Class Three
Opening Mini-Lecture: (Suggested: 10-15 Minutes)
Part of your homework for today was to write one page on the following:
“What does the word ‘class’ mean to you when it is used to describe a person?”
There were some good answers to this question on the blog.
Here are a few trends:
Some of us use class as a synonym for income:
Example:
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“When I think of lower class, I tend to think that these are people who do not have a lot of money.”
Example:
Some of us see it as a mixture of income and social standing:
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“The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines class as a group sharing the same economic and social status.”
Some of us see it as a characteristic that does not necessarily relate to money, but, rather, to our actions:
Example:
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“My definition of class is how a person relates and responds to people and situations they come across.”
Some of us see it as a term that relates to a larger social system:
Example:
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“The word “class” means to me three different classes of people. You have the Lower, Middle, and Upper class.”
Now, in this course, one of the ideas we are going to explore is that CLASS and INCOME are different terms.
“How can that be?” you might ask, “when the Dictionary itself says that they are related”?
Well – sometimes the dictionary is wrong. And sometimes you need to fight for good ideas.
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Let’s think about The Untold Lie. How might this story suggest that Class and Income are different concepts?
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Here are some definitions that may help us out:
INCOME: An individual’s financial means with respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region.
CLASS: An individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region.
While Income and Class are DIFFERENT terms, they are similar insofar as they can be broken into three categories:
Low-Income: Generally, to lack the financial means to choose the materials one uses to meet basic needs: clothing, shelter, food, ect.
Middle-income: ?
Upper-Income: ?
Low-Class: ?
Middle-Class: ?
Upper-Class: ?
Given this, and our definition for class, how might we define Low-Class? Let’s remember our definition for class, which is:
CLASS: An individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region.
Group Discussion
Large Discussion:
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Here is a definition:
Low-Class: A selfish and potentially hurtful disregard for basic social standards.
What are some examples of low-class behavior that we see in The Untold Lie?
Now that we are beginning to think about the difference between income and class, we can move into different territory.
In-Class Writing: (Suggested: 10 minutes)
Part One: What have you been trained to do for “play”? Why do you think this occurred? Do you just do “the things you like to do” or is there a specific reason for why you do these things? When and if appropriate, use some of the class terms we have already defined to structure your answer.
Part Two: Has the setting of your life determined your interests? Do you think it may have shaped your interests more than your economic level, or are these things perhaps related?
Setting: The geographic and social situation within which action occurs.
Group discussion: (Suggested: 10 minutes)
Share your findings and then come up with a statement on the following: Has the setting of your life or your economic background played a more important role in the formation of your interests?
Groups compile a statement explaining the reasons for their arguments, and should be ready to present/defend these findings. You will be questioned.
Group Presentations: (Suggested: 10 minutes)
One member from each group will report from the front of the class on their group’s findings. Presenter must adhere to established requirements for presentation:
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No Hats
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No hands in pockets.
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No Leaning on the Podium
Class Discussion of Group Findings: (Suggested: 10 minutes)
(if time permits)
In-Class writing: (Suggested: 7 minutes)
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In your journal, explain to me what the difference between work and play is to you. Where do we learn about work? Where do we learn about play? How are the ways in which you work and play different from the ways your parents work and play?
Let’s discuss this in groups, but let’s base on discussion on the ideas of PLAY, CLASS, SETTING, LOW-INCOME, LOW-CLASS
Break
Your other homework for today was to modify the precis so that, where appropriate, it considered the nature of play and lower-financial status.
Let’s begin our work by looking over this draft, comparing it to the last draft, and commenting on what is better here, and why. (Suggested: 5 minutes)
Group Work: (Suggested: 5 minutes)
How is this draft an improvement over the last draft?
Okay, now that we have had a chance to talk about how this is a better draft, I want to say a few things about writing.
As I mentioned last time, when we write paragraphs, we are developing a single idea. Typically, it takes about 6-8 sentences to develop a solid paragraph in a short paper: a solid paragraph is one that makes a claim, provides some evidence, and also provides some reasoning for the reader that explains how the claim and the evidence are connected.
Now, that pattern will not always work — in fact, there are section of the precis that it will not work for, but it can be a good guide for developing parts of our writing that we find confusing.
What I’d like you to do now is take the next few minutes and look at the issue and thesis sections in your current draft of the precis. Look at your paragraphs. (Suggested: 5-10 minutes)
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Do the paragraphs, generally, develop one main idea?
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If so, do they do that through claims, evidence, and explanations of how the claims and evidence are connected?
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When and where they do not do this, mark it, and then, on the back of the page, write several sentences for yourself on how you can improve the writing.
Share your writing with your group members. Looks for places and ways to improve the paragraph structure. (Suggested: 10 minutes)
Large Discussion: (Suggested: 5 minutes)
I want to turn now to the idea of Setting, which we began to discuss earlier.
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Okay, let’s shift gears:
Setting: The geographic and social situation within which action occurs.
In-class writing: (Suggested: 10 minutes)
How can an understanding of setting help us understand The Untold Lie? What can it tell us about play? What can it tell us about class? What can it tell us about lower-income status as it is represented here? What can it tell us about low-class behavior as it is represented here?
Group Discussions: (5-7 minutes)
Large Discussion:
Homework
For Monday, you will be completing a draft of the precis for submission. You will be modifying the precis in the following way.
