The Gift of Magi

Introduction
The Gift of Magi is a short story written by an American short story writer, William Sydney
Porter. He has written his literary works under the pen name of O’ Henry. This story was first
published in 1905.

It is a sentimental tale of a financially upset couple. Both of them sold out their prized
possessions in order to buy presents for each other for Christmas. In the end, their gifts
become useless.

This story is written in the 19th century highlighting the economic disturbance of those times.
It also throws light on the prevailing materialism in society. One can also find it a
commentary on the sufferings and struggles of the middle class trying to overcome the upset
financial situation.

The Gift of Magi Summary

Della Dillingham, holding 1.87 dollars in her hand wanders here and there in the room. She is
worried because it’s Christmas Eve and she needs to buy a gift for her loving and caring
husband to show that she loves her too. Also, she feels like crying because she doesn’t know
what to do.

Moreover, the couple lives in a small and simple apartment. James Young Dillingham is a
gentleman and husband of Della. He works in an office in the city. Recently he was receiving
30 dollars a week which has drastically fallen to 20 dollars a week and due to which the
family upsets a bit.

The only pride with the Dillingham family is the gold watch James is having which is
believed to be given to his father by his grandfather. On the other side, Della’s most beautiful
thing is her hair. James loves her long brown hair.

Della is thinking about how to give James a gift. Meantime she comes in front of the mirror
in her room. The narrator describes it as not a good mirror as it is thin and gets very difficult
for anyone to catch his glimpse in it. However, Della is a thin girl so she easily catches a
view of herself.

In all of her nervousness, she opens her hair which falls to its full length to her knees. She has
beautiful brown hair which shines brightly. Upon seeing her hair, an idea probes in her mind.
She rushes to the stairs and goes down to the street and sees the name of the shop on the
street Mrs Sofronie.

She runs towards the shop and goes inside and asks Mrs Sofronie whether she will buy her
hair or not. She tells her to open her hair. When she sees her brown hair fall like a stream
from top to her knees she at once says 20 dollars.
After the haircut, Della goes to the market to buy a gift for James. Now she has 21 dollars
and 87 cents. She crosses the whole market and a number of shops until she finds a beautiful
watch chain. When she looks at it she at once thinks of buying it. Eventually, she buys it and
thinks like it was made for James. She returns home happily.

Similarly, she is smiling and blushing that how happy and delighted James will be when he
sees this beautiful watch chain as he was already in need of one.

Subsequently, she comes home and straightly goes to her room. Sitting in her room she thinks
about her hair cut which seems more like a schoolboy cut. On this, she becomes slightly upset
as it was her most beautiful and dear possession. Due to this, she also imagines how badly
James will feel when he comes to know her hair is gone. Then, she keeps waiting in her room
for James to return home.

At 7 o’clock, James arrives and she listens to his steps approaching the room. She excitedly
goes downstairs and stops there as James looks at her strangely because of her haircut. She
tells him not to look at her like that because his weird look is hurting her. She asks whether
James loves her in long hair and will not love her like this.

Upon hearing this from Della, James comes near her and says nothing can lessen his love for
her. Then, he expresses his disappointment by showing the gift he bought for her. At that
time, he says to Della if she sees what he has brought for her as a gift she would feel the same
as he felt. Della steps towards the gift and as her white finger opens the box tears come out of
her eyes.

There are two beautiful jeweled combs which she has seen in a shop and wanted it but she
couldn’t buy it. James says that he sold his gold watch to buy this for her. Now her hair is
gone so they are of no worth or use for her. Della, though upset, builds courage and says to
James to forget about these gifts as they are worthy of not our use for now, and let’s enjoy
our Christmas night as we are losing time.

Themes in The Gift of Magi

Endless Love: One of the themes of this story written by O’ Henry is the revelation of
endless love between the couple. They both sell their valuable things to buy gifts for one
another and to show how much they love each other. Della sells her hair and buys a watch
chain for her husband and lover as he has not got a good chain with his family watch. So she
sells her hair, a beautiful thing for her love.

One the other side James sells his family watch given to him by his father to buy a gift for her
wife. This shows and proves how much they love each other. In the end, the love they are
having for one another triumphs over the material things.
Beauty

O’ Henry has tactfully interwoven the theme of inner and outer beauty. Throughout the story,
one can see the narrator praising Della’s hair and Jim’s watch. Similarly, there are also the
glimpses of outer beauty occurring in the prized gifts they bought for each other.

However, all those things possess only outer beauty as those are only material objects. The
very inner beauty lies in both characters; the love they are having for each other. Those
material objects also reflect the love and selflessness they are having. In the end, the objects
of outer beauty fail but love gains victory.

