“The Gift of the Magi” – Deciphering the Theme

Scott Cole

ENG 125 Introduction to Literature

Professor Patricia Vineski

6 Oct 2013

The theme of a story, as I’ve learned, is much more than what happened; this is the plot. Instead, the theme is much more; it “tells you what the story is about” (Clugston, 2010, para. 7.1). In order to decipher what the theme is, our text tells us to ask the question “how” a few different ways in order to come to a final conclusion. “How does the writer use setting to narrow the underlying idea? How do characters make particular aspects of the underlying idea clear? How does conflict reveal the strength or worth of the underlying idea?” (Clugston, 2010, para. 7.1). So, throughout this essay, I will be asking these questions, in order to come to a final conclusion as to what the theme of “The Gift of the Magi” really is. I will also discuss the plot, as well as some symbolism in the story that expands on the theme of the story. The plot, for The Gift of the Magi, is a short story about a couple, housed in a tiny apartment, living paycheck to paycheck. Christmas is just a few days away, and the Della, whom is the wife in the story, is struggling to find the perfect gift for her husband. Finally, after searching all over town, she comes across a fancy watch chain that is $20, and decides she must have it; the dilemma is she only has $1.87 to spend. After careful thought, she decides she will cut off her long, beautiful hair, and sell it in order to purchase this watch chain. The author gives you insight into how hard of a decision this really was. Both Della, and her husband, have their most valuable possessions; Della had her hair, and her husband had his watch. By cutting off her hair, Della is making a huge sacrifice, but she will be giving her husband a gift she knows he will love. This was an easy decision for her. Later in the story, when she gives her husband his watch chain, he sees what she did to her hair, and is speechless. For he had sold his gold watch in order to buy a special hair comb for Della. This ironic turn of events showed the reader how much they truly loved each other, and how much each of them was willing to sacrifice for the other. The first question I am to ask myself in order to narrow down what the theme of the story was “how does the writer use setting to narrow the underlying idea?” The writer, in the beginning of the story, painted a pretty good picture of how Della and her husband lived. He described their tiny apartment, and their lack of money to buy presents for each other. He also described how hard Della worked, as well as how long it took, to save up the $1.87 in order to buy the present. This allowed me to quickly understand that Della was deeply motivated to buy something nice for her husband, and to make Christmas special for him. After asking myself this first question, I believe the theme of the story has to deal with love. The second question I have to ask myself is “How do characters make particular aspects of the underlying idea clear?” As I described earlier, both Della and her husband demonstrated their unconditional love for each other by selling their most prized possessions in order to have enough money to buy the other a gift that would make Christmas extremely special. These selfless acts demonstrated their deep love for each other, and made it easy for the reader to see it, too. After asking this second question, I can narrow down the theme a little more to selfless acts of love. The third, and final, question our text wants me to ask is, “How does conflict reveal the strength or worth of the underlying idea?” At the end of the story, when they both realized what had happened (he sold his watch to buy the comb, and she sold her hair to buy the watch), the ironic events lead them both to find the humor it in, and to realize they love each other, despite the gifts and their possessions. Love doesn’t come from things, but from people and the acts of kindness they perform. By asking myself those 3 questions, it is easy for me to see the theme of the story was love. But after asking each question, I was able to narrow it down a little at a time. By the second question, I recognized that their selfless acts for each other were acts of love. By the third question, I came to the conclusion, that they loved each other, despite the treasures of their house, or their beloved personal possessions. So the theme for the story was “selfless acts of love”. This story had a lot of symbolism that I wanted to point out. The title, as well as the final paragraph, described what a Magi was; wise men, who brought gifts to the Babe (Jesus) after he was born. The reason the story compared the couple to the Magi was because of their selfless acts. The Wise-men brought extremely valuable gifts to Jesus, while the couple sold their most valuable possessions in order to buy a valuable present for the other. Both these acts were acts of kindness and love. This was an excellent story, with a wonderful theme; selfless acts of love. Throughout the plot, you were able to witness the generosity Della and her husband showed to each other, and how much they cared to each other, which set a wonderful, and happy, tone for the whole story. By asking the three “how” questions, I was able to narrow down what the theme of the story was very easily. Lastly, there was some symbolism between the main characters, and the Magi (Three Wise Men). The sacrifices Della, and her husband made, were symbolic of the journey and gifts the Three Wise Men brought to Jesus; both were selfless acts of love, and appreciation.
References
Clugston, R. (2010). Journey into Literature. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
The Gift of the Magi. (n.d.). Retrieved 10 06, 2013, from Honors English: https://honorsenglishi.wikispaces.com/The+Gift+of+the+Magi