gifts essay

December 16, 2023

Why Do We Give Gifts? An Anthropologist Explains This Ancient Human Behavior

Gifts play an important role in human relationships and are about more than consumerism

By Chip Colwell & The Conversation US

Woman's arms in brown sweater holding gift wrapped in green paper with orange bow on black backdrop

Liliya Krueger/Getty Images

The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation , an online publication covering the latest research.

Have you planned out your holiday gift giving yet? If you’re anything like me, you might be waiting until the last minute. But whether every single present is already wrapped and ready, or you’ll hit the shops on Christmas Eve, giving gifts is a curious but central part of being human.

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing . By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

While researching my new book, “ So Much Stuff ,” on how humanity has come to depend on tools and technology over the last 3 million years, I became fascinated by the purpose of giving things away. Why would people simply hand over something precious or valuable when they could use it themselves?

To me as an anthropologist , this is an especially powerful question because giving gifts likely has ancient roots . And gifts can be found in every known culture around the world.

So, what explains the power of the present?

Undoubtedly, gifts serve lots of purposes. Some psychologists have observed a “warm glow” – an intrinsic delight – that’s associated with giving presents. Theologians have noted how gifting is a way to express moral values, such as love, kindness and gratitude, in Catholicism , Buddhism and Islam . And philosophers ranging from Seneca to Friedrich Nietzsche regarded gifting as the best demonstration of selflessness. It’s little wonder that gifts are a central part of Hanukkah, Christmas, Kwanzaa and other winter holidays – and that some people may even be tempted to regard Black Friday , the opening of the year-end shopping season, as a holiday in itself.

But of all the explanations for why people give gifts, the one I find most convincing was offered in 1925 by a French anthropologist named Marcel Mauss .

Giving, receiving, reciprocating

Like many anthropologists, Mauss was puzzled by societies in which gifts were extravagantly given away.

For example, along the northwest coast of Canada and the United States, Indigenous peoples conduct potlatch ceremonies. In these dayslong feasts, hosts give away immense amounts of property. Consider a famous potlatch in 1921 , held by a clan leader of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nation in Canada who gave community members 400 sacks of flour, heaps of blankets, sewing machines, furniture, canoes, gas-powered boats and even pool tables.

In a now-famous essay titled “ The Gift ,” originally published almost a century ago, Mauss sees potlaches as an extreme form of gifting. Yet, he suggests this behavior is totally recognizable in most every human society: We give things away even when keeping them for ourselves would seem to make much more economic and evolutionary sense.

Mauss observed that gifts create three separate but inextricably related actions. Gifts are given, received and reciprocated.

The first act of giving establishes the virtues of the gift giver. They express their generosity, kindness and honor.

The act of receiving the gift, in turn, shows a person’s willingness to be honored. This is a way for the receiver to show their own generosity, that they are willing to accept what was offered to them.

The third component of gift giving is reciprocity, returning in kind what was first given. Essentially, the person who received the gift is now expected – implicitly or explicitly – to give a gift back to the original giver.

But then, of course, once the first person gets something back, they must return yet another gift to the person who received the original gift. In this way, gifting becomes an endless loop of giving and receiving, giving and receiving.

This last step – reciprocity – is what makes gifts unique. Unlike buying something at a store, in which the exchange ends when money is traded for goods, giving gifts builds and sustains relationships. This relationship between the gift giver and receiver is bound up with morality. Gifting is an expression of fairness because each present is generally of equal or greater value than what was last given. And gifting is an expression of respect because it shows a willingness to honor the other person.

In these ways, gifting tethers people together. It keeps people connected in an infinite cycle of mutual obligations.

Giving better gifts

Are modern-day consumers unknowingly embodying Mauss’ theory a little too well? After all, many people today suffer not from the lack of gifts, but from an overabundance.

Gallup reports that the average American holiday shopper estimates they’ll spend US$975 on presents in 2023 , the highest amount since this survey began in 1999.

And many gifts are simply thrown out. In the 2019 holiday season, it was estimated that more than $15 billion of gifts purchased by Americans were unwanted, with 4% going directly to the landfill . This year, holiday spending is expected to increase in the U.K. , Canada , Japan and elsewhere.

Modern-day gifting practices may be the source of both awe and anger. On the one hand, by giving presents you are engaging in an ancient behavior that makes us human by growing and sustaining our relationships. On the other hand, it seems as if some societies might be using the holiday season as an excuse to simply consume more and more.

Mauss’ ideas do not promote runaway consumerism. On the contrary, his explanations of gifts suggest that the more meaningful and personal the present, the greater the respect and honor being shown. A truly thoughtful gift is far less likely to end up in a dump. And vintage, upcycled, handmade goods – or a personalized experience such as a food tour or hot air balloon ride – might even be more valued than an expensive item mass-produced on the other side of the world, shipped across oceans and packaged in plastic.

Quality gifts can speak to your values and more meaningfully sustain your relationships.

This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article .

THE JOY OF GIVING: The more you give of yourself, the more you find of yourself

We all know how great it feels to receive gifts. However, the joy of getting is short-lived. Our lives are richer when we share, and that great inner joy comes from helping others to better their lives.

Truly giving from the heart fills your life with joy and nourishes your soul. Giving provides an intrinsic reward that’s far more valuable than the gift. As Mahatma Gandhi said, “To find yourself, lose yourself in the service of others.”

Giving takes you out of yourself and allows you to expand beyond earthly limitations. True joy lies in the act of giving without an expectation of receiving something in return.

Academic research and thousands of years of human history confirm that achieving meaning, fulfillment, and happiness in life comes from making others happy, and not from being self-centred. Mother Teresa is a famous example. She found fulfillment in giving of herself to others. She helped change the expression on dying people’s faces from distress and fear to calmness and serenity. She made their undeniable pain a little easier to bear.

Adventure, Height, Climbing, Mountain, Peak, Summit

When people are asked why they give, the readiest answers include: God wants me to; I feel better about myself; others need, and I have; I want to share; it’s only right. The question I would ask is how did you feel? I imagine you felt very pleased with yourself and happy inside.

It has been my experience that when you’re focused on giving to others you’re less likely to become consumed by your own concerns and challenges. Giving provides an opportunity to look beyond our own world and see the bigger picture.

