Motivation In The Gift Of A Magi

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Recommended: Literary analysis applied to The Gift of the Magi by O, Henry

Ms.Gehrsitz
“The Gift of a Magi”
In the short story “The Gift of a Magi” by O.Henry, a wife named Della and Jim need to get each other Christmas presents for tomorrow, but each of them on has $1.87. Della and Jim both give up their prized position; Della gives up her hair, and Jim gives up his watch to get each other a gift. They both get gifts for their prized possession they sold for money, so they need to wait until Jim gets a new watch and Della grows more hair. O.Henry uses revealing actions, description, and symbolism to show character motivation.
The author uses revealing actions to show characters motivation. Evidence that supports that O.Henry using revealing actions is when Della cuts off her hair for money to get Jim a Christmas present. Della cutting off her hair shows that she will do anything to please her husband. Another revealing action that demonstrates character motivation is when Jim sold his watch for money to get Della a Christmas present. Jim selling his watch shows what he will do to …show more content…

Evidence that shows O.Henry using description to show character motivation is when Della is looking through the glass and seems very gloomy because she only has one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy Jim a gift, when she realizes what she needed to do. Then Della cuts her hair off making her happier because now she can sell her hair for money. This describes Della’s emotion and thoughts as she is going through they day making really tough decisions. Another example of description to show character motivation is when Della is describing how important the watch is to Jim because it was passed down for so many generations, and for Jim to sell it for Della it shows that love is more important to him. This describes how old and important the watch is to his family, but he thinks Della is more important than anything. Both Jim and Della had made life changing decisions to get a present that is worth

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