Sacrifices

Readers may find the spark of selflessness in both characters. This very element leads them to
sacrifice. Della, being a woman of beautiful hairs, the only possession she has, sacrificed it
for her love. She just wanted to see delightfulness on Jim’s face.

On the other hand, Jim also sacrificed his prized possession, passed down to him from
generations for her wife. He wanted to give Della happiness on the Eve of Christmas. For
this, he sold his watch.

Characters Analysis
Della Dillingham

She is the caring, beautiful, and loving wife of Jim Dillingham. She calls him Jim shortly and
with love. Moreover, she has only prized possession that is her beautiful hair with the length
from head to knees. Readers may explore most of the story through her perspective.

Similarly, she is described as an affectionate and selfless character. From the start of the
story, she seems worried about how to purchase a gift of Christmas for her husband. She tried
her best to save even a single penny. But in the end, money is not enough to buy any gift for
Jim. So, she thought it best to cut her hair in order to buy him a fob chain. This shows her
deep love for Jim and her selfless nature.

James Dillingham

James Young Dillingham called by Della as Jim is a gentleman of age 22 but has a burden of
responsibilities of running home and family. Nevertheless the heavy burden, he seems
content, quiet, and good-natured.

Just like his wife he has only prized possession of a gold watch passed down from
generations. Similar in manner to his wife, he sold his prized possession and bought a gift of
tortoise comb for Della. This describes his love and cares towards Della.
Madame SofronieShe is the owner of the hair shop to which Della sells her hair. She is
described as a brusque and cold lady. Moreover, she so much to the point that she didn’t
waste time in evaluating and paid twenty dollars for the hairs of Della.

Literary Analysis
The Gift of Magi is a short story written by an American short story writer, William Sydney
Porter. He has written his literary works under the pen name of O’ Henry. This story was first
published in 1905.

This story recounts the endless love between the couple, the way they sacrificed their prized
possessions for each other. On one hand, Della cut her hair to make enough money to buy a
fob chain for Jim. On the other hand, Jim sells his gold watch, passed down from generations,
just to buy a beautiful comb for Della.

However, their sacrifices also elaborate foolishness. They bought one other beautiful and
prized gifts but that turns out in vain. Tortoise comb is useless without Della’s hair. In the
same way, the fob chain is useless with Jim’s gold watch. This alludes to the very gifts
brought by wise men for Jesus on his birth. Similarly, those gifts were also useless for Christ
but all that matters is love and sincerity with which gifts are bought.

The couple expressing the way of love is also weird. This depicts the materialism that was
prevalent in those times. The 19th century was the age of industrialism which sprouts out
materialism, economic disturbance, and class consciousness. Readers can find the
aforementioned glimpses when both characters chose materials to express love for each other.

Moreover, the view of their apartment also mirrors the middle-class society of those times.
Jim was overburdened with financial responsibilities. Though, he struggles a lot but couldn’t
stabilize his family.

Despite low income, they have maintained to furnish their apartments so the people can
socialize with them. This highlights the concept of that society that everyone socializes with
materials, not with humans. Emotions and feelings were kept aside.

O’ Henry seems to be rebuking the concept of materialism. He alludes to the Queen of Sheba
and King of Solomon to represent the jewels and wealth by comparing them with the
possessions of Della and Jim. He is of the view that strong emotions are attached to those
things; Della’s hairs and Jim’s watch. However, they sacrificed it for love.

In this way, he criticizes society’s proclivity towards material gains. He seems to advocate
the value of sincerity and love that society lacked. Though those three kings also bought
precious presents, their emotions and sincerity are counted anyway.

In the end, O’ Henry calls both of the characters wise. There he makes it explicit though both
of them sold out things to buy gifts for Christmas. However, the only thing that beheld the
couple and remained until the end was love.
O’ Henry uses the situation of Christmas to highlight that occasion not just means exchange
of gifts. Rather it means unity, sincerity, and love. Even without materials, you can celebrate
it if one’s heart is pure.

Significance of the Title

The title of this story can be elaborated with two perspectives.

Firstly, the title is a biblical allusion of three wise men or kings who brought gold,
frankincense, and myrrh for Christ on his birth in Bethlehem.

Likewise, O’ Henry develops this idea of precious gifts and love via Della and Jim’s
character. Della and Jim have sacrificed their most prized possessions for one another so they
are relatable with aforementioned wise men.

Setting
The story takes place in a tiny apartment which costs eight dollars a month. However, the
location and time period is not explicitly mentioned. But one can assume that the story is set
in the early 1900s in New York.

