Exploring Plot Development Through Narration in 'The Gift of the Magi'

This essay examines O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" through the lens of its third-person omniscient narrator, detailing how this narrative choice influences the story's plot progression from exposition to resolution. The analysis covers the narrator's role in setting the scene, developing the rising action with Della's dilemma, highlighting the climax when Della and Jim reveal their sacrifices, and resolving the story by emphasizing the couple's profound love. The essay argues that the third-person perspective allows O. Henry to effectively convey the story's themes of love, sacrifice, and the true meaning of gift-giving, while also occasionally slipping into a first-person voice to enhance the story's universal appeal.

Running head: THE GIFT OF THE MAGI
THE GIFT OF THE MAGI
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

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The aim of this essay is to discuss the impact of the third person omniscient narrator on
the development of the plot of the story. In the case of O. Henry’s, The Gift Of The Magi, the
author has properly utilised the device of third person narrative and detailed the plot of the story
starting from its exposition or introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution or
conclusion. These are connected with the plot of the story in a very inclusive way.
Third person narration is a literary device that gives the authors the opportunity to relate
the action of the characters of the stories or novels from a neutral point of view. Third person
native style allows the author to capture all the thoughts and feeling of the characters. This
makes the whole idea of the stories or novels easier to understand than the other two types of
narrative styles (Ruthrof). The third person narrative style affords the author to have more
freedom in telling the story.
Plot of the story or novels are the events which ae them up. The events of the stories or
other literary works have some incidents that drives the actions of the characters ad smoothly ails
with the story. These events are connected with one another in a sequence or pattern which
constitutes the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and the resolution. The structure
of the novels or short stories mainly depends upon the organisation of the events taking place in
the story through plots.
In discussing the plot starting from its exposition to resolution, the third person narration
has played a very important role. It is the voice that gradually takes the readers in the path of
self-realization and changes course of the story from time to time. Narrative exposition or
introduction is the insertion of essential background information of a story (Lehnert). This
includes the setting where the story is taking place, back stories of the characters, previous plot
events and historical context. There are several ways for accomplishing exposition and in most

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of the cases in direct exposition is used. It is the background information about the world in
which the plot is set. The rising action of the plot is the series of essential incidents which create
interest suspense as well as tension in the narrative (Lehnert). The rising action includes the
flaws of the characters all decisions and the background circumstances which create turns and
twists leading to climax. Climax is the particular point of the narrative in which all the conflicts
attentions hit their highest points. This is reference to crisis and foreshadows the ending of the
story. The falling action takes place right after climax where the core problem of the story is
resolved. This is the element of the plot of the story that wraps up the narrative and resolves all
its loose ends and lead the story towards the end. Finally, the conclusion ends the conflicts and
complications. it is a kind of resolution where all the problems of the story are worked out. this
ends the story and connects all the major themes of the narrative.
The gift of the Magi by O. Henry has a third person omniscient narrative where there are
some lapses into first person. The narrator does not seem to be another character within the story
as he does not expand his views than that of Della. This third person mostly speaks about Jim the
beloved husband of Della when he is in contact with her. The third person narration is not free
from bias. It sympathizes with the young couple and their poverty to describe the essentiality of
finding happiness by giving gifts to each other. The third person narrative has also sympathized
with gym who has been refer to a poor fellow of twenty-two and fully responsible to support his
family (Henry). This third person narrative of the story however discuss neutrality towards the
end and refers both Della and Jim not to be wise in their actions. At the end while the
preciousness of the gift yields no result, this third person Omniscient narrator details how each of
them had sold their most valuable things to bring gifts for each other. In few occasions this third
person has slipped into first person but always addresses the audience to give the story a fable

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like quality. The author has intentionally used this method of narration so that he can directly
describe the major theme of this story in the final paragraph and give it a sense of Universal
importance and appeal.
The third person omniscient narrator exposit the story by detailing the setting. It is taking
place in the early 19th century in a small town where Jim and Della the couple leave a meagre
life. The poverty has been the main theme of this story all the time which drives the action of the
charts but the third person narrator discusses how unimportant money is in the relationship
between this couple. The expository sentences discuss the long brown hair of Della that is
compared to the running brown water and more beautiful than any jewels of Queens (Henry).
This exposition also details that Jim, the male character works hard to support his family. The
third person narration also details how well paid he was beforehand when he used to earn 30
dollar a week but due to cut back, he was only been paid 20 dollars now.
The rising action includes the situation when the third person narrator describes the
advent of Christmas but Della does not have enough money to gift something to his husband.
Initially Della did not know how she would buy a present for her husband as in spite of putting a
penny aside regularly she only had 1.87 dollar. By employing the third person narrative, the
author has disclosed how poor the family is where the woman finally gets compelled to sell her
most prized possession, her hair.
The climax of the story has been described by the Omniscient narrator when Della cuts
her prized long brown hair and waiting anxiously for her husband to return from his work. The
author has used this narrative style very carefully and intelligently. He has not employed the first
person to show the anxiety and restlessness of Della when Jim first walks in the door or gets
dumbfounded to see her new appearance. The third person narrative here describes that Della

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does not know how her beloved husband would react seeing her in short hair. There is a dilemma
in the mind of Della as she knew that how long brown hair was the most important factor of her
beauty and Jim may not love anymore. The third person narrative is omniscient and he knows
that Della would be questioning their love and relationship. She is confused whether her husband
would love her like before and understand her effort to give up her most precious possession for
bring a Christmas gift for him. It is the climax when Della thinks whether Jim will stay with her
or feel ashamed.
However, Jim does not react more unexpectedly but follows the path of an ideal husband
loving everything in her wife. He states that he is love for Della is not dependent upon her
external beauty but he will accept her in every situation or any appearance. Here the narrator has
slipped away from using the third person narration but depends upon the first person and opens
up the mind of Jim by detailing his feeling about Della's beauty through his own words.
However, this is not the end of the story as the author has revealed a partial truth only. Gradually
it has been found that what Jim had brought for Della as Christmas gift was a fancy comb for
which she had been waiting for ages. This makes her happy in one hand and cry on the other.
The comb Jim had bought for her could be used only when she had long hair. Now she had no
hair for this gift. On the other hand, what Della had bought for her husband, a precious watch
band was also of no use as Jim had bought the fancy comb by selling that particular watch.
As a conclusion of the story the third person details how this couple finds happiness in
these futile gifts. Here he author has again put away the first-person narrative to disclose the
hearth or feelings of these two characters but employs the omniscient one to meaning of their
title. Both Jim and Della initially felt sad to sell their possessions but bought the gifts for each
other. This reveals that they love the other more than themselves. They were not just thinking

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about themselves only or their interests but thought of the happiness of Christmas gift of the
other which make them the Magi ultimately. Therefore, it can be concluded that employment of
the third persona narrative in the plot detailing, has been successful.

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References:
Henry, Oh. The Gift of the Magi. Pioneer Drama Service, Inc., 1977.
Lehnert, Wendy G. "Plot units: A narrative summarization strategy." Strategies for natural
language processing (1982): 375-412.
Ruthrof, Horst. The reader's construction of narrative. Routledge, 2016.