Ist Yr in course Exam for Prose-- The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi

The story opens with $1.87. That's all Della Dillingham Young has to buy a present for her beloved husband, Jim. And the next day is Christmas. Faced with such a situation, Della promptly bursts into tears on the couch, which gives the narrator the opportunity to tell us a bit more about the situation of Jim and Della. The short of it is they live in a shabby flat and they're poor. But they love each other.

Once Della's recovered herself, she goes to a mirror to let down her hair and examine it. Della's beautiful, brown, knee-length hair is one of the two great treasures of the poor couple. The other is Jim's gold watch. Her hair examined, Della puts it back up, sheds a tear, and bundles up to head out into the cold. She leaves the flat and walks to Madame Sofronie's hair goods shop, where she sells her hair for twenty bucks. Now she has $21.87 cents.

With her new funds, Della is able to find Jim the perfect present: an elegant platinum watch chain for his watch. It's $21, and she buys it. Excited by her gift, Della returns home and tries to make her now-short hair presentable (with a curling iron). She's not convinced Jim will approve, but she did what she had to do to get him a good present. When she finishes with her hair, she gets to work preparing coffee and dinner.

Jim arrives at 7pm to find Della waiting by the door and stares fixedly at her, not able to understand that Della's hair is gone. Della can't understand quite what his reaction means. 

After a little while, Jim snaps out of it and gives Della her present, explaining that his reaction will make sense when she opens it. Della opens it and cries out in joy, only to burst into tears immediately afterward. Jim has given her the set of fancy combs she's wanted for ages, only now she has no hair for them. Jim nurses Della out of her sobs. Once she's recovered she gives Jim his present, holding out the watch chain. Jim smiles, falling back on the couch. He sold his watch to buy Della's combs, he explains. He recommends they put away their presents and have dinner. As they do so, the narrator brings the story to a close by pronouncing that Della and Jim are the wisest of everyone who gives gifts. They are the magi.

"Gift of the Magi" is the story of a poor, young couple whose love for each other is the most important thing in their lives. Such is their love that they're led to sacrifice their most valuable possessions to find Christmas gifts for each other. The warm home they make together contrasts with the drabness of their poverty and the dreary world outside. Their love seems to know no bounds, though Della (the wife) worries about how her sacrifice will affect her husband because of how it affects her looks. If ever there were a story with the message that all you need to be happy is love, this is it.

The two main characters in "Gift of the Magi" are a husband and wife who give up their most precious possessions to be able to afford gifts for each other on Christmas Eve. The story seems to be all about sacrifice. We watch Della go through the process of deciding to make the sacrifice and going through with it, only to discover that her husband has made the same sacrifice. The story's narrator assures us that in their willingness to give up all they have, they have proven themselves the wisest of all gift-givers. It might remain unclear, though, exactly what their sacrifice has accomplished, or how it has affected them.

In many ways, "Gift of the Magi" is a story about what it means for something to be valuable. Does something's value lie in how much money it is worth? Or are other things more valuable than money? The main characters are very poor – this is repeatedly emphasized – and yet the story suggests that their love for each other makes them very rich. It is that love, which motivates them to give up the only things of monetary (or personal) value they have to buy presents for each other. Perhaps their poverty is what enables them to appreciate what really matters.

M.H

A Prayer for my Daughter

It is important to read this poem alongside another famous poem by Yeats, which was actually written just a few months before this poem, "The Second Coming." In this earlier work, Yeats sets out his prophecy of doom and gloom, anticipating the "Mere anarchy" and "blood-dimmed tide" that was set loose on the world due to political changes such as the Russian Revolution and the rise of fascism. Many critics view "A Prayer for My Daughter" as being a discussion of how to live and transcend such disturbing events.

The poem begins with an account of the speaker praying for his daughter in the midst of a "howling" storm because of a "great gloom" that dominates his mind. Having effectively prophesied a massive upheaval in the world order, now that he has a daughter, Yeats is concerned about the kind of world that she will grow up in. Note how the violence of nature finds a parallel in the violence that is to come as the speaker in the second stanza imagines the future years "Dancing to a frenzied drum" as the storm rages outside.

He prays that his daughter will develop the kind of characteristics that the women he loved did not possess. His former lover, Maud Gonne, was beautiful and aware of it and also fired by nationalistic fervour. Yeats prays that his daughter, by contrast, will be given beauty, but not too much, because too much beauty can lead to vanity and an inability to relate to others. He wishes her to learn "courtesy" and hopes that she can have a life marked by stability and security, becoming a "flourishing hidden tree." Above all he wants her to marry into a home where tradition dominates, for as he says:

How but in custom and in ceremony 
Are innocence and beauty born? 
Ceremony's a name for the rich horn, 
And custom for the spreading laurel tree.

In an uncertain world with an uncertain future, therefore, Yeats seems to argue that the disturbing changes in the world can be overcome through a life lived focusing on traditional values and the importance of human kindness.

We can assume that W.B. Yeats' experiences have served to influence the things he wishes for his daughter in the poem, "A Prayer for My Daughter."

