CBPBU Suggestion: O. Henry’s Life Story & Summary of “The Gift of the Magi” for 4th Sem English Major

4th Sem. English Major (CBPBU)

Summary of The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry (Real name: William Sydney Porter)

Born: September 11, 1862, in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA

Died: June 5, 1910, in New York City.

Profession: Short story writer, journalist, and former pharmacist.

Famous Work: The Gift of the Magi

Banana Republic: In Cabbages and Kings (1904), O. Henry first used the term "banana republic" to refer to Honduras, a small, politically unstable nation that is economically dependent on a single export (bananas) and frequently dominated by foreign corporations.

He was accused of embezzling money while working as a bank teller in Austin, Texas. Fearing the punishment, he fled to Honduras. But when he came to know that his wife was seriously ill, he returned to the U.S. and was arrested. Porter was sentenced to 5 years in prison. However, because of his good behavior he was released after 3 years. That means he spent three years in prison. He didn't stop writing while in jail. He continued to publish short stories under his pseudonym O' Henry. He published 14 stories while in jail.

Writing style: He is known for witty narration, clever wordplay, and surprise/twist endings.

The Gift of the Magi

First published: 1905, December 10 in New York Sunday World newspaper.

First in Book: 1906, April 10

Collection: It was later included in O' Henry's short story collection "The Four Million"

Magi: The Magi in the title "The Gift of the Magi" refers to the three wise men sometimes called three kings from Christian context who traveled from East to Bethlehem by following a special star, they brought gift for the infant Christ. Those three wise men were- Melchior, Gasper and Balthazar they brought Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Their gifts symbolized Kingship, Divinity and Sacrifice.

Narrative style: Third-person omniscient narrative.

Genre: Short story/ Realistic fiction

Literary Movement: Realism

Characters:

James Dillingham Young (Jim): He is only 22, serious and burdened by financial hardship. Husband of Della, together they lived in a decent flat of New York city, which costs $8 per week. Della lovingly called him Jim. Suddenly his salary slashed from $30 to $20 per week.

Della (Dell): Young and loving wife of James. The main protagonist of the story.

Madame Sofronie: The owner of the hair salon.

Summary of the story:

It's Christmas Eve today, and Della is depressed because she has only been able to save a small sum of money ($1.87) by pinching pennies over the last few months. Della had hoped to make sufficient savings to buy a stunning Christmas gift for her husband, Jim. However, she realized soon that the money she had saved was not enough to buy a gift for her loving husband. She started crying. Della suddenly lets her hair drop to its full length below her knee and looks at her reflection in a mirror. The couple's most precious items were Jim's gold watch, which was inherited from his grandfather, and Della's brown hair, as there's a saying that if Queen Sheba (sometimes called Queen Blikis) had seen Della's hair, she would truly get jealous, and on the other hand, all the treasure of King Solomon is worthless in front of Jim's ancestral watch. Della stands up, wears her brown hat, old coat, and goes outside. She stops at a salon named Madame Sofronie's Hair Shop. Della asked Madame Sofronie whether she would buy her hair or not. She looked at her hair and said, "I will buy it for $20." Della exclaimed with joy without thinking of the consequences. Next few hours, Della started to find the best gift for Jim; she went from one shop to another. At last, she found a simple yet elegant platinum fob chain, which will be great for Jim's pocket watch, and she bought it for $21. She returned home happily; meanwhile, she looked at the mirror, and all of a sudden, she started crying again. Della tries to hide her short hair and starts praying to God as it's her everyday routine, but today's prayer is a little bit different: "Please God, make him think I'm still pretty." Jim never came home late; Della was standing, and now she's thinking about the consequences. Della opened the door. Jim looks at her, and he stands there silently without any expression. Della cried and explained everything. Jim assured Della that just a haircut could never make me love you any less, but if you open my gift, you'll understand what I felt. Della opened the gift, and it was "The Combs" a set of expensive, beautiful tortoiseshell combs she once craved to buy. She cried out of happiness. She said to Jim that "my hair grows fast, Jim." However, Jim said our gifts are too nice to use now, so keep them aside because he sold his precious gold watch to get the money to buy the combs. And Della sold her brownish waterfall-like hair to get the money to buy a gift for Jim. They hugged each other and had their dinner.

The concept of Christmas gifts originated from the wise men who brought gifts to the infant Christ, as we all know. They were excellently wise, but the author explained these two are the wisest, as they sold their most valuable things they had. It may be materialistic, but they showed selfless love for each other by selling their most prized possessions. The author ended the story saying, "Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the wisest; everywhere they are the wise ones; they are the Magi."

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File Details:

PDF Name : The Gift of the Magi

Language : English

Size : 115 KB

No. of Pages :4

Download Link : Click Here To Download

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