Excerpt from the book : ONE dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which ...
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Excerpt from the book : ONE dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. So Della did it. Which instigates the moral reflection that life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating. While the mistress of the home is gradually subsiding from the first stage to the second, take a look at the home. A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad. In the vestibule below was a letter-box into which no letter would go, and an electric button from which no mortal finger could coax a ring. Also appertaining thereunto was a card bearing the name "Mr. James Dillingham Young."
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The Gift of the Magi is one of many short stories written by O. Henry (1862-1910). Love and sacrifice are the dominant themes in this story. It concludes with an ironic twist. In fact, I use this story to teach my eighth graders the literary term of irony. Despite a few challenging vocabulary words, it can be easily understood, read aloud, and discussed in about thirty minutes. Again, this is a great story to teach not only about love and sacrifice but irony as well. Highly recommended.
KatieReads
Jan 31, 2008
Not the original version
The story has been changed from the original O. Henry version. Instead of a husband and wife, the characters are a brother and sister. I wish I had known this before I bought it for my husband for Christmas.