An Analysis of The Gift of the Magi
I have read “The Gift of the Magi”. As I was reading this tale over and over again, I discovered that the theme of this tale is sacrificial love. To me, selfless love means self-sacrifice out of the pure motive of loving someone who is ready to do whatever it took to ensure the happiness and security of their loved ones. While reading this particular story, I was taken back to a time where I was a young child and saw my mom make similar kind of sacrifices so that my brothers and sisters and I would have things.
One of the literary elements I have identified within the story is the part where she knows that the most precious thing that she owns she may have to sell in order to get her husband a nice Christmas gift. The precious thing is her hair. Once she decided that it was the only thing that she could get her the money to buy him a gift, she went and got it done. Her hair was beautiful and it must hurt her to get it cut. It got her $20.00 though. She went and got her husband a gift with that money but was then worried about how her husband would see her.
The second literary element that I saw was the husband’s sacrifice. The husband went and sold his expensive watch because he too wanted to get his wife something special for Christmas. He actually bought her a set of beautiful combs for her beautiful hair. When he came home from work and saw that she had cut her hair to buy him a gift, he was very touched. I believe he had to be sad as well knowing his wife sacrificed her hair to get him a Christmas gift too.
The two literary themes that I have pointed out affect the theme because they both exemplify exactly what sacrificial love is. The couple was very poor and they both gave up the most valuable items they had to make each other happy. I loved the story and the theme was pure.
