A new interpretation of the story) Isn't it funny?)

The plot of the story and types of speech emloyed in it.

Today I’ll analyze the plot and types of speech employed in the story. Beginning to read I was confronted right away with the problem. Della has only $ 1.87 to buy a christmas present, and it’s Christmas Eve. When Della lets down her hair, we learn the other very important fact from the story: Della’s hair and Jim’s watch are the only possessions the couple has.

Everything is unfolded in the rest of the story with the help of dialogue and speeches of the main characters. Speeches in the story give us a particular relief  as they are like bridges from what we think may happen next to what is the way out and solution of  a certain unexpected twist or problem. Speeches are direct as they are presented in the form of a dialogue and inner (interior monologue) as they present the characters’ thoughts, ideas , beliefs and views. There are also cases of indirect speech which is transformed by the author.

The complication is when Jom arrives and stares at Della and can’t believe that she had her hair cut. He was shocked. Della couldn’t predict what his reaction might be. There comes suspense as we want to know what Jim is feeling, how he will react to Della’s gift.

The climax of the story is when Della opens Jim’s present to find the combs. We understand why Jim was so shocked when he saw Della with short hair. If only to think about where Jim got the money to buy those combs, we may guess what happens next. Suspense is when we’re still waiting to know how Jim will react to Della’s gift. We might find out where he got the money to buy those combs. 

The denoument is when Jim reveals that sold his watch to buy combs for Della. Their presents turn to be useless.The narrator tells us that it doesn’t really matter that Jim and Della’s presents turned out to be useless. They are the wisest of all as they are the magi.

The setting of "The Gift Of The Magi"

The action in “The Gift of the Mgi” takes place in New York City in a very modest apartment and in a hair shop down the street from the apartment. O. Henry sketches the flat with just enought detail to convey it’s image: cheap, sparsely furnished, broken mailbox and doorbell. Everything was grey: Della “looked out dully at a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard”. From the “gas” which Della lights and gadgets she has: a stove and curling irons, it can be said that the story is set about the time O. Henry wrote it – the first decade of the 20^th century). The setting is described in details and it contributes to the vision of poverty and hard life of the young family.

Porter does not mention New York by name, but he refers to Coney Island, the city's most famous amusement park, located in the borough of Brooklyn.This is Coney island:

 

Isn't it marvellous?

Porter lived in New York when he wrote and published the "The Gift of the Magi", so it he found it necessary to describe the setting around him.  The action takes place on a Christmas Eve. The drabness of the setting in which Jim and Della live create a contrast with the atmosphere of Christmas and the warmth and richness of their love for each other.