Happiness In The Gift Of The Magi

Words: 1107

Pages: 5

Open Document

Thesis “Money doesn’t buy happiness” is a quote that has been told repeatedly throughout history because of its strong and powerful meaning. Money has been said to be the root to all evil, yet some argue it is a necessity. However, this quote is truly brought to life in The Gift of a Magi, due to its underlying statement that love is all that is needed to feel fulfilled in life. In The Gift of the Magi, a couple must go through the conflict of finding one another a gift for Christmas. This inner conflict derives from the couple’s limited amount of money each one of them has due to hard times. However, both partners possess something that is dear to them, thus, leading to each of the significant others trying to acquire an item that would pertain to what the other already owns.
Throughout The Gift of the Magi, the story is told from the point of view of third person omniscient, leaving …show more content…
Over the course of the story a couple, Jim and Della, are looking for a gift for one another; however they both have a limited amount of money that they are capable of spending due to their state of poor wealth. Each of the two possesses an item that they hold dear to them, Jim’s being his pocket watch and Della’s being her hair. Yet, they both must sacrifice what they love most for one another (Dermot, 2016). The characters do this to ensure that the other receives a gift even if that means they must give up what they have in order for the other to be happy. However, towards the end of the story the Jim and Della reveal the gifts that they have chosen for one another sadly to their dismay the gifts that they receive now have no use to them. This is seen when Della gets a comb for her ravishingly long hair that she had cut in order to get the pocket watch chain for Jim and likewise when Jim opens his gift, the pocket watch chain, only to the dismay that he no longer had the pocket

The Theme Of Sacrifice In The Gift Of The Magi

Sacrifice in The Gift of the Magi Ben Sharp The gift of the Magi shows sacrifice in many places. It shows sacrifice with happiness, love, and generosity. This sacrificing creates the theme of happiness, love, and generosity. The author shows the theme of sacrifice by creating irony where Jim and Della both buy gifts for what the other sacrificed . The gift of the Magi shows sacrifice through happiness. Jim sells his watch so he can buy something for Della. Della sells her hair so she can buy Jim…

Words 207 - Pages 1

The Magi

generosity, and happiness are all common motifs in “The Gift of the Magi.” However, they are all interconnected in the story to produce one overall theme, but how is this theme developed in the story? O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” centers around Della and James Dillingham Young who struggle to buy one another Christmas gifts. In O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,” he develops the theme that putting others before oneself is the ultimate sacrifice to prove love and gain happiness by using…

Words 1048 - Pages 5

Gifts of sacrifice. An essay on "The Gift of The Magi" By O. Henry

Lindsay Patnaude English 102 1/26/15 Word count: 1,144 Gifts of Sacrifice All people, at some point, have thought about marriage and the concept of true love. When one is young, they think that true love will come easily and without sacrifice. O. Henry paints the picture of a love story with simple sacrifices in his story “The Gift of The Magi” (Henry 164). O. Henry's short story follows Della and Jim, a couple living together in a busy city. As the story progresses the reader comes to learn…

Words 1156 - Pages 5

Examples Of Sacrifice In The Gift Of The Magi

tracks and helping someone else before helping yourself. In the story “the Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, Della and Jim struggle to find the money to buy Christmas gifts for each other. This story teaches us about love, sacrifice, and happiness and that sometimes you have to sacrifice something you treasure to make someone else happy. Della cuts her hair just to give Jim happiness and Jim sells his watch to give Della happiness, this is a perfect example of sacrifice. They both sold their most prized…

Words 455 - Pages 2

Luca Cambiaso's Use Of Light In Suicide Of Lucretia, And

attention to a particular aspect of each painting. This paper will discuss this use of light in Luca Cambiaso’s Suicide of Lucretia (c. 1565), Claude Vignon’s David with the Head of Goliath (c. 1620-1623), Francesco Fontebasso’s The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1740) and Francisco Goya’s The Third of May 1808. While exploring the artist’s use of light, the drama that each features will play an important part of how they are viewed. In the Suicide of Lucretia, the artist has chosen a mythological…

Words 1224 - Pages 5

Essay on Yuan Gao 3

watch to get the money to buy the combs.” (The Gift of the Magi, 1906). Those are the important details from the article which we already learned in our class and from the story and the details we can understand that the man and his wife give up the most important thing of themselves to buy the gift for each other without any hesitation and heartache. They use their beautiful mind to give an invaluable asset to each other, and this perfect gift is the gift that maybe the richest people in the world cannot…

Words 1293 - Pages 6

Essay Christmas Traditions

each Christmas morning. In an area called Labrador, turnips are saved from the summer harvest and are given to children, with a lighted candle pushed into a hollowed out hole. Where in The World? Back Google Maps Papai Noel or Father Noel is the gift-bringer in Brazil. According to legend, he lives in Greenland. When he arrives in Brazil, he usually wears silk clothing due to the summer heat. A Brazilian Christmas dinner might include turkey, ham, coloured rice, and wonderful vegetable and fruit…

Words 1687 - Pages 7

Christianity Exam Notes Essay

of Jesus at Bethlehem, Christmas is celebrated in commemoration of his birth. Two accounts of his birth, in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Fulfills the Old Testament prophesy to the coming of the Messiah. Wise Men (Magi): Said to have visited Jesus after his birth, bearing gifts. Saw a star in the East and come to worship the newborn King of the Jews. Massacre of the Innocents: King Herod ordered all the young male children of Bethlehem to be killed to avoid the loss of his throne to the newborn…

Words 2288 - Pages 10