Here, again, is the description of the Precis:
The Précis (Pray-SEE)
There are three simple parts to a Précis.
The point of a précis is to lay out an argument for an audience who needs to know about a text without reading the entire ten-, twelve- or twenty-page document. We have to inform the audience on the argument without “dumbing it down” or oversimplifying it!
To write a précis, you will need to incorporate direct quotations from a story to express those points that are better articulated by the author than you yourself could articulate them.
You will sometimes need to use words in quotes to emphasize the author’s original tone. It is hugely important that you do not comment on or editorialize the story. Do not use “I” anywhere in this piece.
You will need to paraphrase quite a bit in this document. The point here is to report on the narrator’s comments, and to leave your own opinions at the door (there will be time enough for voicing your opinions in the future).
The three parts of the précis: Situation, Issue, Thesis
*Each section should be titled as such. This is okay in a précis.
Situation
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The very beginning of your précis.
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It should lay out what the audience needs to know about the author, the full title (including subtitle), and whatever publication info you have in MLA style (except for the author’s name which should be done first name first).
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Next, you need to establish the basic context for the writing: who is writing it (what do we know about the author and or his or her position, profession etc), to whom are they addressing the piece (audience), when was it written, and whether there is any particular EVENT that has driven this response. Some stories may have this, and some may not. You can expect to take the better part of a paragraph to convey this information.
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SITUATE the writing for an audience who WILL NOT READ THE FULL STORY. What general information do they need to know about it in order to have a clear idea of what the story is about?
Section II
Issue
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The author may use culturally specific lingo in the argument. You need to begin your ISSUE section by defining these terms for the contemporary reader. Clarify for the ready any terms or phrases you think may cause him or her difficulty.
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Lay out the basic questions that the author addresses or raises about the nature of play and how it relates to lower-income financial status and setting.
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END WITH THE MAJOR QUESTION ABOUT THE NATURE OF PLAY and how it relates to lower-income financial status and setting. The major issue question is the question the author attempts to illuminate.
Section III
Thesis
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Thesis section. This is where the THESIS appears (the statement or argument the story appears to be making about the nature of play and its relationship to lower-income financial status and setting).
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It is also where the other, secondary claims about the nature of play and its relationship to lower-income financial status and setting and evidence for those claims (as well as the major claim) will appear.
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This is the lion’s share of the précis.
[...] Class 3 [...]
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Pamela Michaud
EH200
Adam Crowley
4 June 2010
The Gift of the Magi
In class we have talked about many different definitions. The first of the definitions that we went over was the definition of Play. Play we came up with is activities that someone takes up for their amusement. We then talked about how one might play related to their income. Income is the financial means of a person with comparing it to the financial means of their community or region. From here we went and figured out about what does lower-income mean then? We can up with that lower-income means that a person lacks the financial means to be able to choose things that they need to meet basic needs, such as clothing, shelter and food. We then also went on to think more about income and tried to see where class fits with it and what we though class meant. For class we came up with that it’s separate from income and is actually the behavior of a person with respect to the social standards of the community or region they live in. From here we also wanted to know then what does lower-class mean to us then. What does it mean if one is lower-class? We figured out that lower-class means that one is a selfish and maybe hurtful disregard for basic social standards.
Now we wanted to expand more on these all and try to tie them together somehow. The way in which we did this was seeing how the setting fits in with all of this. Does the setting influence a person’s play? Does the person’s income or lower-income influence their play because of the setting they are in? We came up with that setting is the geographic and social situation within which action occurs. We also talked about how these all can influence each other in many different ways, or for some of us we thought that setting had more importance than economic standards.
With these definitions in might while reading “The Gift of the Magi”, I found many examples of things that could relate to the words. Some of the words that I found had examples in the book, in my opinion, where play, setting, income as well as lower-income. I believe though that the story showed a lot of class, but not lower-class. The definitions of these words made me see the story in a different light. I was reading it to see the examples that showed these words. It also made the story have a different type of meaning.
With the class in the book, there was lots of it. Both the characters showed class in the end of the story and Della showed it throughout the whole story. She showed it by not thinking of herself but wanting to give her husband a gift for Christmas even if it meant giving up one of her jewels, her hair. Jim in the end also showed class because he gave up his own jewel as well, his watch, to give his wife a present he knew she had always wanted. To me this showed not lower-class but just the opposite.
In the story I think that their setting, of living in a flat that’s in the city seeming to me, where they are crowed by many others around them, plays an important role in their lives. I think it plays a big role with their play. Their play to me in the story was their love for each other and the way in which each wanted to make the other happy. The play was them secretly finding gifts and coming to the flat to give it to each other. The setting also showed their income. It showed how they had very little in their lives. Their income as it says in the story was only $20 a week. The flat they say many times is only an $8 flat.
This also goes into how they are shown as lower-income. They are making not that much money a week to live on. They also show how they did make more before, at $30 a week, but went down to the $20 a week. It shows how they had made a drop some in the amount they got to live one making it harder on them. Della also is shown in the story contemplating on that she only could save $1.87 to buy Jim a present, which she had tried for months to save.
“The Gift of the Magi” is a good story to show all of the examples for the words we have used and defined in class. It’s a story that has many ways to look at it when trying to find examples for a specific word. It also is an uplifting and inspiring story to read.
