“Gift of a Magi” Essay
In “The Gift of a Magi,” the theme is the most important literary element and is the “driving force” in the story. The theme can be that love and sacrifice is treasured above all else. The theme is showed when Della and Jim sell their most prized possession, which is the sacrifice, and buys each other a gift, which is the love. This led to Della and Jim being portrayed as foolish and childish, but they treasured that ironic moment which was filled with love and sacrifice, and set aside their materials gifts. Also, the author’s focus of writing the story was to get the theme across to the reader. This is because the author did believe the theme was true. This is captured when O. Henry says, “Let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest.” The author meant Della and Jim when he said this. The theme therefore can be described as the foundation of the story, so if there was no theme, the whole story would fall apart. So since theme is established as a foundation it affects most of the literary elements but it is also affected by two others. Finally, theme is the main literary element since it plays a big role in the story since the author actually believes it and therefore wants to get it across to the reader.
First, theme affects irony. The irony happens when the reader finds out that Della bought a fob chain for Jim’s watch and sells her hair to get it but it is immediately found out later in the story that Jim sold his gold watch to get combs for Della’s hair. Irony is affected by theme because if the author did not think love and sacrifice was treasured above all, he would not create the irony. This is because at the same time, the irony helps the author get his point across that love and sacrifice are treasured above all else since this belief is described and shown by the irony. Irony affects the mood since the irony changes the reader’s feelings. Throughout the story, the reader feel anxious because he or she does not know what Della will do to buy Jim a present and is on the edge of his or her seat when Della cuts her hair. The mood changes after the ironic sacrifice and then the reader feels uplifted because of the character’s love and willingness to sacrifice. Next, irony is affected by point of view and conflict. Irony is affected by conflict because since the author knows only Della’s thoughts or third person limited, the irony is not given away by the thoughts of Jim. This is because if the reader knew that Jim has sold his watch to get Della combs for her hair, the reader would expect the ironic sacrifice and there would be no surprise. Irony is affected by conflict because if Della was not in a battle with herself, which is Person versus self, Della would not sell her hair which is one step of the irony and if Della and Jim were not poor, which is person versus society, they would not have to sacrifice so much. This also ties in with setting because if the story did not happen during Christmas time, the characters would not be in such a rush to get gifts for each other. Finally, irony is affected by tone because the author creates the irony to complete his agenda of getting the theme across.
