Gift of the Magi, by O’Henry, is the story of a young married couple who must overcome the setbacks of poverty and express their devotion to each other by sacrificing material pleasure for love. Della and Jim are a young couple who are suffering from financial problems and poverty. It is stated at the start that the couple only had two treasures: Della’s long brown hair, and Jim’s gold watch, which he inherited from his father. As Christmastime comes around, both yearn to buy the other a meaningful gift, one which would hold both sentimental and materialistic value. Stuck with only $1.87 to spend, Della sells her long hair for twenty dollars in a desperate attempt to gather money for a present. Eventually, she finds a platinum fob chain to …show more content…
Consumed with rage, the narrator (Montresor) vows to kill the wine-taster Fortunato for irreparably offending him. Luring a drunk Fortunato into the catacombs of the Montresor family with stories of a cask filled with a rare brandy named Amontillado, Montresor eventually leads Fortunato into a man-sized hole where Montresor chained, locked up, and psychologically tortured him before finally suffocating him to his death. During their “journey” throughout the catacombs, Montresor shows absolutely no regret or guilt for his plan to murder Fortunato. His comments are very ironic, but never remorseful: “ ‘I drink,’ [Fortunato] said, ‘to the buried that repose around us.’ ‘And I to your long life.’ (Poe 176)”. Montresor knows that his hands will have brought down the life of his longtime ‘friend’ , and yet he still makes jokes out of it. Proven throughout the story, it was clear that Montresor’s hatred towards Fortunato was fueled by an immense lack of forgiveness and mercy. Montresor, the narrator, could never be capable of loving or being kind to another because he has no mercy in his heart, no sense of selflessness or forgiveness. As the narrator starts off, “The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as best I could but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge… I must not only punish, but punish with impunity” (Poe). Montresor was a bitter man with an empty heart, incapable of loving because of his merciless, selfish soul. The narrator held a grudge over a mere verbal insult, and once he vowed revenge, he carried out his promise without an ounce of