A great perspective can be achieved by stepping out of our own world and venturing into the world of other people. Your worries and challenges may not seem as significant when compared to other people’s situations.

The act of giving kindles self-esteem and brings happiness. Scientists have discovered that happiness is related to how much gratitude you show. After several years of soul searching, I discovered that my unhappiness was due to my want for things to fill the void of loneliness.

My search for inner happiness led me towards gratitude. During this process of self-realization, I also discovered “ The Purpose of Living.” Yes, I believe that giving thanks makes you happier. But don’t take my word for it—try it out for yourself.

The power of giving and the joy of helping others

Giving is one of the best investments you can make towards achieving genuine happiness. True giving comes from the heart, with no expectation of reciprocation. You’ll find that the more you give, the more you’ll receive.

Frog giving another frog flowers - The joy of giving

The power of giving is manifested in the kindness and generosity that you bestow on someone else. When you give to another unselfishly, the vibrational energy emitting from your subconscious is at its strongest. The power of giving, according to neuroscience, is that it feels good.

A Chinese proverb says: “If you always give, you will always have.” A famous American author and management expert, Ken Blanchard, declared “The more I give away, the more comes back.”

If you find yourself feeling unhappy, try making someone else happy and see what happens. If you’re feeling empty and unfulfilled, try doing some meaningful and worthwhile work and see how you feel. The catch is that you must do this work with passion and enthusiasm.

There are many organizations, institutions and people who are engaged in exemplary works of giving. Narayanan Krishnan is a management graduate from Madurai, India who gave up his career as chef with a five-star hotel when he saw a man so hungry that he was feeding on his own excreta. From there on Krishnan started his noble initiative to feed thousands of destitute and homeless people in his state—free of cost.

Another example of giving is Sanjit “Bunker” Roy, founder of the Barefoot College . Since graduating from college in 1965, Mr. Roy has committed his life to serve the poor and to help rural communities become self-sufficient. The Barefoot College education program encourages learning-by-doing, such as training grandmothers from Africa and the Himalayan region to be solar engineers so they could bring electricity to their remote villages.

It’s the joy and love that we extend to others that brings true happiness or union with God. When we give, we reap the joy of seeing a bright smile, laughter, tears of joy and gratitude for life . We know that if people give just a little more—of their time, skills, knowledge, wisdom, compassion, wealth and love—the world would be a more peaceful and healthier place.

The rewards of giving are priceless. If you want to have happiness, you need to give happiness. If you want love, you need to give love. It is only in giving that you receive. No matter what your circumstances in life, you have the ability to give.

I encourage you to look for opportunities where you can give and help others. The gift of joy will come to you when you give of yourself to others. That’s what life is all about. Let’s practice and commit our lives to giving joy. Try it! It works!

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Essay on Gift

Students are often asked to write an essay on Gift in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Gift

Understanding gifts.

Gifts are a way to show love, appreciation, and gratitude. They can be anything from toys, books, clothes, or even time spent together.

The Importance of Gifts

Gifts are not just about the material things. They symbolize the giver’s affection and thoughtfulness. They help in strengthening relationships and creating happiness.

The Joy of Giving

The act of giving gifts brings joy not only to the receiver but also to the giver. It’s a way of expressing love and care, making both parties feel valued and special.

250 Words Essay on Gift

The essence of gifting.

Gifts are more than just material objects. They are embodiments of sentiments, gestures that communicate love, respect, and appreciation. They serve as a bridge, connecting individuals and strengthening bonds. In a broader sense, gifts can be seen as a social glue, a tool that facilitates interaction and fosters relationships.

Gifts: A Psychological Perspective

The symbolism of gifts.

Gifts carry symbolic meanings, often reflecting the giver’s perceptions about the receiver. A thoughtfully chosen gift can speak volumes about the depth of a relationship, and the effort invested in choosing the right gift can be a testament to the level of care and consideration between individuals.

Gifts and Cultural Significance

Gifts also play a significant role in various cultural practices and traditions. They are used to mark milestones, celebrate achievements, and honor individuals. The type, value, and manner of giving gifts can vary greatly across different cultures, reflecting diverse societal norms and values.

In conclusion, gifts are more than just material objects exchanged between people. They are a complex interplay of emotions, symbolism, and cultural significance, playing a crucial role in human relationships and societal structures. The act of gifting, thus, is a profound expression of human connection and shared experiences.

500 Words Essay on Gift

Introduction.

Gifts, in their many forms, have been an integral part of human societies since time immemorial. They serve as tangible representations of human emotions, acting as a bridge between the physical and emotional realms. They are often used to express love, gratitude, friendship, and even apology. This essay explores the concept of gifts from various perspectives, including their social, psychological, and economic implications.

The Social Significance of Gifts

Gifts play a crucial role in the social fabric of societies. They are used as a medium to express emotions and sentiments that are sometimes hard to put into words. In many cultures, gifts are used to celebrate milestones, such as birthdays and weddings, to honor achievements, or to express condolences during times of loss. They help maintain social relationships and foster a sense of community. Gifts also serve as a mechanism for reciprocity, helping to establish and maintain social norms and expectations.

The Psychological Impact of Gifts

Economic implications of gift-giving.

Gift-giving also has significant economic implications. It stimulates economic activity by creating demand for goods and services. The gift industry, encompassing various sectors like retail, packaging, and logistics, contributes significantly to the global economy. However, it also brings to light the concept of ‘deadweight loss’, an economic phenomenon where the value of the gift to the recipient is less than its cost to the giver. This highlights the importance of thoughtful gift selection to maximize value for both the giver and the receiver.

Gifts in the Digital Age

The advent of the digital age has transformed the landscape of gift-giving. E-gifting, gift cards, and online wish-lists have added a new dimension to the tradition of gift exchange. These digital innovations offer convenience and personalization, allowing individuals to give and receive gifts that truly align with their preferences. Yet, they also raise questions about the impersonality of digital gifts and the potential loss of the emotional connection inherent in traditional gift-giving.

