UNIT 5: THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

UNIT 5: THE GIFT OF THE MAGI

WILLIAM SYDNEY PORTER (O. HENRY)
(1862-1910)

Type of work: Author: Type of plot: Locale: Time of plot:

Short story O. Henry Realistic romance America The second half of the 19th century

AUTHOR’S BIOGRAPHY
     William Sydney Porter (O. Henry) (1862-1910) was born in Greensboro, North Carolina, and died in New York City. At one time he was called “The American De Maupassant” Having survived both critical acclaim and vilification, he remains one of the most popular and entertaining short story writers in American literature. As a youth he worked as a clerk in his hometown, then traveled at the age of 19 to Texas, where he lived on a sheep ranch. Later he took a job of as bank teller in Austin and then as a columnist and cartoonist for the Houston Post. In 1896, O. Henry was indicted for the embezzlement of bank funds and sentenced to imprisonment. While in prison (1898-1901), he began to write short stories for the magazines under the pen name of ‘O. Henry’ (one Orrin Henry was serving as a guard in the Ohio prison to which O. Henry had been sent). After his release, O. Henry moved to New York, producing many stories which proved to be enormously popular all over the United States.
     O. Henry was famous chiefly for his short stories. His works are not great literature. The characters in his stories were usually ordinary simple people such as the poor workers in the cities. What brought him success probably was the ingenuity of plot–the ‘surprise ending’–the achievement of which depends much on accident and coincidence. This can be seen clearly in the following excerpt.
NOTES

the Magi: (in the Bible) the three wise men from the East who are said to have brought presents to the baby Jesus
Before reading
 

Activity 1:

+ Match the words in the left with the words in the right. Use one word for once only. Type the correct number in the box.

a. interesting	1. chain
b. grey	2. plan
c. long	3. hair
d. black	4. watch
e. future	5. story
f. Magi	6. king

Answers:

Activity 2:

+ What happens next in the story? Tick the boxes.

	Yes	Perhaps	No
a. Della is going to have her hair cut.
b. Della is going to do some shopping.

Answers:

While reading
Activity 3:
+ Listen to the speaker reading the last part of the story (from “Jim stopped inside the door” to the end) (from CD-ROM).
    “Jim stopped inside the door, as immovable as a setter at the scent of quail. His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her. It was not anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror, nor any of the sentiments that she had been prepared for. He simply stared at her fixedly with that peculiar expression on his face.
    Della wriggled off the table and went for him.
    “Jim, darling,” she cried, “Don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again–you don’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say ‘Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy. You don’t know what a nice–what a beautiful, nice gift I’ve got for you.”
    “You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim, laboriously, as if he had not arrived at that patent fact yet even after the hardest mental labor.
    “Cut it off and sold it,” said Della. “Don’t you like me just as well, anyhow? I’m me without my hair, ain’t I?”
    Jim looked about the room curiously.
    “You say your hair is gone?” he said, with an air almost of idiocy.
    “You needn’t look for it,” said Della. “It’s sold, I tell you–sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve, boy. Be good to me, for it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered,” she went on a sudden serious sweetness, “but nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on, Jim?”
    Out of his trance Jim seemed quickly to wake. He enfolded his Della. For ten seconds let us regard with discrete scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. Eight dollars a week or a million a year–what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them. This dark assertion will be illuminated later on.
    Jim drew a package from his overcoat package and threw it upon the table.
    “Don’t make any mistake, Dell,” he said, “about me. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”
    White fingers and nimble tore at the string and paper. And then an ecstatic scream of joy; and then, alas! a quick feminine change to hysterical tears and wails, necessitating the immediate employment of all the comforting powers of the lord of the flat.
    For there lay The Combs–the set of combs, side and back, that Dells had worshipped for long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims–just the shade to wear in the beautiful vanished hair. They were expensive combs, she knew, and her heart had simply craved and yearned over them without the least hope of possession. And now, they were hers, but the tresses that should have adorned the coveted adornments were gone.
    But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast, Jim!”
    And the Della leaped up like a little singed cat and cried, “Oh, oh!”
    Jim had not yet seen his beautiful present. She held it out to him eagerly upon her open palm. The dull precious metal seemed to flash with a reflection of her bright and ardent spirit.
    “Isn’t it a dandy, Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it.”
    Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled.
    “Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ’em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.”
    The magi, as you know, were wise men–wonderfully wise men–who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. But in the last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest. Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the magi.”

Activity 4:

+ Listen and repeat after the speaker:
immovable
terrified
patent
curiously
idiocy
sweetness
trance
scrutiny
inconsequential
mathematician
illuminated
ecstatic
hysterical
adornments
ardent
dandy
magi
duplication
chronicle
sacrificed
treasures

Activity 5:

+ Which words above have the following pronunciation? Type the words in the boxes.

a. /skru:twnw/
b. /wnk]nswkwen∫∂l/
c. /ekstætwk/
d. /mewd¥aw/
e. /dju:plwkew∫n/
f. /kr]nwkl/

Answers:

Activity 6:

+ Look at the picture. Does it tell you that:

	Yes	No
a. The old woman is going to cut Della’s hair.
b. The picture shows that Della has beautiful short hair.
c. Della is in her house.
d. The old woman is talking to Della.

Answers:

Activity 7:

+ Which of  the sentences is related to the picture?

a. “Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look like a truant schoolboy.”
b. “ She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically.”
c. “Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the glass.”
d. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight of the looks of it.”

Answer:

Activity 8:

+ Which of  the sentences is related to the picture?

a. “Jim, darling,” she cried, “Don’t look at me that way… I had my hair cut off…”
b. “Jim drew a package from his overcoat package and threw it upon the table.”
c. “Dell,” said he, “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em a while. They’re too nice to use just as presents. I sold the watch to get the money to buy you combs…”
d. “But she hugged them to her bosom, and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile..”

Answer:

Activity 9:

+ Who says this in the story?

	Jim	Della	Mrs. Sofronie
a. “Give it to me quick.”
b. “Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.”
c. “Don’t make any mistake about me”.
d. “..But if you unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.”
a. “Twenty dollars.”
b. “You say your hair is gone?”

Answers:

After reading
Activity 10:
+ Put the following sentences in the correct order. Number them 1-10. Type the correct number in the box.

a. Della visits Mrs. Sofronie.

b. Della gives Jim the gift.

c. Della sold her hair to buy a watch chain as a for Jim.

d. Jim gives the comb set to Della.

e. Della plans to give Jim a Christmas gift.

f. Della has only $1.87.

g. They love each other very much.

h. The story is about Jim and Della.

i. Jim sold his watch to buy a comb set for Della on Christmas.

k. They are great lovers.

Answers:

Activity 11:

+ Use the following words to correct eight mistakes in the story.

cold     love     surprise     big     difficult     famous     story

    O’ Henry’s short stories are usually ended with surprise. They are often about the prosperous (a) times of people in America from 1902 to 1910. Money is a small (b) problem for many characters in his stories. They work long days, and they live in warm (c) apartments with only a little food. O’ Henry writes about money (d) problems, too. Readers remember O. Henry’s stories because they never know how his stories are going to finish. He usually gives readers a feeling of hatred (e) .

Answers: