THE GIFT OF THE MAGI ANALYSIS

"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story by O. Henry, that tells about a young couple who

sacrifice everything they have of value to give each other the best Christmas present but at the

end the gifts are useless because Della cuts and sells her hair to buy Jim a chain for his watch,

and Jim sells his watch to buy Della combs for her hair. In conclusion, Della’s and Jim’s

sacrifice has became pointless, their sacrifice does not make any result, it tells to us that

“Sacrifice sometimes can be pointless”.

In another perspective, I would say that both Jim and Della have shown that they're willing to

sacrifice the most valuable thing they have to give something to the other. That makes their

"useless" gifts incredibly valuable after all: the selfless love each feels for the other is embodied

in those gifts. As long as they have the gifts, they'll be able to remember it. That kind of thing

can't be bought. And it makes the gifts even more special and personal than what they

replaced.

Point Of View Analysis

Technically, the point of view in this story seems to be Third person limited omniscient, the

narrator is a non-participant. Narrator only knows all about the major characters, which are

Della and Jim, sometimes it is using the pronoun of “she”, “he”, “it”, or names to mention all

the characters and other things. The narrator seems to know a lot more than Della does at

times, it explains the physical appearance and all the feelings of Della and Jim. The reader

can’t see what Jim is doing during the story, and once he does show up: readers don't know

what his reaction to Della's hair is any more than Della does.
 The Characters Of Story

The character of the story is consist of three characters, they are Della, Jim and Madame

Sofronie. We have known that story has a major and minor character, so Della and Jim can be

said as the major characters. Della is considered to be the major character because she is the

one who appears from the beginning until the end of the story. The beginning of the story is

telling about Della’s confussion to buy present for Jim, her husband until she finally did a

sacrifice, she cuts her hair and sells it in order to be able to buy a nice present. Meanwhile, Jim

can be also said that he is major character because he is another person who has a relationship

with Della, and have interaction with Della in the middle and the end of the story. Besides,

there is actually one minor character named Madame Sofronie, the woman who’s buying

Della’s hair for $20, she appeared in the middle of the story for a moment.

For the character’s personality itself, there are only three kinds of characters, which are flat,

dynamic, static, and stock characters.

- Della is dynamic character in the story since her physical appearance changed in the

end of the story. In the beginning, it is described that she has a beautiful long brown

hair. It looked like a brown waterfall. However, she cut off her hair in order to buy a

present for her husband, so her hair became very short.

- Jim can be considered as a flat and static character. Jim’s way of talking is still the same

since he appeared in the middle of the story and almost in the end of the story. He is

static character because his physical appearance did not change at all.

- Madame Sofronie tends to be the only complement character who has a flat character
 The Setting Of Story

The place setting of the story take place at Della and Jim’s house, Madame Sofronie’s store, and

the store where Della got the chain for the present. It took place at Della and Jim’s house when

Della was counting her money to buy a perfect present for Jim, and when Della and Jim were

finally meeting and talking about their presents in the end of the story. Next, it took place at

Madame Sofronie’s store when Della finally decided to cut her hair off and sold it to Madame

Sofronie for $20. Lastly

The time setting of the story is considered to be in a Christmas Eve since it was explained that

Della was confused about what she was going to buy Jim’s Christmas present on the following

day. Specifically, it was in the afternoon when Della was counting money, going to Madame

Sofronie’s store, and buying the fob chain for Jim’s watch. In the end, it seemed to be in the

evening when Della and Jim finally met and talked about their presents.
 A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND ANALYSIS

Setting

“A good man is hard to find” is a short story written by Flannery O’Connor that tells about a

family and its trip to Florida, it showing a series of events points of how hard to find a good

man is. The story is totally expressed clearly about the introducing a variety of male

personalities that all have one thing in common, this story says that to be a bad man does not

necessarily mean that they have to be a rapist or a killer but it is sometimes the little things in

life that divide the good men from the bad.

