REVEALING THE ISSUE OF PHYSICAL AND

EMOTIONAL WEALTH IN SHORT STORY

“THE GIFT OF MAGI “
BY. O. HENRY

BY
IRON LIU

2017610048

FACULTY OF ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

UNIVERSITY OF UNITOMO

2018
 INTRODUCE

Jim and della are a husband and wife living in a rented room. They are quite
poor and recently. Jim had his salary cut back to only $20 a week from the $30
a week he used to make after rent and groceries, the couple hardly have any
money left.

Christmas is only a one day away and, for a christmas present. Della wants to
buy jim a gold watch chain for his gold watch. They do not have any much to
be proud or happy about, but jim is very proud of that watch. And della is the
most proud of her beautiful long hair. But she really wants to buy that gold
chain for Jim’s watch. To bad she only has $1.87. So, she decides to sell her
hair to a women who makes wigs and other hair articles. The women pays della
$20 for her hair. The chain costs $21, so she now has enough money. She buys
the chain to give to Jim. She goes to home and prepares Jim’s dinner and waits
for him to come home with a little bit worried that Jim will be shocked when he
sees her with all her beautiful hair cut off.

When Jim comes home, he does look shocked when he sees della with short
hair. He stares at her in a strange way and it scared her. She explains to Jim
how she sold her hair to buy him a nice christmas present. Jim tells her not to
worry and that nothing can change his love for her. The reason he shocked to
see without her long hair is he also wanted to get a nice chrismast present for
della. He give her the present wrapped in paper and della unwraps it to see that
Jim had bought a set of beautiful combs for her hair.

Suddenly she remembers Jim present. She gives him a gold chain. The chain is
beautiful, but when della asks Jim to put it on his watch, Jim supprises her, he
sold the watch to buy her those nice combs.
In this short story O. Henry tells us they were wise. They were wise because
they had each sacrificed the most valueble possesions for the person they
loved. They were like the three wise man –The Magi—who brought present for
Jesus Christ after He was born. Keep in mind, that this is why the Christians
still give a present on Christmas Day to remembers the gifts the Magi brought
on that very first Christmas.

To telling the issue of the story, The gift of magi story reveal to love and wealth
in someone relationship, which is person who had been merried or who will
merri or in still in relationship beetween man and women. In these short story
there us to many description situation about love and wealth which indicates the
issue of the story of love and wealth. Therefore, for interpreting more about The
Gift Of Magi short story by O. Henry, I would like to analyze the issue of Love
and Wealth implied in this short story. In analyzing the love and wealth issue in
The Gift Of Magi short story; I use the short story itself as the main data for
interpreting the theme of this short story.
 ANALYSIS

The discovery of the importance of relationship and perspective is a explored

within the short story “ The Gift of The Magi “ by O. Henry. The short story is
centralised financially unstable Dellingham family, who secrefice what each
hold dear about each other in order to buy a gift which complement the
respective possesions, only to discover that the possesions are sold in order to
buy a gift. In this classic example of irony, O. Henry allows readers to reflect
upon the meaning of discovery and through the manipulation of people, events,
and relationship.

The worth of discovery is questioned and challenged in a whimsical manner

through out the short story. The scene portrays is opened with the line, “ One
dollar and eight-seven cents. That was all “. The use of syntax creates a sense
of valuation and cost. The painful extent at which protagonist Della and Jim
sacrifice for each other is potrayed through at abandonment of their most prized
pssesions, giving up their identity in the process. This is shown through the
contrast between statements “ Della’s hair… they both took mighty pride “, and
“ Will you buy my hair ?”. The juxtaposition between descriptions of pride for
Della’s hair and harsh statement exploring the monetisation of her pride forces
the readers to question the worth of the gift, and is further extended to the
wisdom behind their decisions.

