The document provides a detailed plot analysis of O. Henry's short story "The Gift of the Magi" in 7 sections. It summarizes the plot, identifies the quest plot structure, outlines the typical plot stages and elements in the story, discusses how the plot conveys the theme of sacrifice, and concludes by noting how the story alludes to Bible passages about God's love.

1. MID TEST ~ LITERATURE II
A Plot Analysis of the Gift of the Magi
Name : Tienny Makrus
Student ID : 0712150010
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING
CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA
JAKARTA – 2010

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Synopsis of the Gift of the Magi …………………………………………….. Page 1
II. Plot Type: The Quest ………………………………………………………….. Page 2
III. Stages and Elements of Plot ……………………………………………….. Page 4
IV. The Use of Plot to Present the Theme ……………………………....... Page 5
V. Conclusion ………………………………………………………………………….. Page 6

3. A Plot Analysis of the Gift of the Magi
[Tienny Makrus]
I. Synopsis of the Gift of the Magi
Jim and Della Young are a young couple living in a small
apartment. They have very little money -- Della only has $1.87 on
hand at the start of the story. It is almost Christmas.
Jim and Della each want to get the other a present. Jim wants
to get Della something for her beautiful hair (her most valued
possession). She wants to get him something for his watch -- his most
valued possession.
The problem is they don't have money. Della cuts her hair off
and sells it to get money to buy Jim a chain for his watch. He pawns
his watch to get her combs for her hair.
So now they don't have their treasures and the gifts are
worthless, but the narrator says they are wise for giving those gifts.
A Plot Analysis of the Gift of the Magi by Tienny Makrus Page 1

4. II. Plot Type: The Quest
The Call
Della wants to buy Jim a suitably amazing Christmas gift, but
doesn't have any money. We learn right away what Della's "quest" is: to
find the perfect present for Jim. We also know the problem she faces: she
doesn't have the money to buy the perfect present. Della is frustrated by
this and cries. Afterwards, she looks at her hair, and rushes out of the flat.
We get the sense she has made a fateful decision.
The Journey
Della sells her hair, and then it is shopping time. Della remedies her
initial problem with an epic sacrifice, and continues on her quest for the
perfect present. It takes two hours to find it.
Arrival and Frustration
Della finds Jim the watch chain and gets it. Mission accomplished.
Only now there's a new frustration: she realizes that Jim may be more
unhappy about her missing hair than pleased by his present. She tries to
make the best of her shortened hair with the help of a curling iron, though
she now looks like a schoolboy. She prepares for Jim's return.
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5. The Final Ordeals
Jim arrives and puts Della through a scare – he's shocked by her
hair, and she doesn't know what to make of his reaction. He recovers and
tells her to open his gift. She does, and finds the combs. Della is both
moved with joy and racked by sadness since her hair is gone. It remains
now to give Jim his present. Will he like it?
The Goal
Jim at last receives his gift from Della, only to tell her that he has
sold the watch for which it was intended. The action of the story stops
there, and we might feel a bit ambivalent (that is, we have two different
reactions): what's happened is touching, but was Della's now-useless
present actually a success? Was her quest successful? Luckily, the narrator
is there to take away those nasty second thoughts and assure us that yes,
it was, since her gift (along with Jim's) was the wisest of all.
A Plot Analysis of the Gift of the Magi by Tienny Makrus Page 3

