Blog Entry 6

I really like O. Henry's "Gift of the Magi." It's very ironically romantic when Jim and Della find they have sold prized possessions to buy each other Christmas presents related to those prized possessions so now the presents can't be used. This is a story about gifts symbols of love. The gifts need to show you care, but they don't actually have to be useful. At the end of the story, Henry writes, "of all who give gifts these two were the wisest" (168). This statement suggests that Jim and Della are more wise than the magi, the wise kings who brought gifts to Christ in the Christmas story. Maybe this is because the kings could afford to bring the gifts they brought. They didn't have to take upaid leave from work. They didn't have to sell their prized possessions to raise money to purchase the gifts. Probably, they just picked up a little of whatever was lying around and brought it with them. Jim and Della, on the other hand, thought long and carefully about their gifts and sacrificed possessions that represented their own identities to give perfect gifts to one another. Maybe they know better than anyone else the spirit of Christmas, that it's not about gifts; it's about giving yourself in love to those you love and/or to Christ, if you're a believer. Nancy