Title: What is the complication of this story? - eNotes.com
Headings: What is the complication of this story?
The Gift of the Magi
What is the complication of this story?
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Isabell Schimmel
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One definition for "complication" as a literary term is that it is a series of problems or difficulties that make up the main action of a piece of literature. In this story, I think that the complication goes from the seventh paragraph down to the part near to the end where Jim gives Della her present. In that time, we see the main issues in the story -- what will they be able to get each other? How will they pay for those things? Now we know what they have each gotten and how. All that is left is to see how they will each react to what they have done. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team
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