If you’re looking for more, here are essays on other interesting topics:

" Subtle distinctions " : Emerson's " Gifts " and Sentimental Rhetoric of Gift-Giving

In my paper, I reread Emerson’s “Gifts” (1844), an essay usually placed in the background of the twentieth-century gift theory canon (Schrift 1997, Ostin 2002).The essay contains a dazzling yet controversial vision of the gift. Emerson presents us with a list of appropriate gifts for different occasions and yet questions the very legitimacy of gift-giving. He sees the donation of gifts as an individual act of self-sacrifice (“thou must bleed for me”) and, at the same time, transcends it by attributing true gifts to the impersonal power of love giving “kingdoms and flower leaves indifferently”. Seeing Emerson as an “edifying” rather than “systematic” philosopher in the terms of Richard Rorty, I attempt to understand his controversial thinking by closely reading the essay and analyzing its rhetorical strategies, largely relying on Emerson’s own statement that “[t]he very language we speak, thinks for us, by the subtle distinctions which are already marked for us by its words”. As the analysis reveals, Emerson draws on the rhetoric of contemporary sentimental discourse about gifts reflected in behavior manuals and sentimental fiction and, thereby, develops his own original theory of gift exchange, anticipating the asymmetrical ethics of gift-giving in modern philosophy.

Related Papers

Peter Ashworth

Thomas LeCarner

This essay is concerned with Jacques Derrida's theory on gift-giving. He argues that a true gift is one where neither the giver nor the receiver is aware of the gift as such; this, he claims, is "the impossible." Through close readings of essays by Emerson and Thoreau, I argue that the New England Transcendentalist notion of the gift might provide a possible solution to Derrida's quagmire. A version of this essay will be published in a special Transcendentalist edition of the journal Revue française d'études américaines" in the spring.

Journal of Business Research

Mary McGrath , John Sherry

Aʿ bbasid Studies IV Occasional Papers of the School of ʿAbbasid Studies Leuven, July 5–July 9, 2010

Antonella Ghersetti

Michael Staudigl

In this introductory paper I attempt to displace the discourse on the gift from some major interpretations in order to rethink the gift in terms of its inherently diachronic, bleated, and irreducibly ambiguous "constitution." In this context, I will critically examine both Derrida's deconstructive focus on the gift's purity and the "aporia" this entails, and the recent discussion of the so-called "primacy of givenness" in phenomenology of religion. This criticism will be supplemented by an exploration of the responsive co-constitution of the gift that I find anticipated in Hénaff's sociological and anthropological treatment of the issue. In refuting ontological, ethical, and theological over-determinations of the institution of the gift, I, hence, opt for reassessing the irreducible ambiguities of the gift that appear in a relational perspective, i.e., a perspective which acknowledges the ambiguous truth of the gift in terms of a "gift of the other." Rethinking the gift in these terms, however, results in avowing the most basic ambiguity that situates the gift in-between the economy of self-abandonment and the sacrificial logics of securing a "true other."

Peter Gavin-Griffin

MAUSS International

Jacob Copeman

Women in Philosophy Annual Journal of Papers Vol. 9

Theodra Bane

Kriterion: Revista de Filosofia

Wellington Santana

The contemporary philosophical debate about "gift" brought into light above all by French philosophers Jacques Derrida and Jean-Luc Marion, brought about new and live discussions regarding what gift is and what is its nature. The present article analyses whether or not love can be regarded as a gift or, rather, follow the same problem showed by Derrida. According to him, every gift carries an internal contradiction and can never be and, therefore, will never be gift. A gift is impossible. What is as gift to people (someone freely gives something to someone), is, actually a commodity, an economical circle for Derrida. This article seeks to inquire whether can or cannot love follow the same gift pattern or if it, rather, builds his own path and follows its own internal logic. Is it possible to analyze love following on the footsteps of phenomenology? If love can be analyzed in a phenomenological fashion - reduction of love - then a new horizon will be opened.