6. III. Stages and Elements of Plot
A plot diagram for "The Gift of the Magi" would be:
a) Exposition: The background information about Jim and Della,
they are a married couple with little money. They scrape to get by.
It is Christmas time and they each want to buy the other a gift.
We learn that each has a prize possession. Della's hair and Jim's
watch.
b) Rising Action: After a good cry Della decides she must do
something to get money for a gift for Jim.
c) The climax: it occurs when Jim and Delia discover that Jim has
sold his watch to buy hair combs for Delia's now-short hair; the
fact that he no longer has a watch to attach the chain to
complete the irony.
d) Falling Action: She goes and buys Jim a platinum watch-chain.
Della waits at home for Jim, nervous about what he will think of
her hair. Jim comes home with a present of combs for her hair.
He has sold the watch to buy them.
e) Resolution: The gifts they bought are now useless. Jim and
Della are examples of sacrifice and love. Selflessness, their
actions, giving up their prize possessions in order to give to each
other makes them unique. They already possess the greatest gift
of all, love for each other.
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7. IV. The Use of Plot to Present the Theme
O. Henry success in making a simple chronological plot
interesting, another achievement of him in writing The Gift of the Magi
is his ability to effectively present the theme through plot.
In "The Gift of the Magi" the main complication stems from the
impoverishment of the young couple; Della and Jim simply do not have
enough money to purchase Christmas gifts for each other. This
problem is suggested in the exposition of O. Henry's poignant story:
The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former
period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid thirty
dollars per week. Now when the income was shrunk to twenty
dollars, the letter of 'Dillingham' looked blurred, as though they
were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and
unassuming D.
Also in the exposition, Della cries after counting her meager one
dollar and eighty-seven cents which will not pay for the beautiful watch
fob which she desires to give her husband for a Christmas present.
The resulting rising action that comes from this original
complication gives rise to Della's inner conflict of cutting her hair which
Jim loves and of which she is so proud. Jim, too, suffers from inner
conflicts resulting from the complication of penury as he wrestles with
the idea of selling his gold watch to buy the beautiful combs for his
wife's Christmas present.
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8. A touching plot, indeed--and relevant today in this material
world-- the story, "The Gift of the Magi," has a resolution to this
complication that many would do well to ponder. As O. Henry remarks,
"They [Della and Jim] are the wisest of all."
V. Conclusion
The narrator's perspective in that last paragraph, according to
which the gifts they've given each other are the "wisest" gifts of all, the
"gifts of the magi." If we agree, then of course they've succeeded in what
they wanted to do. Both Jim and Della have shown that they're willing to
sacrifice the most valuable thing they have to give something to the other.
That makes their "useless" gifts incredibly valuable after all: the selfless
love each feels for the other is embodied in those gifts. As long as they
have the gifts, they'll be able to remember it. That kind of thing can't be
bought. And it makes the gifts even more special and personal than what
they replaced.
Which leads us to another point before the exchange; Jim and Della
each had one prize possession. Each possession was valuable on its own
and belonged to each person individually. The watch was Jim's, and the
hair was Della's. Both possessions are sacrificed. In the exchange, each
gains something new, which doesn't have any sentimental value as a
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9. token of their love for each other. That love isn't something they have as
individuals; it's something they share together. So in the gift exchange,
the two of them come closer together in a very concrete way.
O. Henry assumes his reader's have a solid knowledge of the Bible
and will not only recognize but understand the allusions he uses in Gift of
the Magi.
Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered: After several attempts
to make Jim understand that she cut off her hair, Della desperately
cries out to her husband “Maybe the hairs of my head were
numbered," she went on with sudden serious sweetness, "but
nobody could ever count my love for you. Shall I put the chops on,
Jim?" Her cry is a direct reference to an incident in the Bible where
Jesus explains how deep God’s love is for His children.
“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is
forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all
numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.”
[KJV ~ Luke 12:6-7 6]
This allusion does two things, it clearly indicates the depth of
Della’s love for Jim and it also indicates Della’s understanding of God’s
love.
.
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10. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Henry, O. (William Sydney Porter). 1906. The Gift of the Magi. (in Pardede,
Parlindungan. 2006. An Introduction to the Study of Fiction.
Jakarta: FKIP-UKI)
Pardede, Parlindungan. 2006. Appendix 2: Samples of Analysis. Jakarta:
FKIP-UKI
Passage Luke 12:6-7 (King James Version). http://www.biblegateway.com