Analyse the Last Paragraph of the Story: the Gift of Magi

Name: Nông Ngọc Trâm

Class: 8A15

Q:  Analyse the last paragraph of the story: The gift of Magi.

      The Magi in Bible were the wise man who brought wonderful gifts to the Babe in the manger and invented the art of giving Christmas presents. They themselves come and give the Babe three most precious and meaningful gifts they have: Gold representing power, Frankincense- a symbol of priestly role and Myrrh- a prediction about death and embalming. In this story, Della was willing to sacrifice her most prized possession- her beautiful hair to buy a unique Christmas gift which was only deserved to her Jim. Vice versa, Jim also sold the gold watch to buy the set of combs for Della. They acted like the magi and readily sacrificed themself for each other (selling their most important and precious possessions). It can be seen that two gifts are the same valuable as the gifts of the magi. Moreover, all of them are wonderful and full of meaning gifts that Jim and Della gave from the heart to each other. In addition, the gifts also show the respect and sacrifice of Jim and Della. They care and love each other and present two gifts coming from the bottom of their heart. These gifts become a symbol of love with understanding, sacrifice and respect each other. To Jim and Della, their gifts are even more precious than the ones of magi.

     However, the Magi are people who give gifts, whereas Jim and Della are ones who both give and receive gifts. Jim and Della are mentioned in a detail:  “two foolish children” who “unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.” And then they are regarded as the wisest of all who give and receive gifts. The reason why they are the wisest is that Jim and Della are very wise in giving and receiving gifts to each other. Although these gifts are small and not luxurious like others, they contain their love and emotion. They give the most unique gifts to each other with their honest love and care. They understand what their partner love and want most when giving the gifts. Moreover, they also understand that the sacrifices are necessary to facilitate true love. Jim and Della, they are the magi.