The Gift of the Magi Analysis or The Gifts Analysis
The Gifts or The Gift of the Magi is a short story of O. Henry. The Gift of the Magi analysis has many elements like themes, symbolism, and irony which are present below:
Themes:
There are three themes in the story, The Gift of the Magi, that are:
1. True love in marriage:
In The Gift of the Magi, the sense of real marital love appears through a couple of Della and Jim. Further, Della who is a lovely and loving wife sells her most beautiful part of the body (her long, brown, and shining hair) for giving her husband a Christmas gift (a gold wristwatch chain). Similarly, Jim sells his most valuable paternal gold wristwatch for gifting his wife a pair of jewelled combs on Christmas. So, these spouses express true love by sacrificing their most precious things for each other.
2. Poverty:
Poverty is the central theme around which the story, The Gifts revolves. So, the poor spouses sell their expensive belongings for buying each other's gifts at Christmas. Therefore, poverty is the key motivation in the story for Della and Jim' sacrifices for each other's pleasure.
3. Christmas:
The Gifts is a tale of spousal gifts at Christmas. Christmas is the day of the birth of God, Jesus Christ. It is a day of great merriment, grants, and celebration for Christians. On this day, Della and Jim (a married couple) sell their precious items for giving each other lovely memorable presents (tokens of love). Consequently, Christmas is the reason for given beautiful offerings between Della and Jim.
Genre:
The Gift of the Magi is an allegory.
Allegory:
Any work like a story, play, film, or poem is allegorical where there is the expression of symbolical characters and events for referring morals, religion, and politics.
Symbolism:
In The Gifts, Della and Jim are symbolical characters. Both spouses are symbols of Christ due to their great sacrifices for each other. Further, Jesus Christ lost everything even His life for humanity's peace or happiness. He is the symbol of calm, love, commitment, and sacrifice. So, Della and Jim sacrifice their most favourite and valuable properties for pacifying each other at Christmas. They are committed to each other even in poverty because they are in love. Also, when Della sells her hair and gets worried about losing Jim's interest in herself; Jim makes her relaxed by saying that her lost hair cannot lessen his love for her. Therefore, they are symbols of Jesus Christ for having merits like Him.
Irony:
The irony exists in The Gifts for spouses (Della and Jim) due to their ignorance before the end of the story about their temporary disability in using their Christmas gifts. It occurs that Della buys a gold chain for Jim's gold wristwatch which is useless for him because he sells that watch for buying Della's combs which are useless for her due to her short hair at that time.
Style and Tone:
The style of writing in The Gifts is narrative, and its tone is formal and sympathetic.
In short, The Gifts analysis or The Gift of the Magi analysis shows that people remain satisfied with their marriage by expressing true devotion for one another.