Richness In Poverty In O. Henry's The Gift Of The Magi

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Many people say they are rich in poverty, that doesn’t mean they have a bunch of money, it just means they are thankful for what they have and they appreciate it all. Richness in poverty can have different meaning all depending on what type of mentality those people have. You can live in poverty and have a couple of nice things and that’s your wealth or your richness in poverty can also just be the love you share with others. In “The Gift of the Magi”, O. Henry illustrates what the meaning of “richness in poverty” means to the main characters. In the story”The Gift of the Magi”, the way the main characters show their richness in poverty is by making sacrifices of their own to try to get each other something on Christmas. Being humble and sacrificing …show more content…
Henry, what richness in poverty means to the main characters is just simply their love for each other. They both had one thing each that they valued and treasured, Della Dillingham’s “beautiful, brown, knee-length hair” and Jim’s gold watch. In the story, it is Christmas time and Della only has $1.87 and wanted to buy something for Jim, but she knew she couldn’t afford it. That didn’t stop her from getting him something, so she went to go sell her hair for $20 and then bought the platinum watch chain for Jim’s watch. Della sells her hair to be able to buy something for Jim, she gives up something that was treasured between the two just to get something for the love of her life. She thought about Jim over herself, she remained humble and put someone else before herself, that is a great example for richness in poverty, love was her wealth. She of course thought that Jim wouldn’t approve of the hair cut, but she did what she had to do to get him a good present. When Jim got home, he was stuck on her hair, and after a while he snaps out of it and explains that when she opens her gift she would understand the face he made. When she opened it, she saw that they were the fancy combs that she has wanted for the longest time. She was so surprised and then she started asking him how he got them for her and Jim explains that he had to sell his watch to get them. She then shows him his gift, the platinum watch chain, and Jim sat down and kind of smiled. So the main characters sacrificed their most treasured just to get each other something good for Christmas. Even though they had little, they tried hard to make each other happy. They weren’t rich, but they were happy, happy at the fact that they gave up their valuables for one another, happy that they loved each other, that was their richness in

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