Dilshant P.

Singh March 11, 2023

G10 – Goethe

The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi is a short story by O. Henry, whose real name was
William Sydney Porter. An American writer known for his short stories. It tells the
tale of a young husband and wife who wanted to buy great gifts for each other for
the upcoming Christmas. The couple wasn’t very rich so both of them made
sacrifices, which are something sentimental and important to them, in order to
afford a gift for the other.
It is Christmas Eve, Jim and Della are a married couple living in a regular flat in
New York. The story started off with Della, upset because she only has one dollar
and eighty-seven cents, she has a plan to spend it on a Christmas present for Jim,
her husband.
Both of the married couple had something they really treasure. For Jim, it’s a gold
watch that had been his father’s, which was from his grandfather. For Della, is her
beautiful hair.
To save up and have enough money to buy a gift, Della goes to a woman, who deals
with hair goods, hoping to sell off her hair which the woman did buy. Della then
went to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim’s gold watch. This cost her a lot, but went
home happy and curled what’s left of her hair to look presentable.
When Jim gets home, surprised by his wife’s actions, he was worried of what
happened asked her wife of this occurrence. She explains why, then he gives her the
present he has bought: A two jeweled tortoiseshell combs that she has always
wanted. Della was shocked, but she thought that at least she could give the gift,
which she then did.
The story ended with a big twist. Jim tells Della that he sold his gold watch to pay
for the expensive comb. So now, she has 2 combs with no hair to use them, and Jim
has a platinum fob chain for a gold watch that he recently sold.