Ministry of Education University Of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova Faculty of Languages and Literature Romanian Philology Chair

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Stylistic Analysis of story The Gift of the Magi

Written by Gandrabura Galina, L21 Checked by Dumitru Melenciuc

Chiinu, 2013

Stylistic Analysis of story The Gift of the Magi

Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost possible degree"(Pound). The meaning behind this expression is how literature can be much more than words. Appealing literature should touch the souls of its reader. One great thing about short stories is that they captivate their readers. An author famous for enticing his readers is O'Henry. O'Henry wrote a popular short story by the name of, "The Gift of the Magi". He used "The Gift of the Magi" as a way to get important themes of life across to his readers. The three major themes of this story are sacrifice, materialism, and love. He portrays those themes with great detail by making the themes very dramatic. He also reveals surprise endings amongst his short stories which is a major factor in "The Gift of the Magi". O'Henry creatively manipulates several literary devices throughout the story to get major themes displayed. Throughout the story of The Gift of the Magi, OHenry creates believable characters. He displays Della Young as a protagonist that is a likeable, but round character. In the beginning of the story, Della shows her vulnerability, There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it(O,Henry). Della realizes that she was not going to make Jim happy with the minimal amount of money she had saved up. As Della cries, she has an epiphany to sell her most prized possession. She is upset about her not having a Christmas present for Jim and cutting her hair, but even after Della cuts her hair off and Jim accepts it. The story goes on to tell that she is happy about her sacrifice, " unselfish sacrifices we make for those we love. Not sentimental, but universal truth (Henry,O). This line proves that Della changed and realized the present is not at all what mattered to Jim. It was her. Della's attitude has an impact on the story in a way that you understand she truly cares about Jim and wants to make him happy. As well as being a flat character, Della Young is also a dynamic character. At the start of the story, Della recounts her money over and over again. She is left with a measly dollar and eighty-seven cents. As stated by the author O'Henry, "... something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim". Della thinks the only way to make her husband happy is by buying him an extravagant gift. Truly though, the greatest gift is not presents, it is love. Towards the end of the story, Della states, "... nobody could ever count my love for you" (O,Henry). Thus proving, the couple recognized that love is what matters most, not the fine gifts, or the money they make. When the couple realizes that all they needed is love, it made a huge impact on the
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story. It helped display the theme of the story of not being selfish and doing anything for the one you love. Also, critic one critic states, "...despite the fact those gifts are now useless Jim and Della have givien each other the greatest gift of all... love."(Short Stories for Students) Proving even farther that the couple realizes that their love for each other is what is most important. But the protagonist of the story, is still and will always be present in the couple's relationship.

