The Demonstartion of Self Sacrifice Between the Gift of the Magi and the Cabiluwallah

The Demonstration of Self-Sacrifice

In the stories "The Gift of the Magi," written by O. Henry and "The Cabiluwallah," written by Rabindranath Tagore, there is an indication of how self sacrifice is used and where people feel that they need to do special things for others. Mr. Henry shows that when people have feelings for another, they will do absolutely anything to make that person feel special, where Mr. Tagore demonstrates that doing favours for others, is the right thing to do and makes you feel like a better person. Della's decision of cutting and selling her hair to make enough money to buy her husband an amazing gift for Christmas, and Mini's father giving Rahmun his own money so he could actually see his own daughter, are examples of how self sacrifice is made within each other's own decision and how decisions are made to not just make yourself feel good but to make other's experiences feel ecstatic and almost indescribable. In both of these stories, both authors deal with a type of sacrifice that makes the reader understand the right decisions to be made as a person. Self sacrifice are both easily shown throughout both stories where money issues, self appearance and poor effort never got in the way of showing the audience what they are trying to prove as authors.

As Mini's father realized that Rahmun was a poor man, "I forgot that he was a poor Cabuli fruit-seller," he thought about, as a father, how horrible it was not to see his own daughter. (Tagore 6) At the end of the story, he looked beyond money and realized that it would be wonderful if Rahmun could see his daughter again. "'I took out a bank-note, and gave it to him, saying: "Go back to your own daughter, Rahmun, in your own country, and may the happiness of your meeting bring good fortune to my child!"'(6) This part of the story basically describes about what goes through the author's head, as a writer. Mini's father gave up some of his money to Rahmun so he could finally see his daughter. Mini's father showed his true character about himself by being generous with his money.

When Mini's father shows that he will give up some of his own money so some poor man can finally see his daughter and that the reader sees that he is actually a good person, Henry introduces Della's character very directly and straight to the point that she is a sweet women that will do anything to show her husband that she loves him. She had barely no money to buy anything for her loved one, so she decided to sell her own hair to make money to buy her husband what she thinks he would love. "'Will you buy my hair?", asked Della. "I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and lets have a sight at the looks of it."'(Henry 5) By the author showing the audience that she is willing to sell her own hair for her husband, money can always be a problem, but not for her when she's willing to do what she did.

When the authors both have their own ways of showing examples of self sacrifice with money involved, it reveals to the audience of what they are trying to show and how the people can react to another are examples of self sacrifice. When Tagore describes the character of the Cabuliwallah in the beginning of the story, he is described different compared to the other characters in the story. "He wore the loose soiled clothing of his people, with a tall turban; there was a bag on his back, and he carried boxes of grapes in his hand."(Tagore 2) By the end of the story, the author shows the audience that his clothes or his appearance did not negatively effect Mini's father's decision to give his money away generously.

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