Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Thought of Sacrifice

Author's Note~ This is my analysis piece that I want to score a 9 in text analysis.  I inserted a quote as well to improve my score.


The sacrifice that someone can do for someone can be unbelievable at some times.  In The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry a couple sacrifice their own favorite possessions for each other.  In the short story Della had her hair cut off to buy a gift for her husband watch, while her husband Jim sold his watch away to buy her a really nice comb set.  O. Henry was able to show a perfect example of how people  sacrifice things for each other.

The tone from this story is evident from the beginning.  The tone was sacrificing for others.  As a nice person I myself try to sacrifice time for others.  I believe that even though I have a better life than the poor I should still designate time to help them out and sacrifice myself.  People think that sacrificing your time can be a hard thing.  It really isn't  with the charities today you can even sacrifice an old teddy bear or a used coat you don’t want anymore.  Like the say one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  Della could have kept her hair and not got her husband anything but  she sacrificed her hair because she cares for her husband. "If Jim doesn't kill me," she said to herself, "before he takes a second look at me, he'll say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl. But what could I do--oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty- seven cents?" pg.2 

Sacrificing things for loved ones happens all the time, like The Hunger Games.  Katniss sacrificed herself to help save Peeta in the cave.  In the Hunger Games you can see how much the games made them care about each other and then it caused Katniss to save Peeta's life.  Also just like in the story it is clear that Della and Jim sacrifice a possession for each others love.  As the tone changes you can tell that when they revealed their gifts they were awestruck.   Both of them were surprised but knew that they had given up something for each other.

Being awestruck at first sight I believe this also taught you a lesson and at the end the tone was clear.  As you read the last paragraph you saw that all though these people may have been considered foolish, they are considered the wisest because they gave and received.  When you think about sacrificing something sometimes it is worth thinking if they would sacrifice something from you.  That is what I learned from this piece.  From Jim giving up his biggest possession and same with Della they both thought that there plan would be perfect, well it turned out that they were wrong but sacrificed a lot.

The whole tone of the story is the thought of sacrificing something that you may not want to do.  Evident through the story the tone changed towards the end and the characters learned a lesson and that they should always think before they sacrifice their most prized possessions.  Showing how people sacrifice things for others O. Henry showed a perfect example of how people were able to learn a lesson while doing something right.

1 comment:

  1. I like how you described how Della sacirficed her hair to afford enough money to by a watch for her husband. Also, I like how you gave examples of parts from different books.

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