The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi
Who is O. Henry? O. Henry is the pen name of William Sidney Porter, author of hundreds of short stories. Many people might be familiar with Porter through one of his major works, The Gift of the Magi. In this short story a husband sells his watch to buy his wife a Christmas present of a pair of hair combs; unbeknownst to him, she cuts and sells her long hair to buy him a Christmas present of a new chain for his watch. Porter is effective at using paradoxical coincidence to produce ironic endings. Porter, as an author, was right up there behind Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe, however, Porter?s short stories are not as widely read and popular now as they were in his own time. Some say Porter was ?the master? of the short story (Winborne). His stories have two themes that are considered trademarks of his?reversal of the narrative and his reversal of a character?s nature (Winborne). In other words, at the last minute when the reader thinks he knows the outcome of...