The Gift of Magi(summary and comments)《麦琪的礼物》概括与感想.doc

The Gift of MagiThe James family faced a tight budget after Mr. James income was shrunk to $20 per week. The day before Christmas, the fact that Della, James wife, got only $1.87 to buy a present for her husband disposed her to melancholy. After some hesitation, Della decided to sell her beautiful brown hair for twenty dollars. Della spent hours on finding a suitable gift. Finally, her eyes were fixed on a platinum fob chain. The fop chain cost Della $21. Expensive as it was, Della thought it worth the price. Della felt a little worry about her short hair when she reached home: will James think she is ugly? After a long time waiting, James came back home. Strangely, James gave a peculiar expression which Della failed to understand when he saw her short hair. In fact, James bought a set of combs as Christmas gift for Della. Both of their Christmas presents may not be used on Christmas day, but the gifts showed their love toward each other and therefore are meaningful.The Gift of Magi gives an accurate description of Dellas mental process. A series of action such as “flop down” and “howl” indicated her helplessness, disappointment and melancholy. The behavior she did before sold her hair is also very vivid. For example, “And then she did it up again nervously and quickly” and “Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet”. Those sentences suggested her conflicting thoughts. After all, she is a girl and girls always desire to look attractive. But she loves her husband so much that she was willing to sacrifice. O. Henry successfully presented the figure of a wife as well as a woman by portraying Dellas behavior and words. Another shining point of this novel is its compact structure. Wordy and tedious narrating is avoided while abundant details help readers to understand the story better. The depiction of Della when she chose gifts foreshadows the climax of the story.The strange look and weird questions given by Jim also make foreshadowing for the following plots. The most well-known advantage of O. Henry novel is its unexpected ending. The Gift of Magi has surprised ending, too. The ending is warm and loving. Jim and Dellas gifts are costly and perhaps useless yet they thought those gifts are meaningful. The writer gives his opinion in the end that the sorrow of poverty can be swept away by love. Those who sacrificed for each other can receive great happiness in return.I read The Gift of Magi when I was in primary school and until now I still enjoy reading it not only for the well-developed plot but also for the theme of love. By using gifts as clue this story praises the love and scarify between wife and husband. When readers put more thoughts on the ending they usually gain a different view toward what is the best gift and how important gifts are. With the wheels of market economy roll forward, a growing number of people in China now attach more