For the antagonist, a flat, believable, but very unlikable character, O'Henry wonderfully sneaked in the society. To this couple, money is everything and they keep looking past what they have. Della and Jim Young give up their most prized possesions for money. When Della goes to cut her hair Madame says "I buy hair.... Twenty dollars" (Henry,O). This excites Della for a short time. She is given the money needed to buy Jim a chain for his watch and rushes home to fix herself up before Jim gets home. Another role society plays in the story is making the couple want things they do not need. As O'Henry states, "... the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window". The couple, though they are poor, are very materialistic. They have wants just like everyone else. Society has a huge impact on the story. It makes people think they need things when really, they just want them. O'Henry portrayed society as a static character. The society is always pressuring the couple to need money and want to buy things. Della feels pressured to get Jim a gift as shown in this quote, "Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present"(O'Henry). Society makes her think that Christmas is only about the giving of materialistic things. O'Henry writes, "They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession." That quote portrays the role of society as being static since it does not change it's views on the need for materialistic items. No matter what, society makes people believe that the only way to be happy is by possessing such items. In real life, people realize that it is the smaller things that mean something, not the price of gifts. The main goal of society is to make Della and Jim believe that there is a need for money and valuable gifts. It impacts the story in a way by showing that love is greater than a possession of something. Being selfless is one of the greater gifts of life. With that as a main theme, it fits very well into the story and ties everything together. O'Henry tells the theme throughtout his story within this line, "...two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house." Also, one critic believes, "Despite the fact that these gifts are now useless, Jim and Della have given each other the greatest gift of all, love" (Short Stories for Students)
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In addition, another important element to the story is the setting. It is pretty obvious that the story, The Gift of the Magi, takes place in New York City. The setting is not intitially stated in the story, but it is fitting and pretty clear where the story takes place. Stated by OHenry, Della had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. According to this line, Della longed for and just had to have the combs in the Broadway window. There are many streets named Broadway, but there is one particular Broadway known to the whole nation. This infamous Broadway lies in New York City. Thus proving, the setting of the story takes place in New York. For another example of the setting, Della states, hell say I look like Coney Island chorus Girl (Henry). By stating this, it gives readers a hint that the story takes place in a New York setting. Also, one critic stated, The settings of OHenrys stories are often grouped into five categories: American south, the west, Central America, prison, and New York.(Short Stories for Students) By the critic stating this, it proves furthermore that the setting takes place in New York. The impact the setting makes on the story ties in with the storys conflict. New York is seen as a rich and prestigious place, a place where a poor couple would struggle, just as the characters do in the story. Similarly important to the setting is the time period. Though the story never actually tells the readers when the story takes place, there are a few clues that give the readers a good guess when it might have occurred. In all likelihood, the story most likely took place in the early 1900s. One way readers could realize this is the line "Perhaps you have seen a pierglass in an $8 flat" (Henry). This line proves it is from the early 1900's because today, there are no flats you can get for eight dollars a month. Also, if readers have any knowledge of immigration into the United States, readers would know back then an eight dollar flat was a middle-class to poor living arrangements. Another example from O'Henry is the line, "It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design..." A fob chain is a chain you connect to a pocket watch. This proves it was set in an older time because in days like today, people do not normally use pocket watches. The time period of the setting impacts the story a lot. In this time period, times were tough. Immigration was new and many immigrants came to the United States with nothing. People worked for long hours and low wages. It impacts the story by showing how times were rough and money was spare. Along with the place and time period, the tone of the story was saddening. Not only is the couple upset about their financial matters but even the way O'Henry describes the setting is upsetting. O'Henry writes, "..looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray
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backyard." By using the word gray the writer is showing the dullness and lack of emotion in the couples lives. The only feeling at the start of the story expressed by Della is sadness. By the end of the story the couple hardly shows any emotion with the revealing of their gifts. Della gets excited for a moment but just goes back to her dull life. Another aspect of the story is the fact that the family is poor. The family being poor sets the whole tone of the story. Its saddening to know that for Christmas a person cannot buy their significant other a decent gift. As O'Henry writes in the story "Twenty dollars a week doesn't go far.... Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim." This line of the story really explains how poverty effects the couple. It is very depressing and impacts the story greatly. As stated by another critic "In 'The Gift of the Magi' the writer uses details of the setting to show that Jim and Della are poor (Short Stories For Students). Further proving the atmosphere gloomy and sad. The setting plays a big role in the story. The couple is living in the dead center of one of the most materialistic places in our country. During the rough times the couple goes through, money is still very important, but hard to come by. During every story there will always be a conflict, whether if it is man versus man or man versus nature. Accordingly, man versus society is the type of conflict being shown in The Gift of the Magi." Jim and Della Young is the couple being referred to as man." In our world today, people are faced with the needs and wants of life. Della and Jim are over ruled with the wants in life then the needs. One critic commented on how society have an effect on most people, like Della and Jim, where they believe Christmas is about the materialistic gifts you give, I think people believe that we have very complicated feelings about Christmas because its so commercialized and its not what it used to be (Angell). Society is taking over the way that Della and Jim think things should be with their relationship. People go through society making decisions for them, all the time. While people who have money can buy whatever they please, make the middle class people want those particular items they cannot afford. Della and Jim have society making the decision of buying a Christmas present more important than their love for one another. Selling their more prized possessions in order to please each other is one of the acts shown in The Gift of the Magi." As usual,

having a major conflict in a story is a big part of the theme. Being middle class makes the story come together as a whole by proving their love is stronger than any other gift they could give. Della, the main character, points out in the story that she has very little money to spend on Jim, her husband, One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all (Henry). Della had saved up one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy Jim a Christmas present. That was all the money she could save up with a months worth of work, including bills and more. When Della
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opened her gift O. Henry explains They were expensive combs, she knew and all her heart simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession." Della, at this point, realizes that even though she cut her hair, she was still in love with the combs because it was something she had been wanting for her lengthy, admirable hair. Not having enough money does not make life easier on the Youngs because they sell their most loved items to make their Christmas wonderful for each other. For this reason, a minor conflict shown in The Gift of the Magi, is when Della and Jim sell important possessions to please one another. As Della is upset about not having enough money to buy Jim a Christmas present, she comes across a sign about a beauty parlor. Della walks in and asks, Will you buy my hair? to Madame, the hairdresser (Henry). Furthermore, Della sold her hair for

