“The Gift of the Magi” By: Camden Grant, Jasper Raines, & Jerrod Hathcock

Author Slide: O. Henry (1862 – 1910) Born in Greensboro, North Carolina Real name – William Sydney Porter Started writing career writing 1 story a week for the magazine section of the New York World’s Sunday edition. Became a bank teller in Austin, Texas when he was 20. Later married and became a reporter and columnist for the Houston Post.

Author Slide: O. Henry (Cont.) Spent 3 years in jail in Ohio after his wife died His wife’s cause of death was tuberculosis, and he was accused of stealing money from the bank he previously worked at to pay her medical bills. Wrote most of the stories that made him famous while in jail. Known for plot twists and surprise endings. Now has an award named after him that honors the authors of the best stories printed each year in American magazines.

Vocabulary 1.Imputation – an accusation 2.Parsimony – stinginess 3.Depreciate – to lessen the price or value of 4.Prudence – caution; good judgment

Vocabulary Sentences My brother said that I was being mean to him, and I didn’t like the imputation because it was untruthful. The Grinch is known for his parsimony attitude because he rarely shares. I accidentally left my favorite jacket outside in the bad weather, and the rain depreciated the value of the jacket. Prudence is a good quality to have when you live in a bad neighborhood.

Relevant Vocab. Pictures

Theme The theme of this story is that being willing to sacrifice for someone else is the best way to show you care. In the story, both of the characters want to get the other something they would like and they are both ready to give up their prized possessions. In the end, neither of them was actually able to use the gifts they received. However, they both still had good Christmases, because the thought is what really matters.

Elements of the Plot Characters: Della and Jim Setting: A flat in New York Basic situation: Della does not have enough money to buy her husband a gift for Christmas. Internal conflict: Della knows she has to sell her hair to buy her husband a gift, but her hair is what she loves the most about herself.

Elements of the Plot (Cont.) External conflict: None Complications: Della doesn’t have enough money for the fob chain she wants to buy Jim. Climax: Della gets her hair cut off. Resolution: Jim sees Della with short hair and still loves her; each character loves their gift even though they can’t use them.

Literary Element The literary element of the short story “The Gift of the Magi” is a symbol. A symbol is any object, person, place, or experience that represents something else, usually something abstract. The best example of a symbol in this short story is Della’s hair. It is beautiful and cascades far down her body, and it is a symbol of her beauty.

“Dig Deeper” With this short story, O. Henry may have been trying to portray a happy couple, and show that you don’t have to be rich to be happy. This story also would lead the reader to think that O. Henry was poor as a child because the two main characters of the story are poor.