The Gift Of The Magi Research Paper

Not only do “The Gift of the Magi” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” both show the theme that the best gifts are received through actions, they also both develop the theme through symbolism. In the story, “The Gift of the Magi”, when Della was explaining to James as to why she cut her hair, Della clarifies, “‘Maybe the hairs of my head can be counted,’ she said, ‘but no one could ever count my love for you.’” (O. Henry, 5) This shows that Della’s hair symbolizes her love for James, and how it meant more to her than her most valued possession. By stating, “‘no one could ever count my love for you,’” demonstrates that even though their love cannot be seen, their love was eternal and her love will never succumb to anything else, especially

In "The gift of the Magi" and "Bert and Ernie's Christmas", both show various similarities and differences. The first similarity was they both were short on money and on time, causing them to trade their treasured possessions for money in order to buy a gift for their loved one. One difference in " The gift of the Magi" there status was husband and wife, while in "Bert and Ernie's Christmas" they were just friends. Despite their different relationship status, in both stories they gave up their prized possessions for each other, not knowing they needed their belongings in order for them to properly use the gifts they had received. As an example in "The gift of the Magi" the wife, Della, sacrificed her hair to buy her husband a

The story "The Gift Of The Magi" and the Sesame street video were different and similar in various ways. One difference is the presents. Della and Jim sold A watch and Dellas hair for money to buy gifts, on the other hand Bert and Ernie traded their most valuable things so they could get a gift for each other. Also one similarity is before there presents, They are both a poor family with no money and can barley get food but they still want to have a good Christmas so they need money. Another Difference is the ending, In the Sesame Street ending Bert and Ernie got their Ducky and paper clip collection back while on the other Della didn't grow her hair back and Jim didnt get his watch back. The last similarity is they

This leads to her idea of selling her most prized possession: her hair, to get Jim his present. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his most prized possession which was a pocket-watch that was passed down from his grandfather to his father and then to him. He sells that watch and buys Della a set of beautiful tortoise shell combs for her hair. Thus leading to the use of situational irony in which they both receive gifts for something they gave up in order to give the other a gift.

When Della bought the chain for Jim, she did not know he would sell his treasured possession, too. They both told what happened and were happy to put it in the past. The sacrifices they both made is more valuable than the gifts

In The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry (1906), Della is one of two main characters, the other being her beloved husband, Jim. On Christmas Eve, Della has saved very little for a present for Jim when she decides to sell her most prized possession, her long beautiful hair, for more money. After doing this, and buying the perfect gift,

The Magi story and the Sesame street video are similar and different in a variety of different ways. Something the video and the story have in common is that all of the characters are poor, and cannot afford a Christmas present for one another. While comparing both the video and story, we can see that all of the characters care about each other so much, they are willing to trade their most prized possessions to put a smile on the other person's face. When contrasting the video and the story, you can see that the setting and characters from the video are from sesame street, while the couple in the Magi story are very much human and it is taken place in an older time. A distinction between the video and the story might be what their prized possessions

The twists and turns of the plot as it unfolds within O. Henry 's “The Gift of the Magi” are what simply captivate the reader in such a short amount of pages. The story of Jim and Della on a cold Christmas Eve at the turn of 20th century America is centered around what is remarkably relevant to what many readers have experienced in their own lives; the inevitable stresses, sacrifices, and joys of the holiday season.

The Gift of the Magi and Sesame Street Video are very similar. In both of the story/videos they sacrifice very important belongings of theirs, to get the spouse/friend a gift for Christmas. In the gift of the Magi, Della cut off almost all of her hair to get her husband a watch fob, Della's husband Jim got her combs for her hair. The Sesame Street Video, Bert exchanged his paperclips for a soap dish for Ernies rubber ducky, But Ernie exchanged his rubber ducky for a box for Bert to put his paperclips in. Both of them had to sacrifice their belongs because neither of them had a lot of money to buy their spouses/friends a gift.

"The Gift of the Magi" and the Sesame Street video are similar and different in a variety of ways. For example, both the story and the video have two people who couldn't afford a gift for each other. However, the relationship of the two people are different because in the story they are husband and wife, whereas in the video they are roommates. Furthermore, when it comes to the gifts, the story and the video are similar because they both give each other gifts. Despite their similarities, in the story the gifts are a watch fob and combs, unlike video where the gifts are a soap dish and a cigar box. The last way they are alike is that they both have to make sacrifices, but what's different is at the end of the story, the two people don't

In The House of Spirits by Billie August, Clara decides to pass down her personal journal to Blanca in hopes of helping her daughter realize that what’s important in life is to be with her loved ones and to make the best out of every day instead of being fixated on her negative memories. After reading her mother’s writings, Blanca came to the conclusion that she would not let her traumatizing experience as a prisoner define the result of her life. Instead of seeking revenge, she decides to focus on what matters most to her. Alba on the other hand, in “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, Jim and Della sacrifice their most valuable possessions in order surprise each other with thoughtful gifts. Despite being living in impecunious conditions, the couple were proud of “Jim’s gold watch. It had once belonged to his father. And, long ago, it had belonged to his father’s father. The other thing was Della’s hair,” yet unknowingly to each other, they sell both the watch and the hair in order to afford the perfect gift for their spouse (Henry, 2). However, the gifts exchanged are useless because Della gets rid of her hair to buy Jim a chain for his watch and “[Jim] sold the watch to get money to buy the combs” for Della (Henry, 6). Instead of focusing on the actual gifts, both Jim and Della continue on with their day appreciating the gesture and not the material. In the end, the precious items of each character from the different stories allowed them to look beyond the shallow things in life and enjoy every moment with their loved

Jim sold his family’s watch to buy Della the hair combs for her hair. This shows how he will do anything to please Della. All this comes to show how symbolism and irony work together to form the

Della has endless gorgeous brown hair and Jim has a gold watch that was passed down to him from family members, both of these belongings are apart of their attraction towards each

For example, she sold her hair to get him a chain for his family watch.

The Magi's are the wise men that created the art of giving Christmas presents. Just like Jim and Della in The Gift Of The Magi. In The Gift of The Magi, Jim and Della expressed their inordinate amount of love through their gifts, and through Literary elements , expressing the theme of the story. Three literary elements that enhanced the theme "Love is more valuable than possessions", in The Gift of The Magi are, the characterization, the plot, and the setting. The characterization in the story expresses she's the theme in many ways.