Skip to main content

Phrose 3 - The Gift of Magi - by O Henry (Sem IV)



The Gift of the Magi is a well-known short story by American short story writer O. Henry, the pen name of William Sydney Porter. The story first appeared in The New York Sunday World on December 10, 1905, and was later published in O. Henry's collection The Four Million on April 10, 1906.
The story tells of a young married couple, James, known as Jim, and Della Dillingham. The couple has very little money and lives in a modest apartment. Between them, they have only two possessions that they consider their treasures: Jim's gold pocket watch that belonged to his father and his grandfather, and Della's lustrous, long hair that falls almost to her knees.
It's Christmas Eve, and Della finds herself running out of time to buy Jim a Christmas present. After paying all of the bills, all Della has left is $1.87 to put toward Jim's Christmas present. Desperate to find him the perfect gift, out she goes into the cold December day, looking in shop windows for something she can afford.
She wants to buy Jim a chain for his pocket watch, but they're all out of her price range. Rushing home, Della pulls down her beautiful hair and stands in front of the mirror, admiring it and thinking. After a sudden inspiration, she rushes out again and has her hair cut to sell. Della receives $20.00 for selling her hair, just enough to buy the platinum chain she saw in a shop window for $21.00.
When Jim comes home from work, he stares at Della, trying to figure out what's different about her. She admits that she sold her hair to buy his present. Before she can give it to him, however, Jim casually pulls a package out of his overcoat pocket and hands it to her. Inside, Della finds a pair of costly decorative hair combs that she'd long admired, but are now completely useless since she's cut off her hair. Hiding her tears, she jumps up and holds out her gift for Jim: the watch chain. Jim shrugs flop down onto the old sofa, puts his hands behind his head and tells Della flatly that he sold his watch to buy her combs.
The story ends with a comparison of Jim and Della's gifts to the gifts that the Magi, or three wise men, gave to Baby Jesus in the manger in the biblical story of Christmas. The narrator concludes that Jim and Della are far wiser than the Magi because of their gifts are gifts of love, and those who give out of love and self-sacrifice are truly wise because they know the value of self-giving love.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Interview Question: Income Tax

 Interview Questions (Continued...) Income Tax What is deferred tax asset, its effect in financial statements and journal entry? Deferred tax assets are  items that may be used for tax relief purposes in the future . Usually, it means that your business has overpaid tax or has paid tax in advance, so it can expect to recoup that money later. This sometimes happens because of changes in tax rules that occur in the middle of the tax year. Journal Entries for Deferred Tax Assets. If a company has overpaid its tax or paid advance tax for a given financial period, then the excess tax paid is known as defer ed tax asset. Such taxes are recorded as an asset on the balance sheet and are eventually paid back to the Company or deducted from future taxes.   What is Commercial Tax? Commercial Tax, currently referred to as  Goods and Services Tax  (GST) in India, is a tax that is levied on locally manufactured and imported goods and services, and contributes to the GDP of the country. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Unit I - Economic Development

1.1 Meaning and Definition of Underdevelopment Underdevelopment is a low level of development characterized by low real per capita income, widespread poverty, lower level of literacy, low life expectancy and underutilisation of resources etc. The state is the underdeveloped economy fails to provide acceptable levels of living to a large fraction of its population, thus resulting in misery and material deprivations. We need to note here that underdevelopment is a relative concept but it sustains absolute poverty. The original meaning of the term indicated that existing resources had not been exploited. The word is now close in meaning to ‘poverty’, although some oil-rich underdeveloped countries have high incomes which are enjoyed by the few. Indicators of underdevelopment include high birth rates, high infant mortality, undernourishment, a large agricultural and small industrial sector, low per capita GDP, high levels of illiteracy, and low life expectancy. 1.2 Economic develo
2 comments
Read more

PROSE 1 - Sundar Pichai

SUMMARY Personal life He is married to Anjali Pichai, a  chemical engineer  from  Kota, Rajasthan . They met as classmates at the  Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur . The couple have two children. [46]  Pichai's interests include  football  and  cricket . Early life and education Pichai was born in  Madurai ,  Tamil Nadu , India. [12] [13]  His mother Lakshmi was a stenographer and his father, Regunatha Pichai was an electrical engineer at  GEC , the British conglomerate. His father also had a manufacturing plant that produced electrical components. [14] [15]  Pichai grew up in a two-room apartment in  Ashok Nagar ,  Chennai . [14] Pichai completed schooling in Jawahar Vidyalaya, a Central Board of Secondary Education school in Ashok Nagar, Chennai and completed the Class XII from  Vana Vani school  in the  Indian Institute of Technology Madras . He earned his degree from  Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur  in  metallurgical engineering  and is a distingu
Post a Comment
Read more