twenty dollars, while Jim was buying her expensive combs for her long, beautiful hair. The act that Della does, by cutting her hair, proves that she is willing to do anything for Jim, the love of her life. Della, especially, proves that society has won her over by trying to please her husband with gifts, not love. Jim admits to Della, I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs(Henry). They were only trying to please each other by sacrificing their most loved gift that they owned. Making this a minor conflict because they did not need to sell what they cherished to make one another happy. For the most part,

the major and minor conflict brought the whole story together with the main point. Without the conflict between man versus society, the theme would be incomplete. Love was all they truly needed but it was not what they wanted to give each other for Christmas, they thought they could give more. When Della says to Jim, but nobody could ever count my love for you means that Della loves Jim no matter what amazing offerings he has to give to her. It took this experience to prove that the only thing that they want is the love they have for each other. Gifts do not mean anything if there is no meaning to them, but when you give love, that is the best gift of all time for Jim and Della. As one critic commented on the story, Their Christmas gifts are compromised, but they realize they have the best gift of all -- each other (Eckley). This proves that Della and Jim figured it out themselves, that love is more important to them than any other gift. The literary element, symbol, shows a great significance to the short story, The Gift of the Magi. One of the most important symbols is when Della states she has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents, making the readers realize that she and her husband are very poor. Before the Christmas season, Della comes to the realization that she wants to show Jim more of her love for him (Henry, O). With that, she decides to try and save up money to buy him a
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nice Christmas present that he will appreciate and never forget. For months and months, she wished for wonderful results in saving her money, but ended up with a negative outcome (Henry, O). The author, O Henry, explained what a difficult time Della went through trying to gain money for Jim, Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until ones cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied (Henry, O). Della made a huge effort of trying to gain as money much as she could, collecting one penny at a time. With all of that effort shown from Della, she still came up short of how much money she would have liked, One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all (Henry, O). Throughout all of that hard work Della contributed, she still came up short with little money to buy Jim a present. Knowing that Della had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents extra to buy Jim a Christmas present, was a huge attribution to the story. Soon, it turns out to be a huge conflict that she cant buy her husband a nice gift for Christmas. She decides she will do anything in her power to buy Jim something unforgettable (Henry, O). One of Dellas most prized possessions is her hair, which is a major symbol in The Gift of the Magi. When Della was deciding what to do about Jims Christmas present, an idea came to her, along with a difficult decision. She new that the only way she could get money, was to cut and sell her hair (Henry, O). Although her hair was absolutely beautiful and rewarding, she came to the conclusion of sacrificing it for Jim. She cries at the thought of how special her hair is to her, Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the nat across the air shaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her majestys jewels and gifts (O Henry). Della had a high tolerance of pride with her hair; she is depressed at the thought of giving it all away. She knew she was doing this for Jim, that being the only reason for her awful decision. Della decides to go to Madame Sofronie, who sells hair. They came to the conclusion that Dells hair is worth twenty dollars. Della makes a deal on that, knowing twenty one dollars and eighty-seven cents will be plenty of money to buy Jim a wonderful gift. Della rapidly says, Give it to me quick (Henry, O). She tries to make it seem as a less horrid situation as she concludes it to be. Della giving up her hair shows what love she has for her husband, Jim (Henry, O). With the word, magi in this short story title, an obvious symbol and meaning comes with that throughout the story. The magi were great wise men who created the relevance of giving Christmas presents. Knowing that Della wanted to buy something great for Jim on Christmas, he also wanted to do the same for Della. With Dellas hair being her most proud possession, Jims was his great grandfathers watch (Henry, O). He as well sacrificed his favorite possession for Della, I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs (Henry, O). The
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Young family both gave up their treasured gifts just to buy a nice present for each other to receive on Christmas day. The author of this short story, O Henry, explains the relationship between the wise men, Jim and Della, 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 (Henry, O). O Henry concludes that Jim and Della gave up their great treasures, and it just so turns out, that their gifts for each other turn into no use. This happens because of what they sold to get their unforgettable purchases (Henry, O). The three symbols: one dollar and eighty-seven cents, Dellas hair, and the magi, have played a huge roll in the theme for the short story, The Gift of the Magi. All these relate to the theme of the story in some way. Della did not have enough money to buy Jim a present for Christmas. She decides to cut and sell her hair to buy Jim a Christmas present. In the end, her and her husbands gifts become useless because of what they sold (Henry, O). With that being said, The narrator compares them to the magi, says the critics from Short Stories (Gale). Within The Gift of the Magi, O,Henry clearly uses several different types of figurative language to show his originality and help display the depths of his characters and his theme. His readers and even critics recognize his use of different literary elements. Critic Karen Blansfield said, His manipulation of elements into a tight literary structureis effective, if mechanical, and were one aspect of O,Henrys art to be held up as the most important(Blansfield). She explains how O,Henry used literary elements such as figurative language to his advantage. In using them, it made his stories more intriguing and interesting to read for the readers. The styles of figurative language used in O,Henrys story, The Gift of the Magi, are allusion, simile, and imagery. From the beginning to the end, O,Henry adds many different allusions to help portray the life and values of Jim and Dellas world. O,Henry says, Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the nat across the air shaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate her Majestys jewels and gifts. This quote from the story aids in showing how precious and wanted Dellas hair is. In saying that the sight of Dellas hair would have depreciated the Queen of Shebas jewels and gifts, proves how valuable Dellas hair truly is. A few sentences later, O,Henry writes, 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. This line proves that Jims watch would have made King Solomon cringe because it was so worthy and treasured compared to the items that King Solomon owned. Along with allusion,
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O,Henry creatively includes similes throughout the story.

