The Gift of the Magi

“The Gift of the Magi”

“The Gift of the Magi” by O.Henry was first published in 1906. It is a short story about a poor young couple whose love for each other is so great that they are led to sacrifice their most valuable possessions to find Christmas gifts for each other – Della sells her hair to be able to buy a chain for her husband Jim’s watch, and Jim sells his watch to buy combs for Della. In their willingness to sacrifice all they have, they prove themselves the wisest of all gift-givers, akin the magi, the three kings who brought the wisest gifts to baby Jesus.

Jim and Della’s poverty forces them to make the sacrifices they do and makes those sacrifices meaningful. O.Henry sketches the cheap, eight-dollar flat, in which the couple lives, with the details that vividly show how poor they are: “It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that work on the lookout for the mendicancy squad” (1). The malfunctioning mailbox, broken doorbell, worn red carpet, and shabby little couch complete the picture. The outside world appears as gloomy as the insides of their abode: “She stood by the window and looked out dully at a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard” (1). However, all the images of the surrounding poverty and lifelessness create a sharp contrast with the richness of warmth, love and affection that Jim and Della create.

Della’s love for her husband seems to have no boundaries; so great is her desire to please “her Jim” that she is willing to sell the only precious thing she owns, her hair, to be able to buy “something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim” (1). Her hair is so gorgeous that it would inspire envy in Queen Sheba, but Della sells it to buy a chain for Jim’s watch: “It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation – as all good things should do” (2). In Della’s eyes, the real value...