Comment by Pamela Michaud — June 4, 2010 @ 12:59 pm |
Tia Rush
3 June 2010
EH 200
Adam Crowley
“The Gift of The Magi”
“The Gift of The Magi” is a short story written by O. Henry. This particular story was written way back in 1906. “The Gift of The Magi” is about two characters named Jim and Della. Della is frantically trying to figure out how she is going to buy her husband Jim a Christmas present because it is Christmas Eve. She only had one dollar and eighty seven cents to buy him something. However, she knows that is not enough to buy him something nice. The author then describes how there are only two possessions in the home; one of those possessions being Della’s hair. Although, she valued her hair very much she knew what she had to do. She put on her coat and went to a hair shop that bought hair. Della ended up cutting her hair off for twenty dollars so she could by Jim a Christmas present.
Della looked and looked and at last she found the perfect present; a chain for his watch. Jim’s watch was the other prized possession in their home. Della was so excited that she had found her husband this present and knew he would love it. She couldn’t wait until he got home so she could give it to him. On the other hand, she was nervous that her husband wouldn’t find her pretty enough since she had cut her hair. When Jim got home he had a gift for his wife as well. He gave her the gift, which was a set of combs. She loved them very much, even though she had cut her hair off. She told her husband that her hair grows very quickly so she would still be able to use them. When she gave Jim his present he ended up telling her the news that he had sold his watch so he could afford to buy her the combs. Those particular details in the story could relate to class. The term class means an individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. The reason that those behaviors could relate is because they were willing to sacrifice things they loved in order to give the perfect give to someone they loved. Those actions showed that each character was not selfish and cared about others.
Income was another term that came to mind when I read this story. Income can be defined as an individual’s financial means with respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region. Particularly low- income came to mind as I was reading through the story. One of the reasons being is that Della only had one dollar and eighty seven cents to buy her husband a Christmas present. She had to save pennies. That shows that there wasn’t a lot of money available for this family to buy some of the things they wanted to buy. Another example is that Jim only makes twenty dollars a week. This income is decreased from the thirty dollars he used to make. That again shows their income level is very low. Their expenses were greater than what Della had calculated which is also another example of how low their income really is. Finally, low income was apparent to me because Della and Jim lived in a flat which is not really one of the greatest places to live in. If they had a higher income, their house would most likely be something better.
Another term that came to mind was setting. Setting can be defined as the geographic and social situation within which action occurs. This story takes place back in 1906 which tells me that things were a lot different than are today. For example, their flat only cost them eight dollars a week, which today does not seem like a high house payment but back then to them it most likely was. As I was reading the story it seemed like it occurred in a small town. The reason for that thought is because Della only had to walk down the street a little bit to get to the hair shop. Another example of where setting came to mind is how at seven she had coffee made and was waiting for Jim to get home to cook supper so they could eat together. These days with everyone having extremely busy schedules it is hard to have dinner time together. That example shows how times have changed from 1906 to 2010. All in all, as I read the story I felt as though I could relate the terms class, lower income, and setting. Even though in the setting that Jim and Della were in didn’t allow them to have a lot of money I thought that they still had class. One could see that by the great amount of love they had for each other which is evident by each of them giving up their most prized possessions.
Comment by Tia Rush — June 5, 2010 @ 4:53 pm |
Carrie Cole
7 June 2010
Professor Crowley
Approaches to Literature
“The Gift of the Magi”
In class, our main focus has been on the words “play”, “income”, “class”, and “setting”. We have a general definition that explains each word and with that definition we further define it within our own minds. Knowing these definitions allow us to point them out in the story of “The Gift of the Magi.” “Play” can be defined as activities undertaken for amusement. “Income” is an individual’s financial means with respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region. “Class” can be defined as an individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards for his or her community or region. Finally, “setting” can be defined as the geographic and social situation within which action occurs. Knowing these definitions give us the foundation to understanding more about “The Gift of the Magi.”
This story takes place in 1906 and has two main characters, Della and Jim. The story starts off with Della counting out all the money that she has that can be put towards Jim’s Christmas present. She counts over and over but only has one dollar and eighty-seven cents. This right here is enough to prove that this couple is struggling financially and that their “income” is low. Della knows that she needs more money to find that perfect gift for her husband. She knows that she can sell her hair (one of the two prize possessions that her family has) to make more money for the gift. She walks down the street to where she cuts her hair and receives twenty dollars. After doing this, Della searches and searches for the perfect gift for Jim and when she finds it, she automatically knows how perfect it is. She has found a chain that goes with his watch (the only other prize possession that they have). She is extremely excited to give her gift to him but is hesitant about her looks. Cutting off all of her hair has made her have a boy haircut and she is afraid Jim won’t like it. The plot then thickens when Jim comes home from work.
Jim comes home at seven o’clock that night and looks at his wife, showing no easily understood emotions about her hair. Della pleads that her hair shouldn’t matter to him because it doesn’t matter to her and all that does matter is their love for one another. We then find out why Jim seems to be off balance about the hair. Jim gives her the present that he has bought for her and she opens it up to find the set of expensive combs that she wanted. Jim was upset that she had cut her hair and thought that she couldn’t use the combs; however Della explains that her hair grows fast so her use of the combs is still there. Della remembers she hasn’t given Jim her present yet. Della gives him the present and Jim looks at it and says “let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep ‘em a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs” (Henry, 162).
