Assignment in Analysis the Gift of Magi

Assignment in Analysis

the Gift of Magi
1. Give a very short summary of the story

2. Speak on the title of the story. What religious myth is alluded to by the title? What implicit information does it convey?

3. What categories (implicitness, emotiveness, intertextuality) of fictional text is realized in this story? Identify linguistic means representing these categories. Give examples from the text.

4. Interpret the sentence “…life is made up of sobs, sniffles, and smiles, with sniffles predominating”. What stylistic device is used here? Give your feedback.

5. Define stylistic devices and comment on their functions.

6. Find poetic details and discuss their functions.

7. Identify allusions in the text. What is the role of the allusions (religious and mythological) in revealing conceptual information of the story?

8. How does the end of the story containing the author’s meditations reveal the conceptual information of the story.