Paul Michael Taylor

[Edited by Patricia Thatcher and Paul Michael Taylor with Cynthia Adams Hoover. Yale-Smithsonian Report on Material Culture, 1991.] The 1991 Yale-Smithsonian Seminar on Material Culture, held in Washington, D.C., April 28-30, examined gifts as objects of material culture. The meeting was held in conjunction with the Smithsonian exhibition at the National Museum of Natural History, "Beyond the Java Sea: Art of Indonesia's Outer Islands," an exhibition whose objects stimulated much discussion and new thinking about material culture. The seminar participants represented a broad range of disciplines and included historians, materials scientists, anthropologists and archaeologists, literary scholars, and art historians. As discussed in the introductory paper, many of Indonesia's finest artworks were created originally as gifts, as a kind of currency in systems of gift exchange. Consequently, the exhibition and its accompanying catalog (Taylor and Aragon 1991) examined indigenous concepts of reciprocity, as materially represented in gifts, for maintaining (or indeed manipulating) the social order in outer-island Indonesia. The next two days of stimulating papers, discussions, and meals were organized into three panels: • Wedding Gifts and Marital Alliances • Gifts in Economic Perspective • Power and Propitiation: Political and Religious Aspects of Gift Giving. As the Indonesian exhibition provided a point of comparison for the entire topic, so the panels began with one or more Indonesian case studies, each presented by an Indonesianist (anthropologists Hamilton, Aragon, and Pospisil and art historian Jessup). Consequently, each group of essays in this seminar report begins with an Indonesian case study, and then broadens the discussion to include examples from other parts of the world, as examined by scholars from American studies, history, art history, anthropology, literature, and other fields. Wedding Gifts and Marital Alliances The discussion of Wedding Gifts and Marital Alliances opens with Roy Hamilton's vivid account of a Lio marriage ceremony from Flores Island in the Lesser Sundas. Hamilton's account illustrates that, even where the rules of gift exchange at traditional weddings seem precise and ritualized, lively negotiations and individual manipulation of those same detailed rules do prevail "on the ground." Maria Montoya describes the multiple stages of, and exchanges that take place in, a folk Catholic ceremony (called Las Entriegas de Novios) that served to sanction marriage in Hispanic New Mexico. She presents this ceremony, which persists today in modern urban contexts, as a form of "cultural resistance" to outsiders. Candace Waid examines wedding-related gifts in Southern U.S. novels, such as those by Katherine Anne Porter, Carson McCullers, and Eudora Welty. Mary Jo Arnoldi describes a woman's exchange ceremony called woloma among the Bamana of Mali. Wedding goods are exchanged in the woloma, on the day of the wedding. Arnoldi's description of the woloma ceremony is a refreshing alternative to male-dominated discussions about "brideprice" exchange, since the woloma is organized by women, and women use the ceremony to exchange goods among themselves. Gifts in Economic Perspective Leopold Pospisil opens the second panel on Gifts in Economic Perspective with his essay on the role of gifts and gift-like transactions among the Kapauku of western New Guinea (now Indonesia's easternmost province, Irian Jaya). Pospisil shows that this exchange behavior is associated with both legal and moral expectations, but that the two must carefully be distinguished. George Miles's essay on "Real Gifts: Treaties, Grants, and Land Transfers in America" also considers various forms of property transfer in terms of the bundles of rights, duties, and even moral expectations being transferred, as, for example, in homestead grants and grants to railroads. He also examines exchanges taking place between peoples with entire but different systems of defining property rights, as, for example, when rights in land were transferred from American Indians to Euro-Americans who had very different concepts of what that transfer entailed. Although he focuses on gifts of much tinier scale, historian John Fleckner's discussion, "Greetings Cards and American Consumer Culture," provoked the most heated discussion. Fleckner traces the history of this relatively new and seemingly inconsequential form of material culture that is now ubiquitous. While some seminar participants compared this phenomenon to Indonesian textiles (some of which are also created only to be given away, or to say things that the wearer cannot say), others depicted the greeting card as a cheap token that subtly implies that the recipient deserves no better. The panel's concluding paper, "The Gift of Giving: Philanthropy in America" by Jean-Christophe Agnew, questions the pure philanthropy of even the most stupendous gifts. Agnew closely examines the antagonism within our culture between commodities and gifts, finding the two "incommensurable although not incompatible," since the intricate calculations accompanying private philanthropic gifts are of a different order from those accompanying commodity exchange. Power and Propitiation: Political and Religious Aspects of Gift Giving The final panel, Power and Propitiation: Political and Religious Aspects of Gift Giving, begins with two very different Indonesian case studies. Anthropologist Lorraine V. Aragon's paper on tributes and offerings in Central Sulawesi Island examines the manner in which that region's political and religious gifts to deities, highland aristocrats, and lowland kingdom rulers were used to construct political and social relationships. She emphasizes that nonmaterial valuables such as access to trade markets, religious blessing, or the status acquired in gift giving must be recognized as important in gift exchange. Art historian Helen Jessup's parallel essay on "Indonesian Court Arts" gives an overview of courtly traditions of gift exchange as they were used in defining hierarchy or equality among rulers or between rulers and subjects in Indonesian history. Turning to American history, Alan Fern's discussion of"Presidential Gifts in America" favorably compares the simple and deeply meaningful gifts of the earliest presidents to the "extraordinary escalation" of recent presidential gift giving. This trend recalls the escalating Cult of Magnificence in Indonesian courts, as described by Jessup. Unlike some Indonesian court societies, however, Americans have not yet come to believe that the expensive heirlooms acquired as our rulers take office are actually the source of our president's authority. Gretchen Townsend's essay, "Colonial Boston Church Silver: Gifts of Community, Commitment, and Continuity," provides the conference's parting thought, examining the colonial New England pattern of collecting money or leaving money upon one's death for the purchase of church silver. She leaves us with a well-developed example of a meaningful type of gift, prominent in colonial popular culture, which cannot easily be interpreted in terms of the implied reciprocity and exchange that dominate most thinking about gifts. The donor who bequeathed money for an inscribed silver vessel was, after all, already dead when the transfer took place. And each Puritan donor knew that his future status, as someone who would or would not eternally be saved, was already predetermined before he made the bequest. Drawing her evidence from contemporary writings and from her examination of the silver vessels, Townsend presents a moving account of the many meanings these objects of a lifetime conveyed.

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.

RELATED PAPERS

Nitnam Padun

A Catholic Spirituality for Business: The Logic of Gift

Germán Scalzo

Olli Pyyhtinen

Linda Leestemaker

Cultural Studies Review

Andrew Metcalfe

Carlos Hoevel

Anthropological Theory

Jacob Copeman , Dwaipayan Banerjee

Journal of Gender Studies

Margrit Shildrick

John Tredinnick-Rowe

Amidala Jones

Christopher C Yorke

Die Kunst der Gabe

Ilana F Silber

Dimitri Mortelmans

Sociological Review

Rachel Hurdley

Barbora Stehlíková

Sociological Theory

Laurie Sones

Selina Shen

Negotiating the Gift: Pre-Modern Figurations of Exchange, Gadi Algazi, Valentin Groebner & Bernhard Jussen eds. (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003)

Gadi Algazi

Journal of Consumer Research

Human Studies

Nathan Miczo

The Economics of the Gift, in: Gift giving and the "embedded" economy in the ancient world, edited by Filippo Carlà and Maja Gori, Universitätsverlag Winter Heidelberg, 2014, pp. 83-99.

David Reinstein

Student Application Essays Explore the Deeper Meaning of Gifts

Campus Life

Published June 23, 2014

A gift can change a life, fulfill a dream, inspire a new point of view or spark a new talent.

This year, as part of the admission process at Smith, prospective students were asked to tell us about the best gift they’ve ever given or received.

Their essays came pouring in—part of the record number of applications Smith received for the class of 2018. From a reflection on the meaning of socks to an ode to an antique typewriter, their stories illustrate the thoughtful, creative spirit of the latest class of Smithies.

Here’s a sampling of submissions from entering students:

Love. Freedom. Beautiful.

As a weak premature baby, I was not expected to survive, but my parents still gave me a beautiful Japanese name, Ayumi. There are three parts to my name.

“A” is love. No matter what kind of emotional and economic consequences my parents faced, they gave me support and unconditional love.

“yu” is freedom. My mother dreamed that I was descending from heaven holding my great grandma’s hand. Because I was too young to die. So, my ancestors gave me freedom to live.

“mi” is beauty. God gave me the beauty of passion, the beauty of life and the beauty of love.

Because of my name, I am alive. Because of my name, the evil of death shattered. And, most importantly, because of my name, I understand the preciousness and fragility of life.

– Ayumi Akiyama ’18, Tokyo, Japan

After weeks of hunting through and losing eBay auctions, I found it. A typewriter is a unique gift by most standards, but this particular antique Corona portable model held special significance to me. My best friend, to whom the Corona went, is the only person in my life who shares both my love of the past and my secret desire to sit, as many great female authors have, at a typewriter and just pour my soul onto stacks of white paper. This fantasy has been woven through many long, emotional conversations and is a simple representation of our complex bond. She is my greatest inspiration, critic and collaborator, all in one, and each year I struggle to find a gift that adequately encompasses my appreciation of her friendship and innate understanding of who I am. This year, I succeeded with ink, paper and a shiny black piece of history.

