University Short Story Discussion: 'The Gift of the Magi' Review

This discussion board post analyzes O. Henry's short story, 'The Gift of the Magi,' focusing on the plot progression and key moments. The student highlights the financial constraints faced by Della and Jim, emphasizing their love and sacrifice as they sell their prized possessions to buy each other Christmas gifts. The review also references the discussion on 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' exploring the narrator's psychological state and the guilt he experiences. The post provides a response to another student's analysis of 'The Tell-Tale Heart,' demonstrating an understanding of the story and its themes. The student also mentions the moral of the story, emphasizing love over material possessions. The post also includes references to the works of Gibbs and Samermit, Zou, Shen, and Rajan.

Running head: REVIEW ON SHORT STORIES
Review on Short Stories
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Thread:
The Gift of the Magi Discussion - Student’s Name
Post:
The Gift of the Magi Discussion- Student’s Name
Author:
Student’s Name
Posted Date:
August 31, 2019 11:15 AM
Status:
Published
This short story “The Gift of the Magi” was basically about Della who the wife of Mr James
Dillingham wanted to buy something special for her husband for the occasion of Christmas
however she only had one dollar and eighty seven cents with her and that was too less for
buying any beautiful gift. Therefore she was looking for something alternative option so that
she can get some more money to buy a good present for her Jim. Even if they had low
financial position they had two proud possessions. One was Della’s beautiful hair like
“cascade of brown waters” that even Queen Sheba would have been jealous of as it was of
more worth than the price of all the jewels as well as gifts that she had possessed. The other
was one Jim’s beautiful gold wristwatch that belonged to his grandfather’s. Even King
Solomon would have been jealous of it as it had more value than all the million dollar
treasures he had piled up in the below basement. A surprising thing took place when Della
sold her hair to buy a beautiful fob chain made out of platinum for Jim’s gold watch, Jim too

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sold off his watch to buy a pair of beautiful combs for Della’s brown cascade that she had
longed for. However the things, the proud possessions they had, for which they brought gifts
for each other were actually sold off by both of them without each other’s knowing (Gibbs
and Samermit 55). The story draws out a moral that a true love for someone can render an
individual forget about his or her possession of a material even if it is the most precious one,
since love over material things can even surpass emotional love between two people ((Zou
2015).

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Response to Joshua’s post:
The above discussion is basically centred on the “vulture eye” of the old man that the narrator
the story could not tolerate. Although he was trying to justify himself that he was not mad
however to a person who is in a normal mental state, cannot kill a person for his eyes
howsoever they might appear fearful to that person, he could have avoided the old man as
well. The narrator was driven by a tremendous psychological state and those eyes might be
the reason for which he was more undergoing through a mental tumult (Shen, 2008).
Therefore he found the best way to remove him so that he would not have to come across
him. However the fate always its role and a person who commits a sin has to get the
punishment as well. Therefore even if he died in narrator’s hand, his heartbeat was felt by the
narrator and he could hear it, again this was another display of the tremendous psychological
state of the narrator. Finally he could not bear the guilt he had already committed and
therefore he had to acknowledge his mistakes before the policemen (Rajan, 2014).

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Reference List
Gibbs, Raymond, and Patrawat Samermit. "How does irony arise in experience?." Irony in
Language Use and Communication (2017): 43-60.
Zou, Wenbo. "Intrahousehold Productive Inefficiency in Burkina Faso: Can Experimental
Inefficiency Measures Explain Differences in Household Income?." (2015).
Shen, D., 2008. Edgar Allan Poe's Aesthetic Theory, the Insanity Debate, and the Ethically
Oriented Dynamics of ““The Tell-Tale Heart””. NINETEEN CENT LIT, 63(3),
pp.321-345.
Rajan, G., 2014. A Feminist Rereading of Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”. Edgar Allan Poe’s
“The Tell-Tale Heart” and Other Stories. New Edition, pp.39-54.