to buy Christmas gift
for Jim, but she couldnt
really afford it. She save up a
lot lately.

FALLING ACTION: Della realizes that Jim

still loves her even though she cut her hair.

FALLING ACTION: They realized that

the gift they bought doesnt mean a lot.
CLIMAX: Jim brought
Della a comb, but Della cut
her hair. Della brought Jim
a watch chain, but Jim sold
the watch to buy a comb
for Della.

RESOLUTION: Della and Jim

still love one another no
matter what has happened.

 Theme
o Love
In this story, it shows how much Della and Jim love one another and how
powerful and valuable their love is.
o sacrifice
In this story, it shows that both of them are willing to sacrifice their most
precious things to make their love ones happy.
o Wealth
In this story, it shows that it doesnt matter how much something worth, but
it depends on the effort of the person giving it.

 Point of View
o Third person point of view

What is the Conflict?

o Della and Jim are poor, they do not have enough money to buy gifts for one
another.
It is resolved by Della sold her hair to buy a watch chain and Jim sold his watch
to buy Della a comb.
o Dellas long hair is very important to her and she hesitates to cut it.
In the end, she was glad that Jim still love her even if she had a short hair.
o Jims watch is very important to him and he hesitates to sell it.
He realizes that it is worth it to sell because Della also sacrifices for him.

What does the conflict

teach us about
ourselves?

 Did you learn about history

and/or culture from reading this
story?
o Yes!!!!!

What did you learn?

o I learned that during Christmas, it is a tradition that people give each
other gifts.
o Moreover, I learned that the tradition of giving gifts on Christmas came
from the story of the three wise man which is from the Christian
religion.
o This story taught me that the valuable of something does not come
from the price, but it comes from the effort and the willingness of the
person giving it to you.
o I also learned that when you sacrifice for someone without hoping
anything in return, you will receive something that is worth much more
than what you have sacrifice.

Research the story

 When was the story written?

o It was written between 1903 and 1910.

Where and when was it published?

o It was published in New York City newspaper in 1905 and in a collection,
The Four Million, in 1906.

The author

 Where does the author come

from?
o O. Henry is the pen name of William Sydney porter.
o O. Henry was born in Greensborough, North Carolina.
o He was born on September 11, 1862.
o He found fame as a writer in New York city.
o He died at June 5, 1910.

 Childhood and Family

o His mother died when he was three years old.
o His mother and grandmother died of tuberculosis.
o He lived with aunt Lina, who ran a small private school.
o He was raised by aunt Lina which was probably what influenced him to
like literature.
o He likes to spend his time in his uncle's drugstore and gained a
reputation as a prankster.

 Education
o He left school at 15 and trained to be a pharmacist.
o By the age of 19, he had a license to be a pharmacist.
o He had a racking cough that worried him since his mother and
grandmother died of tuberculosis.
o He decided to move to Texas because it has a dry and healthy climate.
o He carries a small dictionary in a pocket and a book of poems in the
other everywhere he goes.

 Personal life
o In 1887, he married Athol Estes, which had connections and helped him
find work as bank teller in Austin.
o In 1894, he worked for the bank and started The Rolling Stone, a
humorous weekly newspaper.
o In 1896, he was arrested and charged with stealing funds, he fled to
Honduras, but returned to Texas several months later to take care
of his wife that was dying of tuberculosis.
o While awaiting trail, he had his first short story published.
o In 1898, he was convicted and sentenced to five years in federal
prison.

 Personal life
o When he was released 3 years early, he changed his name to O. Henry.
o He spent the rest of his life in New York city.
o Most of his stories come from his real life situations.
o Some of his famous stories were After Twenty Years, Cabbages and
Kings, The Four Million.
o In 1907, he remarried and he had an unhappy life because he has a bad
health and he had no money.
o He still continue to wrote more short stories (7 0f them) until he died
in 1910.

 Has learning about the author

changed the way that you understand
the story? How? Why?
o I learned that this story is somehow related to O. Henrys life. He was
poor and he had a wife. This story is based on what people during this
time in history had to face, because they didnt have a lot of money.
It was probably how love was for people that struggled to buy
something for their loved ones.

Bibliography:
O. Henry. (2006-2015). (J. Welsh, Producer, & The Florida Center for Instructional
Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida) Retrieved October 25,
2015, from Lit2Go: http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/authors/127/o-henry/
O. Henry Collection. (2015, October 20). (The University of North Texas Libraries' Digital
Projects Unit) Retrieved October 25, 2015 , from Portal to Texas History:
http://texashistory.unt.edu/explore/collections/OHENRY/
Henry, O. (1984). After Twenty Years. Davis Publications.
Bilal, H. A. (2012). DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.