O. Henry – biography
“O. Henry” is the
pseudonym of the
author William
Sidney Porter.
Porter was born in
Greensboro, NC in
1862.
O. Henry – biography
Porter grew up in Greensboro, NC, looked after by
his grandmother and aunt.
He later moved to Houston, Texas, where he
worked as a banker. He was jailed in 1898 for
embezzlement (stealing money from a company).
While in prison, he wrote and sold short stories to
make money to support his daughter, Margaret.
Calling himself “O. Henry,” Porter became a
successful author, but died in 1910 of an illness
caused by alcoholism. He was only 47 years old.
O. Henry – biography
He is famous for:
► Plot “twists”
• Most of O. Henry’s stories have surprise, or “twist”
endings.
• These surprise endings are caused by irony in the story:
one character often doesn’t know something that the other
does know.
► Detailed descriptions & imagery
• O. Henry’s stories usually have very clear and detailed
descriptions of characters and settings.
► Ordinary people as characters
• The characters in these stories often have common jobs
(policemen, waitresses, etc) and face common problems
(poverty, crime, etc).
O. Henry monuments
in Greensboro
North Elm Street,
downtown Greensboro
Warm Up
►
What are some strange gifts you have received?
►
Have you ever received or given a gift that
ended up being ironic?
MAIN CHARACTERS
Della
(the heroine of the whole story, a girl
who had long hair in the beginning)
Jim
(the male leading role of the story who
was loved by Della)
SETTING
New York City,
Christmas Eve
(the story was published in 1906)
Vocabulary
Literary Analysis
Plot is the sequence of events that make up a story.
Plot is divided into 5 sections: Exposition, rising
action, climax, falling action and resolution.
Plot Structure
Plot Structure
Exposition – The scene is set and background
information is provided
Rising Action – The central conflict is introduced
Climax – The high point of conflict
Falling action – The conflict lessens
Resolution – The conflict concludes
Exposition
* It’s Christmas Eve.
* Della only has $1.87 for her
husband’s gift.
Rising Action
* A coat and gloves are everyday things. Della
wanted her gift to be something special that
would show Jim how much she loved him.
Conflict
* The conflict is between Della’s poverty and
her desire to buy something special for Jim.
* Another small conflict is that Della wants to
save money but at the same time does not
want to seem stingy.
The climax of the story
* The climax of the story is when Jim receives
his watch chain and the reader and Della are
waiting for his reaction.
* It could be said that when Jim gives Della the
combs is the climax.
Falling Action
*Jim has given her the set of fancy combs she's
wanted for ages, only now she has no hair for
them.
*She gives Jim present, holding out the watch
chain. Jim smiles, falling back on the couch. He
sold his watch to buy Della's combs.
Solution
* They put away their presents and have dinner.
* The narrator brings the story to a close by
pronouncing that Della and Jim are the wisest of
everyone who gives gifts. They are the magi.
The Ironic Twist of this O. Henry Story
* Jim’s and Della’s gifts are now useless
because each person sold their most prized
possession to get the other one their gift.
* The hair combs are no good without hair and
the watch chain is no good without a watch.
Figure of Speech
Irony
♥3 types:
Dramatic: You know something that the
characters do not
Situational: Something unexpected happens
Verbal: What is said is different than what is
meant.
Ex: Outcome of the gifts
Hyperbole
♥ Truth is exaggerated for a humorous effect
Ex: Queen of Sheba and King Soloman would
be jealous of Della’s hair and Jim’s watch.
Idiom
♥ A group of words that has a special meaning that
is different from the ordinary meaning of each
separate word
EX: “bulldozing” (p. 153) – to cheat someone
Personification
♥ Giving human-like qualities to inanimate
objects
EX: “her heart had simply craved and yearned
over them” (P. 157)
Metaphor
♥ Comparison between two unlike things that
share similar qualities
EX: Comparison between Jim/Della and
the Magi
Simile
♥ Comparison between two things using “like”
or “as”
EX: P. 154 – description of Della’s hair
“rippling and shining like a cascade of brown
waters”
Summary
Long time ago, there were a couple who were poor but in deep
love with each other, and they had two things they were proud of
and cherished very much, Della’s long hair and Jim’s pocket watch.
One day, Della were worried because Christmas Day was
coming and she needed money to buy a gift for Jim. So she had no
choice but to cut and sell her hair to Madame to get money. Having
enough money from selling her hair, Della bought a watch chain
for her husband's most treasured watch, but when her husband
came home and saw what she had done to her hair he just looked
at her in idiocy, for he had bought a set of beautiful combs and for
the cost of it he had sold the watch.
QUESTIONS
1. Why was the story entitled “The Gift Of The Magi”?
2. What would you do if you were Della or Jim?
3. If you were Della, would you cut your hair to have
money?
4. What do you think of O. Henry’s comments in the last
paragraph of this story?
5. What is the real “gift” referred to in the title? (Notice
that O. Henry says “gift,” not “gifts.”)
6. Under what circumstances would you give up a
cherished possession—as Jim and Della did?