This story relates to the term income directly in a few spots. More specifically, lower-income meaning to lack the financial means to choose the materials one uses to meet basic needs. First off, in the beginning of the story as Della is counting the money, she counts one dollar and eighty-seven cents. This states that they don’t have a lot of money for their family of two. In 1906, one dollar and eighty-seven cents might have been enough to get by but not enough for an okay present. More evidence to back up the term income and lower-income is their flat, at only eight dollars a week. This shows that they can’t afford much to live in. Another place where evidence proves lower income is when Della sells her hair to get money for the gift. This proves that Della will do anything to get money to get that perfect gift. This also goes for Jim and how he sold his watch to buy the gift for Della. They both didn’t have any money and so they had to give up the two prize possessions that they had, to get what they wanted for one another. The last place to show income and lower-income is when it states that they were getting thirty dollars every week and then they were getting twenty dollars per week. Having your pay cut down by a third will give you financial problems.
The story also portrays the word “class”. This couple loves each other more than anything and will go to the end of the world to make the other happy. To me, this directly represents “class”. Their behavior was giving up their own prize possessions to make the other happy. They have a lot of love for one another and act in a way that some people wouldn’t. Della took it to the next level as well; she made herself look like a boy so she could give her husband the perfect gift.
In conclusion, this book represents “income”, more specifically lower income and “class”. Even though these two people have a low-income, they still have high class. “The Gift of the Magi” is a good story to show that even though you are involved with the lower-level of income, you can still take part in the highest-level of class.
Comment by Carrie Cole — June 5, 2010 @ 8:26 pm |
The reading of “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, presented to me terms and definitions that have been discussed during our class time. The terms I related to most were setting: the geographic location and social situation within which action occurs, lower income: the lack of financial means to chose the materials one uses to meet basic needs, play: activities undertaken for amusement, and class: an individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. I probably would not have given any attention to these terms in relation to the story, had they not been defined previously.
The setting describes Jim and Della as a young couple that live in New York City in 1906. The flat they lived in was $8 a month. This came with furnishings which included a small shabby couch, worn red carpet, and pier-glass with longitudinal strips. The flat did not defy the description of a beggar. The door bell did not work and the card with the name Mr. James Dillingham Young was faded. When they walked downstairs and stepped out their front door, they were on the street.
They did not have enough money for expenses and would be considered a lower income family. Jim’s wages had gone from $30 a week to $20 a week and Della did not work. Della had to bulldoze the grocer, vegetable man, and butcher in order to save pennies and this embarrassed her. She saved these bargained for pennies for months to buy a Christmas present for Jim and only saved $1.87. For the cold winter months Della owned an old brown jacket and hat. Jim did not have gloves and needed a new coat.
The play for Della and Jim surrounded their prize possessions. This for Della was her brown hair that extended to the back of her knees. She imagined showing off her hair to the Queen of Sheba, in an attempt to depreciate the queen’s jewels. Della also spent hours planning how see would find something nice for Jim for Christmas. Jim treasured his gold watch. He liked to check the time with this family heirloom while in the company of others. He sometimes looked at it slyly, because it had a leather strap and not a chain.
Class was the term most appreciated in the story. Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young could not have had more class. Both characters sacrificed what they cherished for what they loved most. Della took one last look in the mirror at her long brown hair and shed a few tears before she pinned it up and headed out to the street. She found a hairdresser who cut her hair off and paid Della $20 for it. She took this money along with the $1.87 and ransacked the stores looking for Jim’s present. The platinum fob chain she found for his gold watch cost her all of the money she had except .87¢. Jim sold his watch in order to buy Della tortoise shell combs for her long hair, combs that she had desperately wanted and admired through the store window for a long time and never dreamed she would own. Also, Della had purchased chops for Christmas Eve dinner with her husband. Considering the lack of income for this couple, Della showed how much this evening meant to her buy having a special meal. I call this a meal but there was no other mention of food for the evening only coffee to drink.
“The Gift of the Magi” is a story of love. This couple did whatever it took to give the other a special gift. The realization of what they had done for each other was the best gift. Neither Della nor Jim was upset. Jim actually smiled about it. The irony of cutting off your hair and then receiving hair combs or selling your watch and then receiving a watch chain is classic. I would expect Della to grow out her hair and have it cut again, get paid for it, and use the money to buy back Jim’s watch.
Comment by Sheila Wilkes — June 5, 2010 @ 11:04 pm |
The words, “made by generosity added to love” best describe why I have always loved O Henry’s, The Gift of the Magi. To me, it represents love, commitment and sacrifice, all of which are values of great significance, that don’t require great wealth.
The setting in The Gift of the Magi quickly illustrates that Della and Jim are far from wealthy. “A furnished flat at $8 per week, It did not exactly (meet) beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad” (158). The fact that Della had been saving her pennies for months and had only accumulated $1.87 also spoke to the fact there was precious little “play” money after paying for the basic essentials. The mention also that Jim’s salary has been reduced by ten dollars a week illustrates the financial struggle faced by the couple. The setting also denotes that sense of desperation Della has as she’s thinking about how to come up with enough money to get Jim a gift. “She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard” (158).
