5.08: The Gift of the Magi

5.08: The Gift of the Magi

by: O. Henry

For this blog, I’ve chosen to read the short story by O. Henry, “The Gift of the Magi”. This story was beautiful; it was a holiday love story about a couple who is extremely poor and has two prized possessions- the girl’s hair and the guy’s watch which they both had to sacrifice. I believe the author’s intent in this story was to show us that material things aren’t worth anything if what’s inside us isn’t valuable. This story had a chronological organization, in which the author took us from scene to scene. This story also had many allusions in it, which gave it an artistic and realistic feel. I personally loved this story. It had romance and a beautiful little Christmas feeling, which always makes me feel like a kid again but now it was more grown-up because we see how this couple sacrificed themselves for one another. I really liked the fact that it was realistic and probably did happen to someone before. The romance part was definitely my favorite part- I love the idea of “love”. I thought it was the sweetest thing ever how they were so selfless and did do something to make the other happy, it reminded me of something my parents would do for each other. I really also liked the way O.Henry writes, it’s extremely interesting and has a life lesson behind it, which I think is awesome, because the theme of love is an amazing topic that definitely should be addressed nowadays.