– Lauren E. Graham ’18, Monroe, Ohio

I make tentative airplane noises, flying spoonfuls of overcooked rice toward gaping mouths. The mood of the room has shifted from aimless to urgent, for rice is in the air. Hungry girls flock to me, but Xiao Li grabs my wrist, guiding the spoon toward her lips. I hesitate, noticing the spoon is too big for her mouth; so I observe the employees who deftly stretch little lips, shoving adult spoons into each slight cheek. Xiao Li grimaces and craves. Her discomfort is blatant. I touch her cheek. She smiles at the gentle movement, but opens her mouth for more. Food was food. Spoons are spoons. The orphan knows that spoons are painful. They know this basic truth about spoons, a basic truth about their reality. I never considered my soup spoons before. Spoons are overlooked things, but can often exemplify very different lives. This experience gifted me some serious perspectives.

– Ellie MacQueen ’18, Fairbault, Minn.

As a twin, birthdays were always complicated. Giving a present on your own birthday isn’t an easy concept for a child to understand. To avoid this issue, Martin and I hardly ever gave each other birthday presents. However, in eighth grade, after our birthday dinner, I was surprised to see a gift that read, “From Martin.” I ripped the paper open and found a plaque: “The Stellar Registry preserves that this star is to be named Laura Green with a message from the recorder: ‘May your perkiness burn out with the star…hopefully.'” Of course Martin would be so considerate and yet tease me at the same time; that’s what brothers do. The star is a reminder, out in the cosmos and hanging on my wall, that no matter how much we bicker, fight or argue, he’ll always be my twin, a relationship I’ll never have with anyone else.

– Laura Wallis Green ’18, La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.

When I was a month old, my aunt gave me a little elephant plushie. It’s about 9 inches long, feels like an umbrella and wears plastic orange glasses, which are prone to breaking. I know because I’ve kept it with me for nearly 17 years and have had to superglue the bridge of those glasses thrice (I’ve since given up, they just stay broken now). It’s the oldest, most threadbare stuffed toy I’ve ever seen, and I have no idea why I love it so much. All I know is without Slonik (for such is his name; using it makes me uncomfortable), I have trouble falling asleep. At some point over my childhood I started treating Slonik like a tiny creature with feelings, though I never thought of him as human. I think loving Slonik has taught me that love doesn’t always make sense, but it remains real.

– Mariya Germash ’18, Brooklyn, N.Y.

I am proud of my collection of whimsical socks. Covered with patterns ranging from sloths to slot machines, my socks represent a wide array of exotic places. You see, my dad travels frequently for work. And whether the ritual began because he thought socks would be a meaningful souvenir, or as a last-minute purchase at the airport gift shop, he would unfailingly bring me a pair of socks from everywhere he went. I spent this past summer at an educational program in Israel. As my friends relentlessly bargained for crafts at local markets, I could not find a meaningful gift for my father. Although stressed by the prospect of coming home empty-handed, I rejected all of my friends’ well-intentioned suggestions. At the airport gift shop preparing for the flight home, they couldn’t understand my joyful tears as I bought a pair of men’s socks with camels on them.

– Ruby Hartman ’18, Los Altos, Calif.

Social Justice
Environment
Health & Happiness
Get YES! Emails
Teacher Resources

Give A Gift Subscription
Teaching Sustainability
Teaching Social Justice
Teaching Respect & Empathy

Student Writing Lessons

Visual Learning Lessons
Tough Topics Discussion Guides
About the YES! for Teachers Program
Student Writing Contest

Follow YES! For Teachers

Teaching Respect & Empathy

“Your Unique Gifts” Student Writing Lesson

We all have gifts worthy of sharing. What's your gift?

The YES! Magazine article, “ Blessings Revealed ” by Puanani Burgess is a story about finding our unique and valuable gift and learning how to share it.

Students will use Puanani Burgess’ story to write about their unique gifts—gifts that are not necessarily easy to see or valued by society.

Download this lesson as a PDF

YES! Article and Writing Prompt

Read the YES! article: “ Blessing Revealed ” by Puanani Burgess.

Writing Prompt: What is your gift? Who do you share it?

Writing Guidelines

The writing guidelines below are intended to be just that—a guide. Please adapt to fit your curriculum.

Provide an original essay title
Reference the article
Limit the essay to no more than 700 words
Pay attention to grammar and organization
Be original, provide personal examples and insights
Demonstrate clarity of content and idea

This writing exercise meets several Common Core State Standards for grades 6-12 including W. 9-10.3 and 9-10.14 for Writing, and RI. 9-10 and RI. 9-0.2 for Reading: Informational Text.*

*This standard applies to other grade levels. “9-10” is used as an example.

Evaluation Rubric

Sample Essays

The essays below were selected as winners for the Spring 2011 Student Writing Competition. Please use them as sample essays or mentor text. The ideas, structure, and writing style of these essays may provide inspiration for your own students’ writing—and an excellent platform for analysis and discussion.

Who’s Inside Dementia? by Alex Gilliland, Grade 8

Read Alex’s essay about her ability to see beyond her grandparents’ dementia and recognize them for who they really are—even when others can’t.

Finding Your Gift by Kamron Yazdani, Grade 12

Read Kamron’s essay on his gift of helping his friends come up with understandable and viable solutions to their problems—and why kindergartners adore him.

Realizing My Gift by Tim Hefflinger, Appalachian State University

Read Tim’s essay about how Fowler’s Toads made him realize that his calling is to talk and write about what impassions him—social justice.

My Gift by Bronson Ho’omaikai Afong, Grade 6

Read Bronson’s essay about how his gifts of kamaehu (resilience), lokomaikai (compassion) and loha kekahi i kekahi (loving one another) help support and love others when they don’t feel accepted.

We Want to Hear From You!

How do you see this lesson fitting in your curriculum? Already tried it? Tell us—and other teachers—how the lesson worked for you and your students.

Please leave your comments below, including what grade you teach.

