The Gift of The Magi by O’ Henry (Summary & Analysis)

 

The Gift of The Magi

by O’ Henry

(Summary & Analysis)

  

O’ Henry is the pen-name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). He was sentenced to imprisonment for embezzlement. He wrote more than three hundred stories, which are collected in volumes like Cabbages and Kings, The Four Million and The Voice of the City. He goes deep into the life of the lower class of society and describes them with remarkable sympathy and understanding, because he had lived with them for the most part of his life. He has humour but at times humour turns into extremely tragic ending like in the story of ‘The Gift of the Magi’. O’ Henry’s stories are remarkable for the most unimaginable twist in the ending. He is one of the masters of the modern short story writers.

Summary

The Gift of the Magi begins at the small flat of James (Jim) and Della Dillingham Young on the day before Christmas. Della has just finished paying the bills and finds that all she has left to spend on a present for Jim is $1.87. At first, she bemoans her situation, on the broken mail chute and doorbell, the small pier glass mirror, and the grey cat walking across the grey fence in the grey backyard.

Della struggles to find a solution to her predicament: she wants to get Jim a present, that he will treasure and rightly deserves for all of his hard work, but she only has $1.87 to spend. Then she gets an idea. The most valuable thing she has is her hair. Her hair is long and beautiful and she compares it to the beauty of the Queen of Sheba. She quickly puts on her “old brown coat and her old brown hat” and hurries off to a hairdresser named Madame Sofronie. Sofronie cuts off Della’s hair and gives her $20 for it.

Della then begins to search for the perfect present for Jim. After being disappointed by the gifts she sees because they just aren’t good enough, she remembers Jim’s most treasured possession: his grandfather’s gold watch. She also remembers that Jim had to tie a leather strap to the watch after the original chain broke, and that was precisely the type of gift she wanted to buy for him. She goes from shop to shop looking for just the right watch chain until she at last finds a handsome, platinum chain that is perfect. It costs $21. Della buys it, returning home with $0.87 left over.

Upon reaching their flat, Della begins to worry that Jim might not find her attractive without her hair, so she spends the rest of the evening trying to make it as presentable as possible. She then begins preparing dinner.

Jim comes home right on schedule and, as soon as sees Della without her long, beautiful hair, he stops in shock. Della doesn’t know what to make of his reaction; he isn’t angry, or sad, or disgusted – just sort of surprised and confused. When she questions him, he hands her a gift and tells her that it is his Christmas present to her and that she will understand his reaction once she sees it.  She opens it and sees that it contains a set of combs that she had been yearning for ever since she had seen them in a Broadway window. He had bought her a gift to go with her beautiful hair, and now she had no hair to put them in.

Then Della remembers her gift for Jim and gives it to him to cheer him up. But it doesn’t. Jim tells her that in order to get enough money to buy the combs, he had to sell his watch. Then Jim smiles and says that they should keep the gifts to remind themselves just how much they love one another.

The story ends with the storyteller comparing Jim and Della’s gifts to the gifts of the Magi: the three wise men who are said to have brought the first Christmas gifts to the baby Jesus. We are told that, even though the main characters would seem to be very foolish, as they gave up their most valuable possessions and were left with completely useless items, because Jim and Della had to sacrifice their most precious belongings in order to obtain these gifts, they showed that their love was far more valuable to them than any possession could ever possibly be.

Analysis

O’ Henry uses literary devices like simile, metaphor, personification in his short stories. In the story ‘The Gift of the Magi’ Henry employs the literary device of simile. In the story ‘The Gift of the Magi’, we find the simile used in the following sentences:

1. Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters.

2. Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant school boy.

3. He will say I look like a Coney Island chorus girl.

4. Della leaped up like a singed cat.

The overwhelming feeling from the story is of the young couple's unselfish love for each other. This is introduced immediately when we're told that Della had been saving for months for Jim's gift. Her desire was strong enough to push through the embarrassment of shaving a penny or two off her vegetable and butcher's bills.

Knowing she doesn't have enough to get a nice present for Jim makes Della cry. She wants something "fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim." Clearly, she holds her husband in high esteem and wants to express her love to him.

Della lacks fine material things. Her hair is her prized possession, so it's a considerable sacrifice to give it up. We saw how difficult it was for her when, before leaving her flat, she "faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two" fell to the carpet. Her concern is twofold—she'll be losing her prized possession, and she doesn't know if Jim will like the change.

It's also noteworthy that Della didn't think of selling her hair until the day before Christmas. She would have known before this that she wouldn't have enough money, but selling her hair doesn't occur to her until the urgency is at its peak. This is obviously a last resort idea.

Jim gave Della a long hug. He told her that no change to her hair would change his feelings for her. When his gift is revealed—expensive combs that his wife had admired—we know that he had a similar desire to get his wife a worthy present. What's more, it tells us he noticed that she wanted them. He paid attention to her and wanted to please her.

Jim's selflessness is heightened by the fact that he needs a new overcoat and gloves. When it's revealed that he had to sell his prized possession to buy them, we know that his love is as unselfish as his wife's. They each sacrificed their best for the other.

Jim only earns $20 a week. His rent is $8 a week. 40% of the couple's income goes to rent. This doesn't leave much for the basics, let alone any extras. Their poverty is established in the description of their flat and neighborhood. The mailbox and the doorbell are broken. When Della looks out the window she sees "a grey cat walking a grey fence in a grey backyard." There's nothing to be cheerful about here. Della's jacket and hat are both old. Jim needs a new overcoat and doesn't have gloves. This is despite the fact that Jim works long days. We're told he's never late getting home, and he doesn't get home until 7 PM. Their circumstances make it all the more moving that their focus is on each other rather than material things.

The most obvious Biblical allusions are in the title and when the narrator is describing the splendor of Della's hair and Jim's watch. We're told Della's hair would outshine the Queen of Sheba's jewels and gifts. Likewise, Jim's watch would make King Solomon envious. When visiting Solomon, who's considered the richest of Israel's kings, Sheba brought him an assortment of expensive gifts. This comparison stresses the value of the young couple's prized possessions.

The giving of Della and Jim isn't being strictly compared to the giving of the magi, as if they're equivalent. Before the full gift reveal, the narrator says, "The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among them." The gifts of the magi were wise, possibly because they were generic, valuable things that could be exchanged for other things. The young couple's gifts were unwise—materially they would have been better off if they hadn't gotten each other anything. But the narrator tells us, "Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are wisest. Everywhere they are wisest." Rather than being equivalent to the magi's, Della and Jim's gifts are superior. The value is in the unselfish love displayed, not the material gain.