The story takes place in Georgia on 1900’s when men used to be possessive, authoritarian, and

rude. The story begins in an unknown place where the family lives, and it also takes some

places along the road as the family travels. The second half of the story takes place in the ditch

in the middle of nowhere where the family lands after running off the road.

Point Of View

The story is told in the third person views, and it most follows the grandmother. She's the

major character that the author told the most about in this short story, by far. She's also the

only character whose point of view is be able access directly by the readers. The readers can

easily hear the Grandma’s thoughts and feelings, although there’s too much details.

The only other character who is given comparable attention is The Misfit. Interestingly, reader

only learn about him through the grandmother's perspective but after the grandmother is

killed, though, there is a brief switch to The Misfit's perspective.

 Symbolism

The automobile

The automobile carries the family from place to place and is controlled by the people inside. It

is essentially a shell, representing the body of a person, which carries the soul and mind.

The sky

In this story, the sky represents three variations of a single symbolic theme: that the sky

represents a state of mind. At the beginning of the family's journey, the sky is full of clouds. If

you picture the sky as a container of thought, then clouds would represent blockage of

thought, misinterpreted meaning, and blindness. Just as the two children have their own

perceptions of what the clouds really look like, so does the grandmother have her own

perception of what goodness really is. There are "clouds" in her mind that prevent her from

seeing the "sun" -- or the light of truth. She interprets the clouds in her mind as the real thing.

When the family encounters the Misfit, the sky is devoid of everything. There are no clouds,

and therefore no blindness of thought, but there is no light either, which means there is no

truth. The state of the sky in this scene reflects the grandmother's own empty state of mind

during trouble. There is no good or evil in her thoughts, no blindness and no sight. There is

simply emptiness.

When the grandmother is shot by the Misfit, the sky is still empty, but this time it seems to

signify peace instead of emptiness of thought. There are no "clouds" blocking the

grandmother's sight, and it is not mentioned that there is no light, but perhaps there is some

shining over the tops of the trees in the woods.

The old house

This symbolizes temptation. If you view the highway that the family is driving on as the “true

path” of life, then when the Grandmother tells the children about the old plantation house

with the secret treasure, she is really tempting them. The house is a temptation to her as well.

The dirt road

When the family turns off the highway (symbolizing the right path of life) onto the dirt road

that was supposed to lead to the old plantation house, it symbolizes that the family has fallen

onto the sinful path. The dirt road is described as being “hilly” and having sudden washes and

curves. Similarly, the sinful path, although tempting and desirable, is more dangerous and

hard to travel than one assumes.

However, by the end of the story, readers realize that the straight, easy road of life that the

characters were on before they turned onto the dirt road was not the right path either.

Spiritually, the family (especially the Grandmother, who professed to be a “good lady”) was

heading the wrong way. Their views of Christianity, goodness, and grace were all mixed up. It

is ironic that the Grandmother's encounter with the Misfit on the "sinful path" is what it took to

lead her to God's grace.

The ditch

This symbolizes how the characters are spiritually stuck in a ditch. They cannot move forward

in their faith, nor can they move back.

The woods

In the scene with the Misfit, the family members (except for the Grandmother) are taken to the

woods and shot one-by-one. The woods, symbolizing death, reek of fear and the unknown. It is
behind the Grandmother the entire time, just as death is always behind us. It can either

consume us, as it did the rest of the family, or we can die in the light of God, as did the

Grandmother.

The Grandmother’s death

The Grandmother was spiritually dead all her life, but after the third shot through her chest,

she died physically and became alive spiritually. Perhaps this symbolizes that she rose like

Christ – not as a mimic of Him, but as a believer does when they accept Him: they die and are

born again.

The six graves

The number of graves symbolize that there are six members in the family. There will be six

graves to be dug for them after the story.

Toomsboro

This is the name of the town that the family comes across. Its name implies death,

foreshadowing the family’s own death.

The black hearse-like automobile driven by the Misfit

A hearse is the typical type of vehicle used to carry the coffin for a funeral. Its name implies

death, and the Misfit, who is the bringer of death in this story, is the one driving it.