As we’ve previously mentioned in class, the amount and type of “play” often depends on the character’s financial status. In The Gift of the Magi I’m left with the impression that there is not much “play”, especially for Jim. “He looked thin and very serious. Poor fellow, he was only twenty-two and to be burdened with a family! He needed a new overcoat and he was without gloves” (161). However, that being said, I do believe that Della amuses herself, with great joy and conviction, as she turns the town upside-down looking for the perfect gift for Jim. I suspect that Jim also had a good time purchasing just the right gift for Della as well.
We have defined “class” as being a behavior and there are two moments in The Gift of the Magi that to me identifies both Della and Jim as “classy” people. The first is when Della returns from having her hair chopped off. Her concern is that she “fix” her new hair to be a pretty as possible so as not to surprise Jim any more than necessary. “When Della reached home her intoxication gave way a little to prudence and reason. She got out her curling iron and turned on the gas and went to work repairing the ravages made by generosity added to love” (160). Jim shows that he is a “classy” guy when he reassures his wife that it would not matter what she looked like, because he loves her for more than her hair. “I don’t think there is anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less” (162). Today, that kind of comment would elicit the response, “aw Jim, good answer!”
The Gift of the Magi is a wonderful love story, which shows that low-income people can still be classy in their ability to be selfless and committed to one another.
Comment by Susan Patten — June 6, 2010 @ 2:43 pm |
Bruce Jipson
EH200 Approaches to Literature
June 7, 2010
In the story ‘The Gift of the Magi’ there are numerous instances about some of the following terms. First let me explain what each one means as it has been defined in class. Play is any activities one does for amusement. Income is an individual’s financial means with the respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region. Lower income is generally the lack of financial means to choose the materials one uses to meet the basic needs. Class is an individual’s behavior with the respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. Lower class is a selfish and potentially hurtful disregard for basic social standards. Setting is the geographic and social situation within which the action occurs. This story has a very good message to it. It shows what some people are willing to do to show their spouse how much they love them. In the next few paragraphs I will explain how I feel these definitions relate to things that are in the story.
The first thing I am going to talk about is income. The story starts out by telling us that Della only had one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a Christmas present for her husband. She has saved every penny she could for months to buy her husband a good present. She wanted to buy him something that was very nice and worthy of being owned by him. She mentions about how in earlier times that they had money but have fallen on hard times as of late. Della tells how they paid more for their place that they live in before when money seemed to be no problem for them, but now things are very different for them as they don’t have as much money. When she went out to buy the present she put on an old brown jacket and an old brown hat which suggests that they don’t have very much money now. She tells us about the two possessions that they take great pride in. Jim has a gold watch that was handed down from his grandfather to his father and now to him. Della has very long hair that reaches below her knees. These two things are very important to them and they value them alot.
The setting has a very strong point in this story. There are many different settings mentioned in this story, let me tell you about some of them. It talks about the mail box and the door bell that nobody ever touched. Also about how Della and her husband had been flung to the breeze when they were making more money, but now that money is hard to come by, the letters on the sign on their door are fuzzy. One of the most important settings is when Della is waiting for her husband to come home on Christmas Eve. It is 7 o’clock, the coffee is ready and the pan on the stove is ready to cook the chops. Jim is never late, and Della has the chain she has bought as a Christmas present in her hand. This chain will attach to Jim’s gold watch that was handed down from his grandfather to his father and finally to him. The watch is a family treasure and the chain will look a lot better on the gold watch than the old leather strap that Jim has on it today. The door opens and Jim comes in, but he just stares at Della. Jim sees that Della has cut her hair this could be a problem because the present he has bought her is the comb set she wanted to use on her long hair. Della could not read the look and was very nervous about it. This set the stage for Della to explain why she had her hair cut off, and what a wonderful present she had bought for him.
I think that there is a lot of class in this story, some of it not so good but much of it shows that they used to be from the upper class of people, but now have fallen on hard times. The first thing is how Della was able to save the one dollar and eighty-seven cents. Sixty cents was pennies that she had swindled from the people who she got her food from. This shows that Della has lowered her standard so she was able to get some money to purchase a nice present for her husband for Christmas. The story shows that Della and Jim have come from the upper class of people. When they had money they paid $30 a week for the apartment, but now even at $20 the name on the door seemed blurred. It appears that they have fallen on hard times. Jim doesn’t make as much money as he used to. Della wanted a really nice present that was worthy of being owned by Jim, but doesn’t have enough money. Della does a very classy thing when she has her very long hair cut off so that she will have enough money to buy a very nice gift for her husband. But on the other hand Jim also does a very classy thing by selling his gold watch to be able to buy the hair comb set that Della wanted for Christmas.
In conclusion I feel that Della and Jim were from the upper class of people. Once money was no object to them, but now money is very hard to come by. They both had to sell their most cherished possession to be able to buy the other a very special Christmas present. It takes a lot of class to be able to sell your most prized possession to be able to give something to a loved one. It shows the love they had for each other and their willingness to give up something that they really cherished to be able to buy a present for the other one.
