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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
One dollar and eighty-
seven cents. That was
all. And sixty cents of
it was in pennies.
We’re told that
someone has only
$1.87. That’s not
very much.
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
And a lot of it is in
pennies, as if
someone worked
hard to scrape it
together, a penny
at a time.
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
Pennies saved one
and two at a time by
bulldozing the grocer
and the vegetable
man and the butcher
until one's cheeks
burned with the silent
imputation of
parsimony that such
close dealing implied.
This part tells us
that the person who
saved the $1.87 did
it by arguing with
merchants about
prices and getting
them to come down
a penny or two at a
time.
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
Pennies saved one
and two at a time by
bulldozing the grocer
and the vegetable
man and the butcher
until one's cheeks
burned with the silent
imputation of
parsimony that such
close dealing implied.
That means that
the merchants
probably thought
the shopper was a
cheapskate!
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Being thought of as
cheap is what silent
imputation of
parsimony means.
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
Three times Della
counted it. One dollar
and eighty- seven
cents. And the next
day would be
Christmas.
The author now
tells us the name of
the person who is
trying to get some
money together:
Della.
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
And we find out
here that the story
takes place on the
day before
Christmas.
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
There was clearly
nothing to do but flop
down on the shabby
little couch and howl.
So Della did it. Which
instigates the moral
reflection that life is
made up of sobs,
sniffles, and smiles,
with sniffles
predominating.
Della doesn’t have
enough money, and
she’s upset about
it.
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Question 1 : Why
do you think she
might need
money?
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
There was clearly
nothing to do but flop
down on the shabby
little couch and howl.
So Della did it. Which
instigates the moral
reflection that life is
made up of sobs,
sniffles, and smiles,
with sniffles
predominating.
The author says
that life is made up
of sobs, sniffles,
and smiles, with
sniffles
predominating.
Annotated Gift of the Magi © 2007. All Rights Reserved.
This is his way of
saying that life is
happy sometimes,
sad sometimes, but
mostly in between.
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by O. Henry
The Gift of the Magi Annotated
There was clearly
nothing to do but flop
down on the shabby
little couch and howl.