There is a discovery on multi-dimensons as “ The Gift Of Magi “ explores the

ramifications of including discoveries, forcing to readers to reflect upon their
own through implications the character’s actions may hold. There is an
overaching theme through out the story which focused upon the juxtaposition of
wisdom and foolishness. This is predominately portrayed through the
whimsical and light tone of narrator making commentary upon the situation,
where trough out the charater’s speech, a pause is take and the narrator states “
let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the orther
directions “. This aside provides comic relief, indicative of an air of humour
associated with the intensity of financial woe. Wisom is once again referred to
at the closing of the short story where the narrator refers to the dellingham’s as
“ two foolish children “ who “ unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest
treasures of their house. “ The metaphore “ foolish children “ alludes to the
whimsical tone of the short story, but also draws attention towards the sacrifices
necessary as through out the process the characters undergo a wide range of
emotional experiences. This is portrayed once again within the closing
paragraph, where the narrator states, “ all who give gifts these two were the
wisest “. This, contrasted with what the narrator stated directly before, is a
seeming contradictory, causing the readers to ponder upon the true wisdom and
ramifications of this discovery and gift exchange and bringing about a new
level of the depth beyond the surface.

Often, it take experience to understand that discovery is challenging and

confrontational as O. Henry proposes nations of true wealth. Ther readers
reflection of true wealth is induced trough the use of biblical allusions dotted
trough out the next. The biblical references are evident within the title, where
the term “ Magi “ refers to the wonderfully wise man – who brought gifts to
the Babe in the manger “, and is referred to at the closing of the short story.
This biblical imagery is further extended when O. Henry compares Jim and
Della to King Salomon and the Queen of Sheba, where it is revealed, “ King
Solomo, pluck at his beard from envy” and “ let her hair hang.... just to
depreciate her majesty “. The use metaphors and religons imagery generates a
tone of richness, and draws upon the definition of prosperity. There is a sharp
contrast in wealth generated through the comparison between King Solomo,
Queen of Sheba, and the Dellingham’s. However, the induces of discovery
within the readers that true wealth isn’t determined by material possessions but
rather the richness of relationship and emotional exploration of the meaning of
wealth and love.

“ The Gift og The Magi “ is a didactic text which questions the worth and
connotations of the discovery, forcing the readers to address the issue
associated with physical and emotional wealth. Discovery is represented as a
complex concept with a variety of implications as the intricacy of life and the
wealth of experience is explored.
 CONCLUSION

The issue of physical and emotional wealth in this short story can be
interperated by annalyzing the setting, character’s, conflict and the figurative
languages.

The setting, which is was taken in the day before Christmast and at the house
rent of Dellingham’s family. The protagonist character of this story, Della and
Jim that they sacrifice their possesions to buy a gift for each others and they
surely know they are poor but they try to buy a gift for each others, it related to
the issue of physical and emotional wealth.

Seems to the conflict annalyzing it can be related to the issue that i choose.
How they are have physical and emotional to show they loved each others but
they have to sacrifice their own possessions.

The figurative laguages also have a lead important to the main issue that I
choose.using the metaphors that related to biblical as a reflection of true wealth
that use term “ Magi “ that refers to wonderfully wise man in the bible – who
brought gifts to the Baby Jesus. However “ The Gift Of Magi “ is a touching
and wonderful short story by O. Henry. It teaches us what is the real meaning of
love, sacrifice, wealth and understanding between us.
 WORK CITED

https://schoolworkhelper.net/the-gift-of-the-magi/

Bible Story ; King Salomon and Queen of Sheba

(1 Kings 10; 2 Chronicles 9)
 The Gift Of Magi

By. O. Henry

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in
pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the
vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent
imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della
counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be
Christmas.

There was clearly nothing left to do but flop down on the shabby little couch
and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made
up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating.

While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the
second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not
exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the look-out for the
mendicancy squad.

In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an
electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also
appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham
Young."

The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of
prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the
income was shrunk to $20, the letters of "Dillingham" looked blurred, as though
they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D. But
whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above
he was called "Jim" and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young,
already introduced to you as Della. Which is all very good.

