Analyzing Point of View - Essay Example

In O Henry’s famous short story “The Gift of the Magi” there are numerous examples of how point of view is used and manipulated not just to tell a story but also in influencing the reader. Point of view is crucial to the author as a tool of creating reader sympathy. A change in the text’s point of view can alter its entire meaning. An ironic commentary for instance can be mistaken for an uncritical observation if the irony is not marked. In “The Gift of the Magi”, the narration is in a third-person mode.

The narrator is largely objective, recounting details of the Youngs’ life without too many subjective reactions. And yet, at times, the narrator uses an omniscient mode to point out certain things to the reader that are unnoticed by the characters themselves. For instance, the narrator tells us in advance about the gift that Jim has brought back for Della before she notices it herself: “For ten seconds let us regard with discreet scrutiny some inconsequential object in the other direction. [..

] This dark assertion will be illuminated later on” (O Henry, 1906, p. 4). The narrator here pre-empts the next turn in the plot by forewarning the reader about an unexpected event. The narrator also uses the device of prolepsis by mentioning the magi, something that will be explained later in the conclusion. The use of a third-person point of view affects the entire tone of the story. Had the same tale been told through the perspective of Della or Jim or even one of the minor characters like the “Sofronie”, much of the situational irony would have been lost.

Situational irony, like dramatic irony, is based on a shared knowledge between the writer and reader which the characters in the story are unaware of. Their situation therefore is not understood by them as well as the reader who has access to information about their lives directly from the writer. In this story, for instance, the irony of Jim selling his watch is hinted at by the author directly to the reader before Della herself discovers it. The third-person objective narrator can also employ verbal irony in a way that a first-person or second-person narrator cannot since irony demands a certain detachment from the subject.

Verbal irony is also used in “The Gift of the Magi”, most pointedly in the concluding section where the narrator claims to address the wise “of these days”. By mentioning the traditionally accepted wise Magi as a foil to the “wise of these days”, the narrator brings out the ironic comparison without further need of explanation. That the narrator believes the foolish Della and Jim to be much wiser than the careful wise of the present day is clear in this sentence itself. The concluding lines “Everywhere they are the wisest.

They are the magi.” (p.5), are added for emphasising the same point. Writing in this fashion would not have been possible in any mode other than the third-person. The reference to the Magi, in the title as well as in the conclusion, is an important one. It is only with this Christian allusion to the three wise men that the narrator can bring out this verbal irony. As with all well-known allusions, this too serves the purpose of immediately directing the reader’s attention to a body of myth and set of accepted connotations that make it clear what the author is meaning to say without much effort spent in explication within the text.

In this particular story, the chosen point of view is apt to the theme as well. Commenting on a poor young couple’s selfless love for one other has to be done from an outsider’s perspective if it is to invite reader sympathy without making it mawkish. Also, since the tale has the quality of a parable, it is only apt that it should be presented in the traditional third-person perspective of stories in the gospel. The ironic, subtle tone is also important for the effectiveness of this story.

As Rena Korb summarises it: “The message itself is so strong that to focus intently on the messengers—the Youngs—would only serve as a deflection” (2002). The detached voice, the brevity of the story that refuse to explore the more depressing sides of this poor couple’s life only make the story more effective and its impact greater on the reader. Works Cited O. Henry ([1906] 1992). The Gift of the Magi and Other Stories. Mineola (NY): Dover Publications. Korb, Rena (2002). "An overview of 'The Gift of the Magi'.

" Short Stories for Students. Detroit: Gale.