H5_Short stories_The Gift of the Magi

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo lwoo, havo
• Leerjaar 5

This week's objectives

Tuesday - The Gift of the Magi / room for mentor talks

Wednesday - Mock test period 2 (grammar/vocab) / room for mentor talks

Next class (after test week): 

• Read "Mr. Know-all" & answer the questions
• Review previous short stories
• Reading practice & informal letter writing practice 

1) What is the dilemma Della faces at the beginning of the story?
2) What does it make her do?

Describe the setting of the story & specifically the flat they live in.

The protagonist(s) in "The Gift of the Magi" is/are:

1. The three wise men
2. The wigmaker (person cutting off Della's hair)
3. Jim
4. Jim and Della

What is the external conflict in this story?

What is the internal conflict of this story?

What is the climax of the story?

1. When Della cuts off her hair
2. When Della opens her gift
3. When Jim opens his gift
4. When Jim tells her he has sold his watch

Who are the Magi (in the bible)

1. The three kings - wise men - who brought gifts to baby Jezus
2. Joseph, Maria and baby Jezus
3. The 3 disciples
4. Jim, Della and Jezus

Explain the title & why the Magi are made part of the story

What is the theme of the story?

Answers to the Gift of the Magi

1. She had hardly any money to buy Jim a Christmas present, and she really wanted to

2. It made her sell her long hair to a wig-maker who paid her 20 dollars for it

3. Section 7: On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat

Section 11: He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves.

4. Flat in an American city, probably first half of the 20th century

5. Their flat was cheap, and even that amount was hard for them to pay. The flat was

old, no doorbell, broken letter box, poor interior

6. Both are protagonists, both solve the problem of not having any money to buy each

other a Christmas present.

Answers to the Gift of the Magi

7. External and internal conflicts

8. External: man versus circumstances, in this case poverty

Internal: the internal struggle to sell your most prized possession for a gift

9. End of section 14, when Jim tells her he sold his watch

10. They each give each other gifts they cannot use anymore, because the hair for the

combs is gone, and the watch for the chain is gone too

11. They are the three kings who came to visit Jesus to bring gifts after he was born. In

those days it was customary to bring gifts, from one king to another. In the case of

Jim and Della, the gifts were exchanged out of pure unconditional love, which is even

better, so they are wiser than the wise men

Answers to the Gift of the Magi

12. Section 12 ( "The Magi brought valuable gifts")

13. Sacrifice: they gave up on their most valuable possessions out of sheer love. For that

reason, unconditional love might also be a theme.