¶ … Value of Sacrifice in O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" The short story by O. Henry entitled "The Gift of the Magi" is about Della and Jim, a very young couple who want to buy a Christmas gift for one another -- but neither has the money to afford it; so each sells his/her most prized possession: Della cuts off her hair and sells it, and Jim sells his watch. Ironically, the gifts that they buy one another are related to the most prized possessions each has sold: Jim buys combs for Della's hair and Della buys a watch-chain for his watch. O. Henry uses the symbol of the Magi -- the three Wise Men who visited the Christ child on the first Christmas day -- to explain the meaning of Jim and Della's sacrificing and gift-giving, which appears foolish at first glance. What O. Henry states is that their selling of their most precious gifts for the sake of the other was not foolish, but wise -- just like the very first Wise Men to give gifts in honor of the Christ child. The Christ child Himself serves as a symbol that is only gleaned by reading between the lines -- because...
O. Henry�s Themes of Sacrifice and Symbolism:�The Gift of the Magi� and �The Last Leaf�In a New Yorker profile of the American short story writer O. Henry, author Louis Menand (2021) describes the staggering output of the author at the peak of his career, writing as many as a short story a week for magazines. Born William Sidney Porter in 1862, O. Henry was a pseudonym, and like many of
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