Notes

-Which of the following terms BEST describes Jim and Della’s marriage?
C. loving


-Briefly describe the opposing forces of Della’s conflict..?
Della’s problem is how to buy the gift she wants to give Jim with the amount of money she has. Her conflict leads to the bigger conflict that involves both Della’s and Jim’s gifts and how they manage to buy them.


-Describe the ironic turn of events that leads Jim to say at the end of the story, “ . . . let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ’em a while. . . . ”?
Jim has gotten Della beautiful hair combs by selling his watch; Della has gotten Jim a nice watch chain by selling her hair. Their sacrifices have resulted in neither having the means to use the gifts they have received.


-Which of the following statements is FALSE?
C. The suffix of inconsequential is sequential, and the affix changes the word from a noun to a verb.



-Which of the following questions might a reader ask in order to clarify the meaning of this passage? His eyes were fixed upon Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read, and it terrified her.
C. Why does the look on Jim’s face frighten Della?


At the beginning of the story “The Gift of the Magi,” descriptive details create a specific picture of Jim and Della’s living situation. Write an essay explaining what that situation is, which key details create it, and what conclusion can be drawn about Jim and Della from those details.
-The following details describe an impoverished living situation: “shabby little couch,” the empty letter box, and the broken electric doorbell. Della counts her $1.87 three times, indicating that Jim and Della are struggling to make ends meet.



Affixes include prefixes and suffixes.
Please select the best answer from the choices provided~
-True



Read the passage below. Which of the following sentences BEST explains the description in it?
With that chain on his watch Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company. Grand as the watch was, he sometimes looked at it on the sly on account of the old leather strap that he used in place of a chain.
-D. Jim was embarrassed about not having a chain for the watch



Why is “The Gift of the Magi” a good example of situational irony? What effect does this type of irony have on the reader? Support your ideas with details from the text.
-Situational irony is a form of irony in which events not only take us by surprise but are the opposite of what we might expect. In “The Gift of the Magi,” a twist of fate turns an entire situation on its head, resulting in a series of events for which we—as well as the story characters—are unprepared. This kind of situational irony is called a surprise ending. We are completely unprepared for the fact that Jim’s present to Della—a set of combs for her long, beautiful hair—is useless to her. Further, we don’t find out until Jim’s disclosure that, in order to buy Della the combs, he sold his watch. The sale makes Della’s gift to him—a watch chain—as useless as the combs. The situational irony lies in our expectation that Della’s gift to Jim would be perfect. As it turns out, she and he couldn’t have made worse practical choices. Nevertheless, we know that their sacrifice is the real and the best gift.



The story’s irony is based on the fact that life is __________.?
-A. unpredictable



O. Henry describes Jim and Della as “two foolish children” in “The Gift of the Magi.” He also describes them as “the wisest of all.” In what ways are Jim and Della foolish? In what ways are they wise? How is it possible for them to be both foolish and wise? Support your responses with evidence from the story.
-Jim and Della are foolish to sell their greatest treasures for expensive gifts that they cannot otherwise afford. More practical gift choices would have been a warm coat or gloves for the winter season. However, in their foolishness, Jim and Della demonstrate their wise instinct to sacrifice what is dearest to them in order to give to the other. They are foolish in their choices, but wise in their love for each other.



Define "inconsequential."?
-B. without consequence; not important



Select Della's character type.?
-D. archetype