Della finished her cry and attended to her cheeks with the powder rag. She
stood by the window and looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in
a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87
with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could
for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far. Expenses had
been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a
present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for
something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling--something just a
little bit near to being worthy of the honour of being owned by Jim.

There was a pier-glass between the windows of the room. Perhaps you have
seen a pier-glass in an $8 Bat. A very thin and very agile person may, by
observing his reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips, obtain a fairly
accurate conception of his looks. Della, being slender, had mastered the art.

Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass. Her eyes
were shining brilliantly, but her face had lost its colour within twenty seconds.
Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which
they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his
father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair. Had the Queen of
Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out
of the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts.
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.
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. And then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered
for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.

On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts
and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she cluttered out of the door and
down the stairs to the street.

Where she stopped the sign read: "Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds."
One Eight up Della ran, and collected herself, panting. Madame, large, too
white, chilly, hardly looked the "Sofronie."

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.

"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks
of it."

Down rippled the brown cascade.

"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.

"Give it to me quick" said Della.

Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy wings. Forget the hashed
metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's present.

She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. There was
no other like it in any of the stores, and she had turned all of them inside out. It
was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its
value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation as all good
things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. As soon as she saw it she
knew that it must be Jim's. It was like him. Quietness and value the description
applied to both. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried
home with the 78 cents. With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly
anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes
looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of
a chain.

When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and
reason. She got out her curling irons and lighted the gas and went to work
repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love. Which is always a
tremendous task dear friends--a mammoth task.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that
made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection
in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.

"If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at
me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh!
what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?"

At 7 o'clock the coffee was made and the frying-pan was on the back of the
stove hot and ready to cook the chops.

Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the
corner of the table near the door that he always entered. Then she heard his step
on the stair away down on the first flight, and she turned white for just a
moment. She had a habit of saying little silent prayers about the simplest
everyday things, and now she whispered: "Please, God, make him think I am
still pretty."

The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. He looked thin and very
serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two--and to be burdened with a
family! He needed a new overcoat and he was with out gloves.
Jim stepped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His
eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could
not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor
horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply
stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.

Della wriggled off the table and went for him.

"Jim, darling," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and
sold it because I couldn't have lived through Christmas without giving you a
present. It'll grow out again--you won't mind, will you? I just had to do it. My
hair grows awfully fast. Say 'Merry Christmas!' Jim, and let's be happy. You
don't know what a nice-what a beautiful, nice gift I've got for you."

"You've cut off your hair?" asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at
that patent fact yet, even after the hardest mental labour.

"Cut it off and sold it," said Della. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm
me without my hair, ain't I?"

Jim looked about the room curiously.

"You say your hair is gone?" he said, with an air almost of idiocy.

"You needn't look for it," said Della. "It's sold, I tell you--sold and gone, too.
It's Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of
my head were numbered," she went on with a sudden serious sweetness, "but
nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?"

Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten
seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the
other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year--what is the difference?
A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought
valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be
illuminated later on.

Jim drew a package from his overcoat pocket and threw it upon the table.

"Don't make any mistake, Dell," he said, "about me. I don't think there's
anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me
like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you
had me going a while at first."

White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic
scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and
wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of
the lord of the flat.

For there lay The Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had
worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise-
shell, with jewelled rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair.
They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and
yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were
hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were
gone.

But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with
dim eyes and a smile and say: "My hair grows so fast, Jim!"

And then Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, "Oh, oh!"

Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon
her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her
bright and ardent spirit.
"Isn't it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You'll have to look at the
time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it
looks on it."

Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the
back of his head and smiled.

"Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while.
They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy
your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."

The magi, as you know, were wise men--wonderfully wise men-who brought
gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas
presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the
privilege of exchange in case of duplication. 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. But in a
last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these
two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.
Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.