Related Resources

“Three Things That Matter Most” Student Writing Lesson

“Gender Pronouns” Student Writing Lesson

“What We Fear” Student Writing Lesson

Get stories of solutions to share with your classroom.

Teachers save 50% on YES! Magazine.

Inspiration in Your Inbox

Get the free daily newsletter from YES! Magazine: Stories of people creating a better world to inspire you and your students.

24/7 writing help on your phone

To install StudyMoose App tap and then “Add to Home Screen”

Gifts - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Gifts are thoughtful gestures that express gratitude, love, or appreciation to someone special. They come in various shapes, sizes, and forms, ranging from simple and handmade to expensive and luxurious. Gifts can be given to celebrate an occasion, such as birthdays, weddings, and holidays, or simply to show appreciation for someone’s presence in your life. Whether big or small, gifts carry a message of heartfelt affection and help strengthen bonds between individuals. It is said that the thought behind a gift counts more than the gift itself, making it an essential expression of emotions and relationships.

📘 Free essay examples for your ideas about Gifts
🏆 Best Essay Topics on Gifts
⚡ Simple & Gifts Easy Topics
🎓 Good Research Topics about Gifts
❓ Questions and Answers

Essay examples

Essay topic.

Save to my list

Remove from my list

Gift from the Sea
The Simple Giftby Steven Herrick
Unique Gifts for All Occasions
Personalized Gifts for Any Occasion
Gifts for Him
Gifts for Her
The ultimate gift: reaction paper about the movie
Gifted and talented students
Gifts for Kids
Pneumatology: Spiritual Gifts
Gifts for Teens
Gifts for Baby
The Gift of Happiness
Gifts for the Home
Special Gift for Your Brother to Prepare for His Trip Abroad
My Best Gift
A Gift by Rahila Gupta
The Christian church teaches life is a sacred gift from god
Gifts for the Office
Gifts for the Holidays
Gift of Magi Analysis
Life is a Gift
Gifts for Birthdays
was a huge gift which allow them to express themselves creativity and
Best Gifts for Dad
Gifts for Anniversaries
Gifts for Weddings
The Advertisement for Mother’s Day Gifts
The Holy Spirit and The Gifts of the Spirit
How does Faustus use the magical gifts that he receives?
Gifts for Graduations
Gifts for All

FAQ about Gifts

👋 Hi! I’m your smart assistant Amy!

Don’t know where to start? Type your requirements and I’ll connect you to an academic expert within 3 minutes.

“Hints” for a Gift Theory: The Ideology of Disinterested Giving and Its Discontents

First Online: 28 April 2022

Cite this chapter

Alexandra Urakova 3

Part of the book series: American Literature Readings in the 21st Century ((ALTC))

150 Accesses

This chapter offers insight into the ideology of a disinterested, pure, and free gift by examining three texts with theoretical implications: (1) Emerson’s essay “Gifts” (1844), the first serious attempt to theorize the category of the gift in modern Western history, (2) Caroline M. Kirkland’s “About Presents” (1852), and (3) Mark Twain’s [“Reflections on a Letter and a Book”] (1903). These three theoretical nodes allow me to trace the arc of this ideology over the course of the nineteenth century, from Emerson’s problematization of sentimental rhetoric and conceptualization of the gift through Kirkland’s development of the sentimental “philosophy of giving” (“presents”), arriving ultimately at Twain’s half-mocking, half-serious (re)vision of what he called the “absolutely free gift.”

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

Get 10 units per month
Download Article/Chapter or eBook
1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
Cancel anytime
Available as PDF
Read on any device
Instant download
Own it forever
Available as EPUB and PDF
Compact, lightweight edition
Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
Free shipping worldwide - see info
Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

By bringing Emerson and Kirkland together in one chapter, I follow in the steps of Eric Leigh Schmidt (Schmidt 1997 ) yet my analysis goes in a different direction. Schmidt considers Emerson’s “Gifts” and Kirkland’s “About Presents” as the two polar variations of what he calls the Romantic understanding of the gift. (The Romantic gift in Schmidt’s interpretation encompasses both “the poison in the gift” and “the promise of the gift,” e.g., the ambivalence associated with gift-giving and its idealization). He argues that, on the one hand, there is Emerson who is skeptical about gift-giving in both his essay and private correspondence and, on the other, Kirkland who, together with female contemporaries such as Sarah Josepha Hale, idealizes the free spirit of the gift and sees gift-exchange rituals in a positive light. In what follows, I intend to read these texts in terms of continuity rather than contrast while accounting for their fundamental ideological differences.

Since 1988, the text has received significantly more attention in American nineteenth-century studies ; see Schmidt ( 1997 ); Kete ( 2000 ); Litwicki ( 2015 ). However, its place within Emerson studies continues to be marginal, especially when compared with canonical works such as “Nature” or “Self-Reliance.”

Both Amy Vanderbilt and Miss Manners (Judith Martin) were twentieth-century American authors writing on etiquette.

There is an apparent congruence between the Kantian and Emersonian visions if we consider the following statement from the Critique of Judgment : “Flowers, free designs, lines aimlessly intertwined and called foliage: these have no significance, depend on no determinate concept, and yet we like them” (qtd in Shapiro 1999 : 103).

Unless handmade gifts pursue self-interest or suggest a bargain. Eliza Leslie, for example, condemns young ladies knitting purses or working slippers for wealthy old gentlemen knowing that the “dear old man” would “reward them by a handsome present of some bijou of real value” (Leslie 1853 : 181).

While “in the sentimental novel, what ‘floweth’ most of all are tears” (Elmer: 109), a bleeding heart was still its commonest cliché. In Richardson’s ( 1986 ) Clarissa , a “bleeding heart” is mentioned ten times (390, 433, 958, 979, 994; 1101; 1220; 1337; 1339; 1372), in Pamela ( 2011 ), four (27, 117, 171, 229); in Brown’s ( 1996 ) The Power of Sympathy , the first sentimental novel written in the United States, twice (41, 66).

This idea would later be echoed in Walden , where Thoreau compares a benefactor with “that dry and parching wind of the African deserts called the simoom, which fills the mouth and nose and ears and eyes with dust till you are suffocated.” He adds that he would run from such a person “for fear that I should get some of his good done to me—some of its virus mingled with my blood” (61). In Thoreau’s ( 2008 ) interpretation of Emersonian ideas, benevolence is not only violent but also contagious.