The first thing Yeats wishes is that his daughter will be given beauty, but not the kind that will distract others or herself—that others might become "distraught" by her beauty, or that shemight become too preoccupied with her own image in the mirror. For some people, beauty becomes more important than anything and the pursuit of beauty leads one to believe that having it means that nothing else is important in life. For some, having beauty robs them of "natural kindness," as well as honest "intimacy," which allow one to make the right choices—rather than to idolize beauty to the extent of all else, and not ever be able to find a true friend.

Yeats alludes to famous women who were considered beautiful, and that life wasn't actually so great for them. He speaks of Helen of Troy and Venus, the goddess of love. Yeats knows that beauty is fleeting: what he wishes for his daughter is to have knowledge or "have her chiefly learned..." of "courtesy."

Yeats has experience the pain that accompanies great beauty in a woman, in his love for Maud Gonne (an "actress and political activist"). While beautiful, this woman (who he met at twenty-two and wooed for almost thirty years) did not have the special qualities of the woman who Yeats ultimately married, Georgie Hyde-Lees. Gonne's beauty brought her no satisfaction, and left Yeats greatly frustrated:

Yeats suggests that kindness and generosity breed trust and affection between people. Yeats would also wish his daughter a life of stability and deep-rootedness—that is, a quiet life away from noisy thoroughfares.

Yeats did not want his daughter deeply involved with the very things that seemed in his mind to be distressful:

..."intellectual, political, financial, or emotional struggle."

He wanted his daughter to think less about her appearance and "cultivate her own personal worth...and her soul." Yeats' experiences with Gonne and then his wife showed two very different women, and based upon his relationships with both women, he seemed to believe that the characteristics his wife had were the qualities most admirable, and those he hoped his daughter would also have also.

In this poem we see yeats in the role of an anxious father brooding over his young daughter's future. the storm that howls outside is symbolic of the turbulent times in which Yeats lived. The future to Yeats is an apocalyptic vision. Yeats wants his daughter to inherit the traits and and a character that would allow her to lead a complete and fulfilling life in the world. he wants her to be beautiful but not to the exten 'to make a strnager's eye disraught,/Or hers before a looking-glass'. An excess of beauty is rather a curse than a blessing because not only does it deceive those who look upon it but also its possesor.

It’s interesting that the first request and also the large portion of the poem have to do with the daughter’s looks, and not who she is as a person. Although the way Yeats sees it, the two go hand-in-hand. He believes the beauty has the ability to corrupt (both his daughter and everyone around her).

Yeats cites the example of Helen of Troy and of Aphrodite(Venus) to drive in this point.The father shudders at the thought of her daughter turning out to be like Helen who couldn't hepl being unfaithful as she was so beautiful. He goes on to say that some lovely women like the Queen, who didn't have an imposing father who would restrain her, chose an ordinaty smith instead of marrying a hansome yet virtuous man matching her social standing.

Yeats says he would ; have her chiefly learned;/ Hearts are not had as gifts but hearts are earned' He wishes his daughter to be humble and like a 'flourishing hidden tree'. He wants her to be rooted in the same social class of her family. She shouldn't be crafty like some women who employ their charms to use people to their advantage. He mentions that it is a woman's compassion that enamours a man in the end.

Yeats then appears to take a very conservative outmoded view of wome.He speaks of how “intellectual hatred is the worst” (57). This is a curious pronouncement which he clarifies in the next line: “So let her think opinions are accursed” (58). Thus Yeats seemingly wants his daughter to have few thoughts and opinions of her own. He later wishes that “she can… be happy still” in the face of great adversity (65-67). This conjures pictures of the stereotypical 1950′s house wife to the modern reader. A quiet, respectful woman who knows her place in the home and family. While this would be quite an anachronism for Yeats, it nevertheless can be interpreted by a modern mind as overly conservative. Yeats seals this conservative attitude with “how but in custom and in ceremony are innocence and beauty born?” (72-73)

MH

HONS First year In course Exam Topic for READING skill: 2015. Exam date: 21-01-2015

Men usually want to have their own way. They want to think and act as they like. No one, however, can have his own way all the time. A man cannot live in society without considering the interests of others as well as his own interests. 'Society' means a group of people with the same laws and the same way of life. People in society may make their own decisions, but these decisions ought not to be unjust or harmful to others. One man's decision may so easily harm another person. For example, a motorist may be in a hurry to get to a friend's house. He sets out, driving at full speed like a competitor in a motor race. There are other vehicles and also pedestrians on the road. Suddenly there is a crash. There are screams  and confusions. One careless motorist has struck another car. The collision has injured two of the passengers and killed the third. Too many road accidents happen through the thoughtlessness of selfish drivers.

We have governments, the police and the law courts to prevent or to punish such criminal acts. But in addition, all men ought to observe certain rules of conduct. Every man ought to behave with consideration for other men. He ought not to steal, cheat or destroy the property of others. There is no place for this sort of behaviour in a civilized society.

Men in a free society have certain privileges. The govt. and the police do not watch all their movements. Officials do not dictate to them everything they may or may not do. Men in free society may think as they please. They may even choose their own govt. In return for these privileges they ought not to act selfishly. They ought always to respect the rights of others. It is very important for men to remember this. Wherever they may live, whether In a  town or in a village, in a large or small community, they ought not to behave thoughtlessly. The happiness of a community depends on the behaviour of its individual members. It is every good citizen's responsibility to give as well as to receive.

MH