The Gift of Maggie tells a story about Christmas in a small family of the lower class. Jim, the hero, is a small clerk whose salary is only enough to make ends meet, and Della, the heroine, is a virtuous and kind housewife. Their lives are poor, but Jim and Della both have a very precious treasure. Jim has a gold watch and Della has beautiful waterfall hair.

In order to give gifts to each other at Christmas, Jim sold his gold watch and bought a set of pure tortoise shells with jewels on the edge for Della. Della sold her long hair and bought Jim a platinum watch chain. They all gave up their most precious things for each other, and the gifts they got became useless.

2. Police and hymns

This short story tells the story of a poor and homeless tramp, Soapy, who wanted to go to prison in the cold winter, so he deliberately committed a crime, went to a restaurant to eat the king's meal, disturbed public order, stole other people's umbrellas and molested women. , but these did not let him go to prison, as he wished; Finally, when he was moved by the hymn in the church and wanted to start over and start over, the police sent him to prison. The novel shows the tragic fate of the American underclass at that time.

3. The Last Ivy Leaf

It is a work written by O. Henry, a famous American short story writer, at 1907. The novel tells the story of Feynman, an old painter, who braved the storm to draw the last ivy leaf on the wall one night in order to give an alliance to a young female painter suffering from pneumonia, and died of pneumonia. The humorous language and ingenious structure of the full text, especially the unexpected ending, give people a great shock.

4. A furnished room for rent

The hero and the girl he was looking for not only died in the same room, but even chose the same way. Some people may say that gas suicide is the most convenient and the first choice for suicide in such a room. However, we still cannot rule out other possibilities. Under the arrangement of O 'Henry, such a seemingly accidental coincidence seems unexpected and reasonable. I think the landlady played a certain role in the tragic ending of the novel. In order to rent a room, the landlord did not hesitate to deceive the protagonist, which had to be regarded as a reflection of the bourgeois selfishness and ugliness.

5. Sacrifice of love

In this novel, the protagonists make the most beautiful interpretation of love with their pure hearts, sincere feelings and lofty spirit of sacrifice. Although their efforts can't fundamentally change the contradiction between life and art, they let each other see the dedication and loyalty of love. The poverty and poverty of life did not obliterate their loyalty and belief in love. On the surface, although both husband and wife have given up the pursuit of love, their pure and passionate love has been further sublimated.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Maggie's Gift

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-police and hymns

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-The Last Ivy Leaf

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-furnished rooms for rent

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Sacrifice of Love