Comment by Bruce Jipson — June 6, 2010 @ 3:00 pm |
The Magi were wise men-incredibly wise men who brought gifts to the Babe in the manger. They invented the art of giving presents on Christmas and their gifts bore the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. The author refers to the two characters in this story, Jim and Dell, as two foolish children who most unwisely sacrificed for each other
the greatest treasures of their house. The author also states that of all who give and receive gifts these two were the wisest. There is no question that The Gift of the Magi presents the characters with a problem of low income. It is how they deal with their income that leads them to have great class in the setting that they are in and gives reason for the author to refer to them as wise.
Income is defined as an individual’s financial means with respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region. The story starts out giving the reader the general idea of the couple’s income. “One dollar and eighty seven cents. That was all.” Dell
had been saving for Jim’s Christmas present for months and that was all she could manage to save. So she flopped down on the shabby little couch to mope. The next sign of lower income is the mention of their home-a furnished flat for eight dollars a week. Eight dollars a week
would not be that much when Jim was bringing home thirty dollars a week but his income had since been shrunk to twenty dollars per week. When Dell decided to leave the house, another glimpse of income is mentioned when she puts on her old brown jacket and old brown hat.
Despite the couple’s little income, they do an exceptionally well job at handling their daily feats given the setting they are in.
Setting is defined as the geographic and social situation within which action occurs. The geographic setting in the story is never revealed however, the social situation within which action occurs is given through props and a time setting. The first indication of this is the fact that
Dell went downstairs from her apartment and went to the “Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of all Kinds” to sell her hair. She earned twenty dollars for her hair which I can only imagine is a lot for that time frame. Even the act of selling her hair can speak of the setting. I am sure you can sell your hair now but some research would have to go into it as to where to sell or donate, facility wise. After she sells her hair she goes home and gets out her curling irons, which in itself does not say much. What does say a lot about the time frame is the fact that she had to light the gas to curl her hair. After she curls her hair she is worried that Jim will view her as a Coney Island Chorus girl. When Jim walked through the door after returning from work, he is mentioned as a poor fellow, only twenty-two and already burdened with a family. At twenty-two years old, Jim already seems worn down with a full time job and a wife which seems odd to us in
our day and age. Most twenty-two year olds are still in college or just graduating college unlike back then when people married at seventeen or eighteen years old. Being low income in their time setting, Jim and Dell showed a lot of class while overcoming their predicament of trying to please each other during Christmas with little to no money.
Class is defined as an individual’s behavior with a respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. Jim and Dell show a tremendous amount of class when they both decide to sell something that is the only precious thing they own, only to make eachother happy. It is a selfless act that I would call altruistic. Dell sells her hair to buy Jim a piece for his watch. Jim sells his watch to buy Dell a set of combs she has wanted ever since she saw them in the window on Broadway. It is not only this selfless act that gives them class but how they react when they find out that each other has sold the only precious thing they own. When Jim sees Dell’s hair he states, “Don’t make any mistake about me Dell. I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. but if you’ll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first.” After hearing this, Dell hugged her combs to her bosom and at length she was able to look up with dim eyes and a smile and say: “My hair grows so fast Jim!” After Dell gives Jim his present, he tumbles down on the couch and puts his hands under the back of his head and smiled. “Dell, he said,
“Let’s put our Christmas presents away and keep em’ a while. They are too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.” The way that both characters react to the news shows a great deal of character and class.
In the end, the two characters were in fact like the Magi. Their gifts were no doubt wise and selfless ones. The Magi invented the art of giving Christmas presents and that is exactly what it should be referred to as, an art. Dell and Jim brought that art back when they did what they did. They sold their most precious belongings and most expensive to please each other. “Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the wisest. Everywhere they are wisest. They are the Magi.”
Comment by Aggie Thurber — June 6, 2010 @ 3:49 pm |
Alisha Gilbert
EH 200
Adam Crowley
In the past few classes we have defined a few key terms that apply to the short story “The Gift of the Magi.” This story was written in 1906 by O.Henry. This short story was about a husband and wife, Jim and Della, who are just getting by on a weekly income of $20.00. It’s the day before Christmas and Della has less than $2.00 to buy her husband a gift. She makes a sacrifice of one of the greatest treasures in order to buy her husband, Jim, a Christmas gift.
The key terms that were talked about in class that applied to this short story were class, lower income, and play. Class is an individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. Lower class is a selfish and potentially hurtful disregard for basic social standards, and play is activities undertaken for amusement. Throughout the story there were instances where those definitions came into play.
“The Gift of the Magi” starts off showing how they are lower income individuals. The author writes, “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies” (157). That was all the money Della had for her Jim’s Christmas present. She had been saving for months and with that amount of money Della wasn’t able to buy Jim what he deserved.
The play in their life consisted of Jims gold watch and Della’s hair. Those are the two things that they took mighty pride in. After letting her hair down and then quickly put it up and walked down the stairs and outside. That is when she decided to cut her hair off for twenty dollars in order to buy a Christmas present for Jim. Her behavior showed a lot of class, she was thinking about her husband rather than herself. She got rid of something that was a treasure in order to make her significant other happy.
After the purchase of the twenty dollar platinum fob chain that she thinks is perfect for him, she goes home and does her hair and waits for him to return home at seven. While waiting Della was unsure of how Jim would react to the drastic hair cut. When Jim walks through the door he has a look on his face that Della wasn’t expecting. Jim says “I don’t think there’s anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less” (162). This shows that Jim has class by his behavior and how he feels towards Della. No matter what Della does to herself, Jim isn’t going to love her any less.
