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Kiara Riemland 2/5/09 Language Paragraph “The Gift of the Magi”

In O. Henry’s story, “The Gift of the Magi”, Della has many moods that she goes in and out of in the story. In the beginning of the story, Della is sad because she doesn’t have any money. Towards the middle of the story, Della’s mood changes and she becomes happy because she thought of a good idea. In the end of it, Della feels special, and loved because of Jim. Those are some mood changes Della has throughout the story, “The Gift of the Magi”. It is a few days before Christmas and Della started crying because she didn’t have any money left. She tried saving up for this day but it was hard to because of her job. Della felt really bad because she didn’t have any money to buy her husband, Jim, anything for Christmas. One day she says, “ I will cut my hair so I can get money for Jim.” When she goes down to get her haircut, she found out she will get twenty dollars for her hair. That is one reason why Della is so sad because she didn’t have any money to buy Jim a present. After Della got her hair cut for money, she went into town and stopped at a store that has a watch chain that Jim has been envying over. Della said, “ Wait till you see what gift I got you.” When she was thinking about cutting her hair, she became happy because she realized a gift that Jim had wanted forever. Since she was so sad because she couldn’t think of anything, she was really happy and excited when she decided to buy the watch chain. That is another mood that Della went through throughout the story. The last mood that Della went through in the story was at the end. When Jim showed her what he had gotten her for a present, she was extremely happy because she felt loved and special to Jim. Della said, “My hair grows so fast, Jim!” When he showed her that he had gotten her combs for her hair, she felt loved. That is the last mood that Della went through in the “Gift of the Magi” In the “Gift of the Magi”, Della was having many different moods because Christmas was almost there. Some of the moods she went through, was sad because she didn’t have any money, happy because she thought of a way to get money, and finally she felt loved because Jim had gotten her such a nice gift. That is what Della felt like throughout the “Gift of the Magi.”

Lydia Lenning 2/5/09 L.A. The Gift Of The Magi

“One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That’s all.” Della only had a dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a gift for her husband, Jim, and Christmas was only a day away. In “ The Gift of the Magi”, by O. Henry, Della and Jim do whatever they can to get each other nice gifts. Both Jim and Della were clueless when they went to so much trouble to get the gifts.

Della was clueless when she cut her hair in order to buy Jim a fob. When Jim got home and gave Della her combs and she gave him his fob for his watch, he said, “ I sold the watch so I could have the money to buy your combs.” This shows that Della should not have gone to so much trouble, even though she cared for him, to get him the fob when he had sold the watch for her.

Jim was clueless when he sold his watch to buy Della expensive combs. When Jim came home and saw her short hair Della said, “ Its sold I tell you—sold and gone.” Jim, even though he cared for Della very much, should have not bought her something so expensive by selling his watch to get her the combs before he knew her hair was cut.

Both Jim and Della are clueless when they think they need to buy each other nice gifts even though they are poor. When Jim comes home and gives Della her combs, he says, " Dell, lets put our Christmas gifts away and keep ‘em a while. They are too nice to use just at present. This shows that they were clueless and didn’t need to go to all the trouble to get each other nice, expensive gifts. In the end they realized they had each other and that was enough.

So, Della and Jim cared for each other very much, and they went to a lot of trouble to get each other nice gifts. They later found out that they had sold something that the other had gotten a present for, and they realized that they didn’t know what they all ready had because they all ready had each other.

Sammie Mesman Language 2-5-09 “The Gift of the Magi”

How can you buy a wonderful gift for someone special during Christmas Eve if you’re extremely poor? The title of the story I have just read is “The Gift of the Magi”. O. Henry writes “The Gift of the Magi”. Della and Jim are a married couple. Today is Christmas and they are trying to find the best gift for each other. The only obstacle standing in Della and Jim’s way is money. The couple are very poor but they some how they manage to make each other happy. The setting of the story is in the past during Christmas Eve. The irony of the story is that they give up their prize possessions only to get a gift for each other, but the gift itself is the prize possesion. Lastly, the theme of the story is you can’t buy happiness.

Della only has $1.87 on Christmas Eve. She has no clue what to buy her husband who means a lot to her. She gets an idea while looking at her hair, which fell below her knees. Della rushes out to a barbershop saying, “ Will you buy my hair?” This statement from Della shows that she is willing to sell anything just to buy something nice for her husband. She is very desperate just to get anything for the twenty dollars she earned for selling her hair.

Della came home with the perfect gift, a beautiful chain to go with her husbands watch. She put the food on the stove. Her husband, Jim always came home exactly on time and Della was getting nervous. She whispered to God,” Please God make him think that I’m still pretty.” This supports the topic because she is willing to do anything just to get a gift for her husband. Della is giving up her beauty and her prize possession.

When Jim came home he surprised Della. Jim didn’t seem to see or care if Della cut off her long brown hair. Jim said to Della, “Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, ”about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going in the first place.” This supports the topic because it shows that Jim likes Della no matter what shape she is in.

Buying a wonderful gift for someone special during Christmas is good but it’s mainly the thought that counts. The setting of the story is during Christmas Eve. The story “The Gift of the Magi” shows you that money cannot buy happiness.