Dillingham Youngs Use Of Sacrifice In The Gift Of The Magi

The Most Precious Present Many times we express our love by giving presents that we can afford, but real love is shown through sacrificing to make the other person happy. This is why the couple in O. Henry’s, “The Gift of the Magi,” stay hopeful and their love remains, considering all the circumstances of financial difficulties. The theme is then inferred to be that love is shown through the sacrifices made not the possessions given. Henry supported this theme by the use of foreshadowing, internal conflict, and situational irony. To present the Dillingham Youngs’ strong love, despite their many financial and economical struggles, Henry states the couple’s most valuable belongings at the beginning. This foreshadows that the characters might

Starting with the first sentence of the story, Della had been mainly thinking about buying a nice present for Jim and reconsidering the one dollar and eighty-seven cents. She was struggling trying to figure out how to get a nice present. She was so dismal that she thought it was hopeless before deciding to cut her hair: “There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl” (350). This is showing how the matter was really important for Della, and she had been thinking too much that she began breaking down and crying. She thought the situation was so hopeless that she just “flopped down” which shows that she was so hopeless and had a heavy burden that she believed she had to do something, but didn’t know how. She also didn’t only cry, but was “howling.” She just had no solution and this caused a tremendous inner pain that she was just putting all of her pain and emotions into a howl. The reader is left with sympathy toward Della and perplexed why would this caused that much pain and will cause her to sell her most precious possession, her hair. It is then concluded that her sacrifice and pain was the most valuable present and what showed a tremendous amount of real