Little did Della know; Jim got her a Christmas present as well. The present he got her was a set of combs that she had been eyeballing for the longest time. Unbelievably enough, he had sold his treasure, the gold watch, in order to buy the combs for his wife. This shows that Jim has class because of his actions. The action of him sacrificing something he loved in order to make someone else happy. Also this shows that they have low income because Jim didn’t have enough money to just buy the combs, he had to sell the watch in order to get enough money for the purchase.
This short story showed a clear distinction between the words we have defined in class, but more importantly it was inspirational. To have two individuals that have such a strong connection, show their love by sacrifice. The gifts that they bought for each other were thoughtful and not selfish. They were perfect examples of the Magi.
Comment by Alisha Gilbert — June 6, 2010 @ 6:25 pm |
Jackie Files
Approaches to Literature
Professor Crowley
“The Gift of the Magi”
As a class we have defined many terms relating to play and income. Play, activities that one uses for amusement.” We then defined income, not to be confused with class, but income relating to money, and put in three different categories; Low, middle, and High income. We have defined how income is related and also how it affects our type of play. We explored the term “Setting” that can be defined as the geographic and social situation within which action occurs. We have also compared how income and class can be related, and how different the terms are defined, and corrected our deceived perception. Lower income, meaning, someone lacking the financial means to be able to choose the basic needs such as, clothing, food, and shelter. We learned that we are all entitled to our informed opinion, and now being informed of what class, income, play, and setting, we are able to form our opinions and reflect on the short stories that relate to these terms.
After reading “The Gift of Magi” by O. Henry, which is about a couple that gave up their most prized possessions in order to give each other gifts for Christmas, in which each of them got one another a gift for their own most prized possessions. While reading this story, and thinking of the definitions from class, it made the examples more obvious. With the definition of class being: “An individual’s behavior with respect to the social standards of his or her community or region.” The first definition I thought of was class. I think an immense amount of class was displayed through-out this story. Della showed class by giving up her most prized possession, her hair. She got went to the nearest barber to sell her hair for $20.00 in order to buy Jim a chain for his watch. Her behavior of thoughtfulness, and selflessness to do what it takes to provide a nice Christmas for her husband displayed class. Although she was worried that her husband would no longer love her due to her hair being gone, this is where his class really shined. He stated he did not mind, and that he would like her to get dinner ready. Jim realized what lengths she had gone to in order to buy him that chain for his watch, but he had sold his watch in order to buy expensive combs for her hair. I think that they both learned the lesson, that Christmas does not mean you have to have gifts and money in order to enjoy the love of each other, because in the end, they both were unable to use the gifts they got each other, but they had each other. Another term that related to “The Gift of the Magi” was income, particularly, low-income. Low-income, referring to the definition mentioned earlier, they sacrificed money they didn’t have, but found the means to buy gifts that could have contributed to their financial deficit. When Della counted her money in the beginning, three times, she came up with the same amount, $1.87. It also mentioned that Jim used to have a weekly income of $30.00 and now has been reduced to $20.00 per week. This is showing they are low-income, and both struggle to make ends meet. Instead of talking to each other about what they want to do for celebration of Christmas, they both give up their most prized possessions in order to provide an accessory for their favorite possession. At the end of the day, neither of them care, of their gains and losses and just want to have Christmas dinner together. “Magi” is referred in the Bible, the group of three men who came to Bethlehem from the East to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Both Jim and Della were the Magi in this story. They both found the gift of Christmas through the possessions of Jesus Christ, and that celebration does not necessarily mean materialistic. When I think of the word “setting” as defined above, while reading “The Gift of the Magi” I think of the action that Della took in order to please her husband. The setting being in New York, in a setting where there were small shops available at her reach. Della was able to have the opportunity to have her hair cut and sold, due to where she was located. If she had been in a rural setting, she would have had to find other means.
Comment by Jackie Files — June 7, 2010 @ 12:00 am |
Heather Leighton
“The Gift of The Magi”
6/3
“The Gift of The Magi” by O’ Henry shows the reader the real meaning of true. Jim and Della were considered a low income married couple living in a poorly furnished apartment in the city. They can barely afford their apartment with only one source of income since women rarely worked back in the early 1900’s. Low-income is defined as not having enough money to choose the materials to meet one’s basic needs. In their case, a shabby little couch and a worn rug is what they had to deal with, because the apartment was already furnished and they didn’t have the financial resources to get new ones. Their apartment was so poor, “it did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad” (O’ Henry 158.) Jim’s income was at $30 and had recently been cut by a third. The author says that he isn’t even worthy of having his full name on his mailbox anymore, as if because of being poor he doesn’t deserve to be known or be at the same social status as those with two names. Their clothes were all old and Jim didn’t even have gloves for the cold weather; he didn’t have the choice to possess them. Della also expresses her financial and “hardship” status when she flopped on the couch and sobbed. The author explains that for her, life is made up of mostly sniffles or sad things, meaning her life had been terrible enough to cry about from time to time. It’s much rarer to see rich people cry, because they don’t have as much to be sad about.
