About The

Author
William Sydney Porter
known by his pen
name- O.Henry was
born on 11 September
1862 in Greensboro,
North Carolina.
In 1879, he started
working in a drugstore
and 1881 at the age of
19 he was licensed as
a pharmacist.

About The
Author
Porter led an active social life in
Austin , including membership in
singing and drama groups.
Porters most profilic writing period
started in 1902,when he moved to New
York city.
Usually Porter was a heavy drinker and
his health deteriorated in 1908,thus
affecting his writing .He died on June
5 ,1910,in New York city.

About The
Author
Some of his major
works were

Cabbages & Kings

(1904)

Roads of
Destiny(1909)

Whirligigs(1910)

INTRODUCTIO
N

"The Gift of the Magi" was

originally published in 1906, in O.
Henry's second collection of short
stories,The Four Million. "The Gift
of the Magi" is probably his
greatest hit, and displays all of the
major O. Henry traits in
abundance. Since it was first
published, it's buried itself deep in
popular culture. It's also one of
those classic "Christmas stories"
that people usually read during the
holidays.

GENRE
Parable
The key feature of a parable is that it uses a
situation, which feels very simple to make a
more complex or general point, often a moral
one. (Also, unlike a fable, a parable does this
with people, not animals.) This story is about
what it means to give a gift. All of the elements
of the story serve to bring that point across. The
last paragraph, especially, is a slightly more
stylish version of the "moral" that predictably
comes at the end of an Aesop fable.

CENTRAL IDEA
The main idea of "The
Gift of the Magi" is that
the value of a gift is in
the giver, rather than the
gift itself. Jim and Della,
out of their love for each
other, purchased gifts
that required them
tosacrificesomething
that was precious to
them.

CENTRAL IDEA
The idea of the story is
that the greatest gift
we can receive is not
any material but a
feeling -"love".
It teaches us the
bondage of
unconditional love
where we dont look at
our possessions but are
ready to sacrifice for

Characters

DELLA : Della is the loving,

warm, selfless, and occasionally
hysterical heroine of the story.
She spends
all of her days in a cramped flat,
as "mistress of the home.
Jim, her husband, may not be
bringing in much money, but he
is the cat's pajamas for Della.
She might seem unrealistically
emotional. Throughout the story
Della seems on edge, as if she
were continuously overexcited.

Characters

JIM : Jim's job is not so great.

He works long hours, but his
salary is low. Jim seems a little
tired, serious, overworked,
and a tad underweight.
The one thing that keeps Jim
going is his love for Della.
Jim's definitely the more level
headed one in the
relationship. While she reacts
to his present with shrieks
and wails, he just reacts to
hers by rolling onto the couch

Characters

MADAME SOFRONIE is the

owner of a hair shop, which
sells "hair goods of all kinds".
She is "large," "white," and
"chilly". Her manner is direct
and to-the-point. Her attitude
creates a sharp contrast to
that of Della and Jim. We
could say she represents "the
cold, uncaring world" which
exists outside the haven of
love Della and Jim have built
for themselves.

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

SUMMARY

Themes
Love
Sacrifice
Value

And
Wealth
Beauty

SYMBOLS
DELLAS

HAIR
JIMS

GOLD
WATCH

Biblical
Imagery

The last paragraph

compares Jim and Della to
the three wise men who,
according to the Christian
New Testament, delivered
gifts to Jesus on the first
Christmas.

Della's hair is said to be

so gorgeous that it would
inspire envy in the
Queen of Sheba. Jim's
watch would have been
the envy ofKing Solomon.
Both the Queen of Sheba
and King Solomon are

Biblical
Imagery
The Biblical
imagery also
beefs up the
story's
credibility as
a parable. By
invoking the
Bible at
moments, O.
Henry makes
"Gift of the
Magi" feel
more morally
weighty.

EndingExplained

At the end of the story Della cuts and

sells her hair to buy Jim a chain for
his watch, and Jim sells his watch to
buy Della combs for her hair. Here we
have a classic case ofirony. The
determination to find the perfect gift
leads each character to make a
sacrifice; that sacrifice makes each
gift useless. The result is the exact
opposite of what Jim and Della
intended. It's the sudden,
unexpected irony, which only strikes
at the very end that makes the
ending atwist.

From one perspective, it's disastrous.

Jim and Della seem much better off
before the gift exchange. Since each
person wanted to buy the other the

EndingExplained

But then there's the narrator's

perspective in that last paragraph,
according to which the gifts they've
given each other are the "wisest"
gifts of all, the "gifts of the magi..
That makes their "useless" gifts
incredibly valuable after all: the
selfless love each feels for the other
is embodied in those gifts. That kind
of thing can't be bought.

Which leads us to another point.

Before the exchange, Jim and Della
each had one prize possession. Each
possession was valuable on its own
and belonged to each person
individually.That love isn't
something they have as individuals,
it's something they sharetogether.