She prefers it to the term “gift” but, like Emerson, uses both terms interchangeably.

Here I use the classification suggested in the introduction to a forthcoming volume on the dangers of gifts (Sowerby and Urakova 2022, forthcoming).

Nonetheless, charitable giving and exchange often occurred together and shared common features: “both acts of giving acted as cathartic exercises in selflessness” (133).

Hau (Maori term) is a force that binds the giver and the receiver.

Schmidt draws more parallels between Kirkland and Mauss, for example, they both counterpoise the imperfect present and the idyllic pre-capitalist past where gifts were valued much more (Schmidt 1997 : 79).

Although his writing on “money and greed” (“central themes of Twain’s critique of the Gilded Age”) was a “lifelong project that commenced in his early journalism years” (Bush 2002 : 60).

Twain’s interest in selfless, disinterested giving in his late period is a counterpoint to his lifelong interest in business and speculation, which extended to the literary sphere as well. “More so even than most writers, Twain regarded his books as commodities to be marketed, and even his famous pseudonym registered as a trademark” (Sattelmeyer 2001 : 89). At the same time, and despite his literary success, his attitude to money was “vexed” and “contradictory” (Wonham 2014 : 1, 2).

Works Cited

Brown, William Hill. 1996. The Power of Sympathy . In William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy and Hanna Webster Foster, The Coquette , 1–150. New York: Penguin Classics.

Google Scholar

Bush, Harold K., Jr. 2002. ‘Moralist in Disguise’: Mark Twain and American Religion. In A Historical Guide to Mark Twain , ed. Shelley Fisher Fishkin, 55–94. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc.

Cromphout, Gustaaf van. 1999. Emerson’s Ethics . Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Deming, Richard. 2007. Listening on All Sides: Towards an Emersonian Ethics of Reading . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Derrida, Jacques. 1992. Given Time: I. Counterfeit Money. Trans. Peggy Kamuf. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Dickinson, Cindy. 1996. Creating a World of Books, Friends, and Flowers: Gift Books and Inscriptions, 1825–60. Winterthur Portfolio 31 (1): 53–66.

Article Google Scholar

Elmer, Jonathan. 1991. Terminate or Liquidate? Poe, Sensationalism, and the Sentimental Tradition. In American Face of Edgar Allan Poe , ed. Rosenheim Shawn and Stephen Rachman, 91–120. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. 1904. Address at Opening of Concord Free Library. In The Complete Works of Ralph Waldo Emerson: vol. XI: Miscellanies , 493–509. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

———. 1983. Essays and Lectures (Essays: First and Second, Representative Men, English Traits, and the Conduct of Life) . New York: Library of America.

Floyd, Janet. 2002. Writing Pioneer Women , 124–144. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Gruzin, Richard A. 1988. ‘Put God in Your Debt’: Emerson’s Economy of Expenditure. PMLA 103: 35–44.

Kete, Mary Louise. 2000. Sentimental Collaborations: Mourning and Middle-Class Identity in Nineteenth-Century America . Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Book Google Scholar

Kirkland, Caroline Mathilda. 1853. About Presents. In A Book for the Home Circle , 88–102. New York: Charles Scribner.

———. 1845. Hints for an Essay on Presents. Godey’s Lady’s Book 31: 27–29.

Kopytoff, Igor. 1986. The Cultural Biography of Things: Commoditization as Process. In The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective , ed. Arjun Appadurai, 64–91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Chapter Google Scholar

Lawson, Andrew. 2011. Mark Twain, Class, and the Gilded Age . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

LeCarner, Thomas. 2014. A Portion of Thyself: Thoreau, Emerson, and Derrida on Giving. Revue française d’études américaines 3 (140): 65–77.

Leslie, [Eliza]. 1853. Miss Leslie’s Behaviour Book: A Guide and Manual for Ladies. Philadelphia: Willis P. Hazard.

Leverenz, David. 2019. Manhood and the American Renaissance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

Litwicki, Ellen. 2015. Defining the Gift: From Emerson to the Gift Registry. Americana: E-Journal of American Studies in Hungary XI (2). http://americanaejournal.hu/vol11no2/litwicki .

Maruo-Schröder, Nicole. 2016. A(t) Home on the Frontier: Place, Narrative, and Material Culture in Caroline Kirkland and Eliza Farnham. Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik 64 (1). https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/zaa/64/1/article-p43.xml?tab_body=abstract .

Mauss, Marcel. 2002. The Gift: The Form and Reason for Exchange in Archaic Societies . Trans. W.D. Halls. London, New York: Routledge.

Merish, Lori. 1993. ‘The Hand of Refined Taste’ in the Frontier Landscape: Caroline Kirkland’s A New Home, Who’ll Follow? and the Feminization of American Consumerism. American Quarterly 45 (4): 485–523.

Osgood, Fanny. 1836. The Language of Gems. The Court Magazine and Belle Assemblee , London. Vol. 8 (6), 233.

Osteen, Mark, ed. 2002. The Question of the Gift: Essays Across Disciplines . London: Routledge.

Parry, Jonathan. 1986. The Gift, the Indian Gift, and the 'Indian Gift’. Man 21 (3): 453–473.

Poirier, Richard. 1992. Poetry and Pragmatism . Cambridge, M.A.: Harvard University Press.

Pyyhtinen, Olli. 2014. The Gift and Its Paradoxes: Beyond Mauss . London: Routledge.

Richardson, Samuel. 1986. Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady . New York: Penguin Classics.

———. 2011. Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded, e d. Thomas Keymer and Alice Wakely. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richardson, Robert D., Jr. 1995. Emerson: The Mind on Fire . Berkeley: University of California Press.

Ryan, Susan M. 2003. The Grammar of Good Intentions: Race and the Antebellum Culture of Benevolence . Ithaca: Cornell University.

Sattelmeyer, Robert. 2001. Steamboats, Cocaine, and Paper Money: Mark Twain Rewriting Himself. In Constructing Mark Twain: New Directions in Scholarship , ed. Laura E. Skandera Trombley and Michael J. Kiskis, 87–100. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.