A low-class is individual is considered a selfishly and potentially hurtful disregard for basic social standards. It was Christmas time and Della wanted so badly to buy her husband a gift. She was low-income by definition, but nowhere near low-class. She obviously wasn’t selfish since she was doing everything in her will to buy a nice gift for her husband. Della wasn’t anywhere near being hurtful either and she abided by the social norms of those days. Even with her financial stress, she had the decency to buy and apply makeup. She even had a habit of saying “simple prayers” about little things, meaning she is religious and of good behavior. On top of that, she compared herself to the Queen of Sheba saying that her hair was so beautiful that a queen’s jewels aren’t even worth as much as her hair. She also compares Jim to the King of Solomon, saying that Jim’s watch was so nice that a King would be envious of it. Della compares them as if they were all in the same class. If Della and Jim are in the same class as a king and queen, then they would be considered high-class.
It was evident that Della was not low-class because she felt embarrassed (with “burnt” cheeks) and guilty for dickering down prices at the grocer, vegetable man, and butcher. A low-class individual would not be ashamed of them self nor care about getting an unfair advantage.
Della sold her beautiful hair to buy Jim’s present, worth almost 3 times their rent. She bought a chain for Jim’s watch. As the story goes on, we learn that Jim, also wanting to buy a nice gift for Della, sells his watch in return for expensive hair combs. Of course, the combs are useless without hair, and the chain is useless without a watch. So in the end they sacrificed their most beloved possessions to show how much they love and care for one another. It is apparent that their valuable belongings don’t mean as much as having each other.
Low-income does not necessarily mean low-class. They lived in a poor apartment, had worn clothes, and no extra saving money. This didn’t mean that they acted any different than if they did have more money. They weren’t selfish, as one would expect a poor person to be (because they can’t afford to give anything away). As shown here, Bella and Jim had very low income, but no matter what their financial situation, they managed to give as much as they could to one another. In this circumstance it happened to be hair and a watch.
Comment by Heather Leighton — June 7, 2010 @ 1:59 am |
The Gift of the Magi
The short story “The Gift of the Magi,” by O. Henry, deals with many of the same ideals as “The Untold Lie,” by Sherwood Anderson. By same ideals, I am talking about class, income, lower-class, and lower-income, as well as setting.
“The Gift of the Magi,” is about a couple who loves each other unconditionally, and has worked very hard to show that to each other. They are living on undesirable means. They are basically living below the poverty line, which means they have very low-income. They are also a part of the lower-class, meaning that they make very little money and can hardly afford their necessities, let alone have any choices when it comes to buying luxuries. The setting of the story is mainly their apartment, which is greyer than grey in its description. Everything about this couple seems to be mediocre, no matter how hard they strive to rise above their situation, it never changes. Their class, however, is a completely different story. As we mentioned in class the other day, class is the relationship between an individual’s behavior and how society judges them. The couple described in “The Gift of the Magi,” is very high-class according to the way that they treat others. They put themselves behind others. They even put themselves out over others. Many people in their situation would not do such a thing. Most people in the lower-class, would be putting their situations first and they would make sure that they could take care of themselves prior to helping anyone else out. It is absolutely striking to notice this difference in this particular couple, because many people in their situation would not deal with the same events in the same way.
Comment by Ashley H. — June 7, 2010 @ 8:30 am |
Isaiah Underwood
3 June 2010
EH 200
Adam Crowley
“The Gift of The Magi” is a short story that runs with definitions we have been going over in the past classes. The following terms, play, class, income, lower income, lower class and also setting are involved with the story and our Approaches to Literature definitions. Play is any activities one does for amusement. Class is an individual’s behavior with the respect to the social standards of his or her community or region. Income is an individual’s financial means with the respect to the financial means of other people within a given community or region. Lower income is generally the lack of financial means to choose the materials one uses to meet the basic needs. Lower class is a selfish and potentially hurtful disregard for basic social standards. Setting is the geographic and social situation within which the action occurs. When reading this story it affects all the definitions in a story.
While I read the story “The Gift of The Magi” I noticed that there were examples of, class, income, lower income, lower class and settings. . Della saves her earnings every year for a Christmas gift for her husband. “One dollar and eighty seven cents. That was all. Jim and Della are upper class people because they may not have all the money in the world but they know how to make one another happy. They save there money so they can spend for a special event, like Christmas for Jim.” Her Jim.” Jim has a gold watch that was handed down from his grandfather to his father and now he owns it. Della has long hair that reaches below her knees. They both had to get rid of something that was very special towards them to buy the other a gift.
There both very classy people and it take a lot to get rid of items that are very close to people. Della and Jim had money but now for them money is hard to come by. Class has a lot to do with how people do certain things in life but also where there geographic and situation occurs.
Reading the story “The Gift of The Magi” has very good settings. A definition for setting is the geographic and social situation within which the action occurs. There are a few good settings but one that comes to mind is the mail box and the door bell. Della says it’s never been touched. When she waits’s for her husband to come on Christmas Eve. It is 7 o’clock the coffee is ready and the pan on the stove is ready to cook the chops.
The Gift of The Magi is a good story that involves all the definitions that we have been going over in class. It uses play, class, income, lower income, lower class and also setting. You can tell which one is which by looking at the definitions and understanding how they belong in the story. It’s also a very encouraging to read and see how other people use there love for one another.
Comment by Isaiah Underwood — June 7, 2010 @ 1:44 pm |