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Analysis on the Gift of the Magi
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2014-11-16
Analysis on the Gift of the Magi
O .Henry
is an American world-famous writer of
English stories .As a great master
of the art of fiction, he has been popular mainly for his short stories
.They are typically American ,portraying various types of people in the
United States .His stories usually deal with some self-sacrificing members
of a family who is undergoing hardship but with a kind heart .Although his
plot is full of coincidence ,the surprise ending is his specialty and
appeals very much to the reader .His stories characteristically express the
effect of coincidence on characters through humor ,grim irony ,and often had
surprise endings, a device that would become identified with his name .In
addition ,his warmth of human understanding and sympathy with the “underdog
“give many of his stories poignancy .
The Gift of the Magi
is one of his most successful works in which a young couple is 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.
The
story contains many of the elements for which O. Henry is widely
known, including poor, working-class characters, a humorous tone, realistic
detail, and a surprise ending. A major reason given for its enduring appeal
is its affirmation of unselfish love. Such love, the story and its title
suggest, is like the gifts given by the wise men, called Magi, who brought
gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the newborn Jesus.
Generally
speaking, The Gift of the Magi is a theme story .As we all know,
theme is the subject of a piece of writing, in other words , the implicit
meaning of a literary text .It is of great importance of the literary works.
Only with a given theme is a story complete and meaningful .As for this
special story, the theme itself is quite clear: love is a paramount and
essential element in the real life .Without love, everything is of no
meaning .To respect other’s love and at the same time to love others are
significant symbols of human civilization .To look into the theme in this
story, four factors must be paid special attention to:
1. Ingenious Design
Coincidence is a crucial device to
develop the plot and attract the reader’s attention .Here, in this story,
the author achieves it triumphantly. First of all, the concrete time is
showed before us: “the next day would be Christmas”.
Della planned to give her husband Jim “Something fine and rare and
sterling--something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of
being owned by Jim”. However, she has got only “One
dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in
pennies.” Here, the writer has so many words to say .The following text
tells that she has to cut her hair to buy a gift for her Jim .She spent the
money buying the watch, since” 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”. Meanwhile, Jim knew
nothing of Della’s action .He sold out his favorite watch and bought a comb
for her .The moment he saw the watch, he was greatly astonished. “Jim
stopped 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. “The writer doesn’t describe the expressions when Della saw
the comb .Instead, he depicted the comb in details: For there lay The
Combs--the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a
Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled
rims--just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. It is really a
pity that “the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were
gone.”
2.
Abundant Detail Depiction
At the very beginning, the story tells
us that “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all.” Not only with so
little money, the couch is “shabby little “; it was “a furnished flat at $8
per week”. Besides, “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.” The actions are described detailedly when she got a new idea:
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.
Such kinds of details can be easily found in this story .Take another
sentence for example, "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
3.
Humorous and Salt Language
In this story, the author uses many
rhetoric devices, such as exaggeration, trope, etc. For instance, “So Della
did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs,
sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. ” Here, the bitter and
black humor comes immediately before the reader. The “pier-glass between the
windows of the room” is so narrow that Della can just observe her
“reflection in a rapid sequence of longitudinal strips”. The slender Della
“has mastered it ”. The detail makes us feel funny but even sadder. Della's
hair is so charming that “had the queen of
4.
Narration like Taletelling
The author wanted to educate the
common people with the theme of love .The efficient method is to be the
narrator himself. Take a look at this sentence. “While the mistress of the
home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look
at the home.” From it, we can realize the deepening of Della .Another
example can be easily found: Oh, and the next two hours tripped by on rosy
wings. Forget the hashed metaphor. She was ransacking the stores for Jim's
present. “The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This
dark assertion will be illuminated later on. “Is also a
clear point for this purpose?
At the
end, the author summarizes the whole story with educational words,” 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.
“Does the writer really think that these two persons are really foolish?
Absolutely not. “O all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest.
Everywhere they are wisest. “ The real purpose he speaks this way is that
the true love is the most valuable thing in the world. He emphasized the
theme of love again at the very end of this story .