The Gift of the Magi | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 7 pages of analysis & critique of The Gift of the Magi.

The Gift of the Magi | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 7 pages of analysis & critique of The Gift of the Magi.
This section contains 1,634 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by John A. Rea

SOURCE: “The Idea for O. Henry's ‘Gift of the Magi,’” in Southern Humanities Review, Vol. 7, No. 3, Summer, 1973, pp. 311–14.

In the following essay, Rea investigates possible sources for the story of “The Gift of the Magi.”

There are two accounts, differing in significant details, of how O. Henry wrote “The Gift of the Magi,”1 but neither indicates a source for the “gimmick” on which the story rests. Since we intend to suggest such a source, these accounts are worth examining. According to one version,2 Dan Smith sought out O. Henry, whose Christmas story he was to illustrate for the World. O. Henry, who had not yet even an idea for the story, told Smith to proceed with an illustration whose elements he suggested. The author would then fit his story to the picture, a story he later wrote while his friend Lindsey Denison lay on a sofa. In the...

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This section contains 1,634 words
(approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by John A. Rea
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Critical Essay by John A. Rea from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.