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The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry

Book Overview: 

The Gift of the Magi is an O. Henry short story in which a young couple are very much in love with each other but can barely afford their one-room apartment. For Christmas, they each make a sacrifice to purchase a gift for the other, with ironic results.

The moral of the story is that physical possessions, however valuable they may be, are of little value in the grand scheme of things. The true unselfish love that the characters, Jim and Della, share is greater than their possessions.

O. Henry ends the story by clarifying the metaphor between the characters in the story, Della and James (or Jim), and the Biblical Magi. The Gift of the Magi features O. Henry’s characteristic twist ending and use of flowery diction.

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Book Excerpt: 
. . .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 gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray 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 honor 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 flat. A very thin and very agile person may, by observ. . . Read More

Community Reviews

This is a short and lovely story. The main theme here was love and the sacrifice you made for your loved ones. And this story will make us think again about all the false things we know about love and relationships. In the end, we all know the real meaning which is, to love is to sacrifice and you o

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry

O.Henry's "Gifts of the Magi" is one of the most exciting and inspiring stories of love and self-sacrifice, of what is truly valuable today. In the biblical story of Christmas, the Magi, the ancient sages who brought gifts to the Infant in the manger, introduced the c

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