Sawaya, Francesca. 2014. The Difficult Art of Giving: Patronage, Philanthropy, and the American Literary Market . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Schmidt, Leigh Eric. 1997. Practices of Exchange: From Market Culture to Gift Economy in the Interpretation of American Religion. In Lived Religion in America: Toward a History of Practice , ed. David D. Hall, 69–91. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Schrift, Alan D., ed. 1997. The Logic of the Gift: Towards an Ethics of Generosity .London: Routledge.

Shapiro, Gary. 1997. The Metaphysics of Presents: Nietzsche’s Gift, the Debt to Emerson, Heidegger’s Values. In The Logic of the Gift: Towards an Ethic of Generosity , ed. Alan D. Schrift, 274–292. London: Routledge.

———. 1999. ‘Give Me a Break!’ Emerson on Fruit and Flowers. The Journal of Speculative Philosophy 13 (2): 98–113.

Sowerby, Tracey, and Alexandra Urakova. 2022 (forthcoming). Introduction: Unpacking Dangerous Gifts. In The Dangers of Gifts from Antiquity to the Digital Age , ed. Alexandra Urakova, Tracey Sowerby, and Tudor Sala. New York and London: Routledge.

Stowe, Harriet Beecher. 1855a. The Tea Rose. In The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings , 89–98. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company.

———. 1855b. Christmas Story; Or, The Good Fairy. In The May Flower, and Miscellaneous Writings , 212–223. Boston: Phillips, Sampson, and Company.

Thoreau, Henry David. 2008. Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions). New York: Norton.

Twain, Mark. 2010. Scraps for my Autobiography [Reflections on a Letter and a Book]. In Twain, Mark, Autobiography , ed. Harriet E. Smith, Benjamin Griffin, et al. Vol. 1, 181–185. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Urakova, Alexandra. 2016. ‘Subtle Distinctions’: Emerson’s ‘Gifts’ and Sentimental Rhetoric of Gift-Giving. Revista Anglo-Saxonica 3 (12): 245–269.

Wells, Samuel Roberts. 1872. How to Behave: A Pocket Manual for Republican Etiquette, and Guide to Correct Personal Habits … New York: Wells.

Wonham, Henry B. 2014. Introduction: Mark Twain and Economy. American Literary Realism 47 (1): 1–3.

Wood, Michelle Gaffner. 2017. ‘I was in a Fidget to know where we could possibly sleep’: Antebellum Hospitality on the Margins of Nation in Caroline Kirkland’s A New Home. Who’ll Follow? and Eliza Farnham’s Life in Prairie Land . In Anglo-American Travelers and the Hotel Experience in Nineteenth-Century Literature: Nation, Hospitality, Travel Writing , ed. Monika M. Elbert and Susanne Schmid. London and New York: Routledge.

Zagarell, Sandra A. 1990. Introduction. In A New Home, Who’ll Follow? Glimpses of Western Life by Mrs. Mary Clavers, An Actual Settler . xi-xliv. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

———. 1993. ‘America’ as Community in Three Antebellum Village Sketches. In The (Other) American Traditions: Nineteenth-Century Women Writers , ed. Joyce W. Warren, 143–163. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

Alexandra Urakova

You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Urakova .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Urakova, A. (2022). “Hints” for a Gift Theory: The Ideology of Disinterested Giving and Its Discontents. In: Dangerous Giving in Nineteenth-Century American Literature. American Literature Readings in the 21st Century. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93270-1_2

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93270-1_2

Published : 28 April 2022

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-030-93269-5

Online ISBN : 978-3-030-93270-1

eBook Packages : Literature, Cultural and Media Studies Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Find a journal
Track your research

Ask the publishers to restore access to 500,000+ books.

Internet Archive Audio

This Just In
Grateful Dead
Old Time Radio
78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings
Audio Books & Poetry
Computers, Technology and Science
Music, Arts & Culture
News & Public Affairs
Spirituality & Religion
Radio News Archive

Flickr Commons
Occupy Wall Street Flickr
NASA Images
Solar System Collection
Ames Research Center

All Software
Old School Emulation
MS-DOS Games
Historical Software
Classic PC Games
Software Library
Kodi Archive and Support File
Vintage Software
CD-ROM Software
CD-ROM Software Library
Software Sites
Tucows Software Library
Shareware CD-ROMs
Software Capsules Compilation
CD-ROM Images
ZX Spectrum
DOOM Level CD

Smithsonian Libraries
FEDLINK (US)
Lincoln Collection
American Libraries
Canadian Libraries
Universal Library
Project Gutenberg
Children's Library
Biodiversity Heritage Library
Books by Language
Additional Collections

Prelinger Archives
Democracy Now!
Occupy Wall Street
TV NSA Clip Library
Animation & Cartoons
Arts & Music
Computers & Technology
Cultural & Academic Films
Ephemeral Films
Sports Videos
Videogame Videos
Youth Media

Search the history of over 866 billion web pages on the Internet.

Mobile Apps

Wayback Machine (iOS)
Wayback Machine (Android)

Browser Extensions

Archive-it subscription.

Explore the Collections
Build Collections

Save Page Now

Capture a web page as it appears now for use as a trusted citation in the future.

Please enter a valid web address

Donate Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape

Gifts : an essay

Bookreader item preview, share or embed this item, flag this item for.

Graphic Violence
Explicit Sexual Content
Hate Speech
Misinformation/Disinformation
Marketing/Phishing/Advertising
Misleading/Inaccurate/Missing Metadata

This item is really lovely - it's printed on high-quality rag paper and is the size of my hand.

plus-circle Add Review comment Reviews

Download options.

For users with print-disabilities

IN COLLECTIONS

Uploaded by alison-wood on March 3, 2008

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

Home / Essay Samples / Life / Gift / An Overview of Various Types of Gifts for Different Occasions

An Overview of Various Types of Gifts for Different Occasions

Category: Life
Topic: Gift

Pages: 1 (601 words)

Downloads: -->

--> ⚠️ Remember: This essay was written and uploaded by an--> click here.

Found a great essay sample but want a unique one?

are ready to help you with your essay

You won’t be charged yet!

Failure Essays

Patience Essays

Hate Essays

Suffering Essays

Honesty Essays

Related Essays

We are glad that you like it, but you cannot copy from our website. Just insert your email and this sample will be sent to you.

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Your essay sample has been sent.

In fact, there is a way to get an original essay! Turn to our writers and order a plagiarism-free paper.

samplius.com uses cookies to offer you the best service possible.By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .--> -->