6 June 2016 Essays - Fiction, Humanities, Literature, Irony

6 June 2016 Essays - Fiction, Humanities, Literature, Irony 6 June 2016 Writing 2 Literary Analysis of "The Gift of the Mag" O'Henry is well known American author, who is famous for his unpredictable and unsuspected endings. He wrote a lot of intriguing short stories and a few novels. Even if you don't like reading books, you probably have heard about his magnificent stories. One of them is "The Gift of the Magi". One of the main themes of the story is the sacrifice and how sacrifice sometimes can be pointless. O'Henry supports his theme and mood by using different techniques and aspects, such as writing style and setting. The s tory starts when the author introduces the first character. There was a wo man named Della, who was counting how much money she had saved for a Christmas gift for her husband. By saving everywhere where it was possible, she saved 1 dollar and 87 cents. Della felt miserable, because the next day was a Christmas eve and she obviously didn't have enough money to buy a good present for her husband. Here O'Henry introduce second main character: Della's husband. She knew that 1.87$ was an insignificant amount of money, and the only thing she could buy was something typical, but it was her lovely Jim and she would find a way how to get more money. O'Henry mentions that the family's only treasures are her voluminous hair and Jim's watch which he got from his great-grandfather. She rapidly went outside and searched for any shop that could buy her hair. Della stopped next to the shop named: " Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds". After selling her hair for 20$, she proceeded to the store where she finally found an ideal present for her dear Jim. It was an ordinary platinum fob chain, because it was perfect for Jim's watch. Della came back home with only with a 0.87$ in her pocket. When James Dillingham saw his wife with short hair, he froze while trying to say something, he wasn't angry, he looked lost and confused. Jim inquired, did she really cut her hair off, or it was a silly Christmas joke. Della cried and told him that she sold her hair to buy a good present. Mr. Dillingham spoke to Della and took a package from his pocket. He looked calm and thoughtful, he asked his wife to unwrap the package and to look what wa s inside, it would explain his confusion. When Della opened the package, she screamed hysterically, there were beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jewelled rims. It was all that she dreamed about for a long time. Her hands quivered when she gave him the chain and asked him to try it on his watch. Jim made a helpless gesture and told Della to put away presents until better days. Mr Dillingham threw himself on the couch and asked his wife to cook dinner. While sitting on the couch, he told that he sold his watch to buy a set of combs for Della. However Della was happy, not because she finally got the set of the combs, but because she and Jim were together for a Christmas eve. Every story, which you have read, has one or a few main themes. Even if the plot and characters are completely different from each other, these two stories probably have the same theme. Usually writers don't change the theme cardinally, they make a few corrections in the theme and write the story. Good triumphs over evil, never give up and Evil is punished and good is rewarded are the most common themes which you may find in the modern and old books. O'Henry tried to avoid cliche themes, and came up with an interesting idea. The main theme of the story is the sacrifice for the one you love, but in this case sacrifice was pointless and worthless. Della sold her hair to buy a chain for watch, while Jim sold his watch to buy a set of combs for his lovely wife. Isn't it a good irony? The story takes place in the apartment of two main characters. It happened on a Christmas Eve, and its two main characters live in a