Symbolism

O’ Henry has used the following symbols in the story:

Della’s Hair

In the story, Della’s hair represents her youth and beauty. O’ Henry uses incredible imagery
to describe her hair by depicting its length to her knees. Besides these, Della’s hair is also a
symbol of love and sacrifice that she did for her husband Jim. She wanted to give him a
precious present to show her love. However, she didn’t have enough money, so she cut her
hair just to buy Jim a precious gift.

Jim’s Gold Watch

Jim’s gold watch has passed down to him through generations. This expresses the sentiments
of Jim’s ties to his family. Moreover, it also symbolizes his love for Della and the time he
spent working to support the household.

Nevertheless, the memories attached to the gold watch he sold it out to buy a beautiful gift for
his wife Della. Given that, it represents the unstable financial position of the young couple as
well.

Imagery
O’ Henry has used incredible imagery at different places to mirror the exact view before the
readers. At first, O’ Henry describes the mortification of Della of being a miser. He draws
colour imagery to paint the image of Della’s cheek that “one’s cheeks burned with the silent
imputation of parsimony”.
Moreover, O’ Henry has tactfully depicted the doleful feelings of Della that readers are fully
able to understand it. The narrator says “She stood by the window and looked out dully at a
grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard”. This provides glimpses of her sorrows and
disappointment as she hasn’t enough money to buy a gift for Jim at Christmas.

Similarly, O’ Henry shows the apartment of a young couple. He uses pun on certain words to
contradict the outlook of Della for her house. He describes “It did not exactly beggar
description“. However, then he uses the phrase “mendicancy squad” which also means
beggar.

In this way, he shows that the apartment is tiny and in the possession of a financially unstable
couple but they have managed to keep it well with all they have.

Likewise, O’ Henry pinpoints Della’s meagre situation by saying “On went her old brown
jacket; on went her old brown hat”. This depicts how poor she is surviving a little.

Further, Della’s hair and Jim’s watch worth is described by comparing it with Queen of
Sheba and King of Solomon. By this O’ Henry describes how Della makes Sheba envious by
the charm of her hairs. Even King Solomon’s treasures lose their worth when Jim passes by
with his watch.

Literary Devices
Verbal Irony

O’ Henry has applied verbal irony when describing the only prized possessions of both
characters. Firstly, he compares Della’s hairs with the jewels of Queen of Sheba that even
Sheba would be envious of the beauty of her hair. On the other hand, he describes King
Solomon despite the wealth that he would be anxious to hold Jim’s watch in his hands.

However, in the end, both sacrificed their only prized possessions to buy gifts for each other.
But those gifts; a fob chain is useless without Jim’s gold watch. Likewise, the tortoise comb
is useless without Della’s hair. Their gifts are useless just like the gifts of those wise men
who brought precious gifts for baby Jesus. But all that matters is love, intimacy, and sacrifice
of those gifts.

Dramatic Irony
It happens when Della opens up Jim’s present finds a tortoise comb. For a short moment, she
forgets that she had cut her hair and now it is useless for her.

Also, it may happen when readers beforehand know that Jim has sold his watch to buy the
present for Della.

Situational Irony: It occurs when Della didn’t understand the expression of Jim’s face.
She thought his love was gone with her hair. However, the reason was the wastage of Jim’s
present for Della as she cut her hair.
Readers beforehand understood the weird expression of Jim’s face. But Della failed to
comprehend that.

Allusions
The title alludes to three wise men or kings who brought precious gifts for Jesus on his birth.
Moreover, O’ Henry alludes to “Queen of Sheba” and “King of Solomon” to describe the
worth of both character’s possessions.

Hyperbole
Hyperbole occurs when the narrator describes the prized possessions of both characters.
Firstly he compares Della’s hair with “Queen of Sheba” and how envious she becomes after
seeing Della’s hairs despite Her Majesty’s jewels.

Secondly, he exaggerates the worth of Jim’s watch with the anxiousness of “King Solomon”
just to catch a glimpse of it. He would forget all his treasures before this watch.

Metaphors, Personification, and Similes

One may find the narrator personifying Della’s haggling and desire of saving money with the
power of bulldozers. The narrator says “Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing
the grocer”. In the same manner, the narrator personifies Della’s embarrassment for being
parsimonious with the burning “one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of
parsimony”.

Moreover, the narrator beautifies Della’s hair by metaphorically relating it to waterfall

“Down rippled the brown cascade”

Similarly, one can see similes when the narrator describes the hair cut of Della resembling
“like a truant schoolboy”. Moreover, with the help of simile narrator depicts her look after the
hair cut “like a Coney Island chorus girl”

Genre & Tone

The Gift of Magi is a short story containing the elements of realistic fiction. It is told through
a rueful and affectionate tone.