BOOK 1

(FICTION)

TITLE The Gift of the Magi

AUTHOR O. Henry

PUBLISHER Simon & Schuster

YEAR OF PUBLISHER 1905

GENRE Fiction

SUBGENRE Romance

Works cited (citation) / APA Style

References Works Cited

(n.d.).
Henry, O. (1905). The Gift of The Magi. New York: Simon
& Schuster.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry
https://interestingliterature.com/2021/12/best-o-henry-
short-stories/

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Introduction

“Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They
are the magi.” “The Gift of The Magi” is a famous short story written by William Sydney
Porter or better known by his pen name, O. Henry. The famous American short stories writer
was born on September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, and sadly died
on June 5, 1910, in New York City. Although O. Henry was famous for this short story, they
are other masterpieces that he created such as ‘Mammon and the Archer’, ‘Memoirs of a Yellow
Dog’ and ‘The Duplicity of Hargraves’. Almost all of O. Henry’s short stories are intended for
teenagers and adults as the stories have a more complicated usage of words. This short story
was written from a third-person point of view which means the narrator exists outside the events
of the story and relates the actions of the characters by referring to their names or by the
thirdperson pronouns he, she, or they. For example, “Della finished her cry and attended to her
cheeks with the powder rag.”, (Page 4). Genre is categories used to group different types of
literary work, such as non-fiction, fiction, and poetry, and the genre of this story is fiction while
the subgenre is a romance which means a central love story between characters, as shown in
the line “And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children
in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.”,
(Page 8). Whilst the story is both fun and romantic the true purpose of this story is to teach
moral values such as kindness and selflessness.

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Summary

O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" depicts the story of a young couple Jim and Della
who wishes to offer each other special Christmas gifts but are met with a financial crisis. The
narrator tells us about the two most prized possession owned by the couple which is Della’s
gorgeous hair and Jim’s pocket watch. As Della caresses her hair, she made up her mind to
sacrifice her hair and sell it and so she did and earns $20. She spent hours finding the perfect
gift for Jim, she finally decides to buy him a platinum fob chain. Then she went home in the
hope Jim would not be mad at her. Soon as Jim return home he was speechless and
Della was scared of Jim’s reaction. Then, Jim finally shows Della the present he got for her:
two jeweled tortoiseshell combs she has long admired. It was Della’s turn to show her gift. To
her surprise, Jim reveals to Della that he had to sell his watch to pay for the combs he had
purchased for her. She now has two combs but no hair to use them on, and he now has a
platinum fob chain for a gold watch he no longer wears.

(207 words)

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Figurative language

Imagery
-Language that appeals to the senses. Descriptions of people or objects are stated in terms of
our senses.

I. “She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a
gray backyard.” (pg.4)
Explanation – “a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard” is a description of
what she saw while looking out the window.
II. “Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. her eyes were
shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds.” (pg.5)

Explanation – She looked into her reflection and saw her eyes were shining and her
face became pale as she realises something as described in the phrase “her face had lost its
color within twenty seconds.”

Simile
-A figure of speech that involves a direct comparison between two unlike things, usually with
the words like or as.

I. “Della’s beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shining like a cascade of brown
waters.” (pg.5)
Explanation – Della’s hair is compared to a cascade of waters because her hair is beautiful
like flowing water in the river.
II. “Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her
look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy.” (pg.6)
Explanation – Della’s short hair makes her look boyish so it is compared to a truant
schoolboy.
III. “And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried.” (pg.8)

Explanation – Della jump and screeched like a cat as she cried.

Metaphor
- A figure of speech that involves an implied comparison between two relatively unlike things
using a form of being. The comparison is not announced by like or as.

I. “Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest.
They are the magi.” (pg.9)

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 Explanation – The author compares the people to Magi, the wise men that brought gifts
to the baby Jesus in the Bible.

II. “Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings.” (pg.6)
Explanation – Tripped by on rosy wings means time passes quickly when one is happy
or having fun, so the line is implying that two hours went by quickly because the
character is having fun.

Hyperbole
- An exaggerated statement used to heighten the effect. It is not used to mislead the reader, but
to emphasize a point.

I. “I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present.” (pg.7)
Explanation – The character is exaggerating about how she would die if she doesn’t buy
him a Christmas present.
II. “You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now.” (pg.8)
Explanation – After all the sacrifices to get the present, the character expects them to
show appreciation by looking at the present all the time.

Allusion
- An allusion is a reference to a famous person, place, event, or work of literature. It is
something that is in most cases widely known by all people.

I. “Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her
hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and
gifts.” (pg.5)
Explanation – The queen of Sheba is known for her wealth in the Bible and the author is
comparing her wealth with Della’s hair.
II. “Had King Solomon been the janitor, with all his treasures piled up in the basement,
Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see him pluck at his
beard from envy.” (pg.5)
Explanation – King Solomon was a wealthy and wise king in the Bible and the line
implies that he will be jealous of Jim’s watch because of how valuable it is.

Alliteration
- The repetition of usually initial consonant sounds in two or more neighboring words or
syllables.

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 I. “So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles,
and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
Explanation – The repetition of the consonant word S in “sobs, sniffles, and smiles” is
alliteration.
Recommendation

• Opinion
A well-written short story with a love interest as well as connections to moral values and
historical events. Is there anything to hate about this story? Although nothing in this world is
perfect, so here is our opinion on this very beautifully written short story. Our favourite aspect
of this story is how it centres on regular people rather than some arrogant royalty or the rich
and famous, which makes us feel more connected to the characters as we read it. It shows the
reality of the world without covering the truth or sugar-coating it which is very thoughtful. If
we were to criticize this story, it probably for the plot. Whilst the story is all sweet and full of
lessons, we would prefer it to be more realistic. As an example, we don’t think any people ever
should sacrifice a gold watch that possibly cost a fortune in the future for a mere Christmas
gift. Another thing we dislike is how the story basically romanticizes poverty, the wife should
have worked if the husband’s salary was not enough to even save up for a gift, not just sit there
and be sad but it is totally understandable as the story was set in the early 1900s which
considered taboo for a woman to work and be a provider. Overall, we enjoy the story and are
willing to read it again if we have free time.

• Suggestions
Nevertheless, the storyline is actually very good as it contains many moral values. We think
that this story is actually more suitable for a much younger age group as it kind of reminds us
of the cliché bedtime story often read to kids. Although, we must say that the story uses some
big words that are probably too hard for kids to understand so our suggestion is, to make the
writing simpler for kids to understand and publish it under the kid book story section. Other
than that, we also suggest that the story be remade or recreated to match the current timeline.
It is to make the storyline more understandable and relatable for everyone. After all, we all read
to escape reality, so we think it is easier to fantasize about the story if it is closer to our real life
other than some 70s random story.

• Recommendations
Yes, we would absolutely recommend this story to other people. It is a fun and sweet story with
a little hint of romance and we think other people will enjoy this story as much as we do
especially parents. We think that most children are already bored with the same old story of
Cinderella or Pinocchio, so why don’t parents introduce them to a new story such as this story?
They can read it as a bedtime story for their children and teaches them many things as there are

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many moral values in this story. To sum up, I think everyone should try reading this story once
in their lifetime as it is very enjoyable to us.

(501 words)