A Little Too Ironic: How The Gift of the Magi Relates To My Life

It's interesting how well literature can apply to our lives sometimes. I'd already read O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi prior to this class, but re-reading it reminded me of just how often that well-intentioned gifts for others can backfire due to the cruelty of random chance. I found the story of the Youngs to be similar to another that I'd had: I had purchased a movie for a friend as a graduation gift in high school, one that he'd been talking about wanting to watch for a while, and as it turns out he didn't have a way to watch it--he was moving out of his parents' house the next week and he wouldn't have a TV to bring with him! It really made me think about how strange the idea of buying a gift for someone can really be: you don't have any way of knowing if the recipient will even need what you're getting them because you can't talk to them about the gift or it will spoil the surprise. It's one of life's biggest Catch-22s.