Effectively, O,Henry uses

similes to capture the readers attention. In capturing the readers focus, the narrator states, So now Dellas beautiful hair fell about her rippling and shinning like a cascade of brown waters(O,Henry). With the use of this statement about Dellas hair, it makes the reader imagine how glorious her hair is. The words rippling and shinning creates the image of a calm pond with rippling waters and compares that to her hair. Along with that, O,Henry writes, made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. The comparison of Dellas hair after it was cut portrays how disgracefully ugly it looks. Comparing wonderfully along to a truant schoolboy shows that Dellas hair is no longer beautiful and wonderful, but now short and scraggly. As noted by a critic, With her short hair, the strong authorial voice notes that shenow resembles a Coney Island Chorus girl(Rena Korb). Korb notices how the comparison of Dellas new hair is similar to a Coney Island Chorus girl. As O,Henry includes similes within the story, he also adds imagery. Cleverly and precisely, O,Henry uses imagery to his advantage to make certain scenes in his story come to life. Describing Della, O,Henry says, Her eyes were shinning brilliantly, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. In stating this line, it shows the true emotions Della feels about her idea of selling her hair. Her face losing its color in short seconds connects to the idea that she does not want to cut her hair, but the shinning in her eyes tells that she believes in her great idea. The following line from the story describes the set of combs Della receives from Jim, Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair(O,Henry). By specifically describing the combs, O,Henry creates an image in his readers minds allowing them to see just how precious the combs are. He explains the combs as if they were a treasure to be worn with such pride. All of the different types of figurative language used within the story, The Gift of the Magi, helped set the mood and ideas to display the theme, feelings, and meaning of the story. All in all, O' Henry expertly uses many literary components within "The Gift of the Magi" to present major themes. With that said, setting brings the entire story together with the atmosphere of Della and Jim being middle class citizens. Every conflict brought up in the story, connects the main themes together. Figurative language shows how valuable their most prized possessions were to both, Della and Jim. O'Henry points out subliminal messages to further create the themes. This initially shows that many critics believe that O' Henry improves his writing with the many literary elements he includes. Furthermore, being in a materialistic society can make people have standards on what they should be or what they
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should own. People like Della and Jim wanted more than what they really could afford. Everybody has their own out-look on life, but society has a major part of ones opinion based on needs and wants. As for Della and Jim, they realized their love for each other was more important than any other gift they could possibly give.

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