II.

Background of the Story

"The Gift of the Magi" was originally published in 1906, in O. Henry's second collection
of short stories, The Four Million. "The Gift of the Magi" is probably his greatest hit, and displays
all of the major O. Henry traits in abundance. Since it was first published, it's buried itself deep in
popular culture. It's been retold and repackaged in countless stories, magazine columns, TV
specials, musicals, movies, parodies, you name it. It's also one of those classic "Christmas stories"
that people usually read during the holidays. But even if you're familiar with one or more of the
many imitations – whether it's the Sesame Street holiday special or The Simpsons – it's worth
checking out the original. O. Henry's a master storyteller.

Summary
The story opens with $1.87. That's all Della Dillingham Young has to buy a present for
her beloved husband, Jim. And the next day is Christmas. Faced with such a situation, Della
promptly bursts into tears on the couch, which gives the narrator the opportunity to tell us a bit
more about the situation of Jim and Della. The short of it is they live in a shabby flat and they're
poor. But they love each other.

Once Della's recovered herself, she goes to a mirror to let down her hair and examine it. Della's
beautiful, brown, knee-length hair is one of the two great treasures of the poor couple. The other
is Jim's gold watch. Her hair examined, Della puts it back up, sheds a tear, and bundles up to
head out into the cold. She leaves the flat and walks to Madame Sofronie's hair goods shop,
where she sells her hair for twenty bucks. Now she has $21.87 cents.

With her new funds, Della is able to find Jim the perfect present: an elegant platinum watch
chain for his watch. It's $21, and she buys it. Excited by her gift, Della returns home and tries to
make her now-short hair presentable (with a curling iron). She's not convinced Jim will approve,
but she did what she had to do to get him a good present. When she finishes with her hair, she
gets to work preparing coffee and dinner.

Jim arrives at 7pm to find Della waiting by the door and stares fixedly at her, not able to
understand that Della's hair is gone. Della can't understand quite what his reaction means.

After a little while, Jim snaps out of it and gives Della her present, explaining that his reaction
will make sense when she opens it. Della opens it and cries out in joy, only to burst into tears
immediately afterward. Jim has given her the set of fancy combs she's wanted for ages, only now
she has no hair for them. Jim nurses Della out of her sobs. Once she's recovered she gives Jim his
present, holding out the watch chain. Jim smiles, falling back on the couch. He sold his watch to
buy Della's combs, he explains. He recommends they put away their presents and have dinner.
As they do so, the narrator brings the story to a close by pronouncing that Della and Jim are the
wisest of everyone who gives gifts. They are the magi.
III. Analysis
Elements of the story
Characters

Della
Della: One Devoted Woman Della is the loving, warm, selfless, and occasionally hysterical
heroine of the story. Della's financially poor. She spends all of her days in a cramped flat, as
"mistress o...
Jim
Jim's job is not so great. He's the only breadwinner for the Dillingham Young family (that is, him
and Della), and it seems he works long hours, but his salary is low. And it recently went from
bad...
Madame Sofronie
Madame Sofronie is the owner of a hair shop, which, we are told, sells "hair goods of all kinds"
(12). She is "large," "white," and "chilly" (12). Her manner is direct and to-the-point: she doesn't...

Setting
This lovely short story takes place in the apartment of the two main characters, Della and
Jim. Their apartment is small, with only two windows and the looking glass (mirror) mentioned.
The narrator actually states, "Furnished rooms at a cost of $8 a week. There is little more to say
about it." Other than that, the only other detail we get about the apartment is that even their mailbox
is very small.
Really, the physical setting is not that important. What's more important about the setting is the
time, which is Christmas Eve. This is necessary because it shows us the desperation that these two
have when it comes to buying a gift for one another - they've saved until, literally, the last minute.
Now's the time to buy the gift, and they're each still short. This is why Della sells her beautiful hair
and Jim sells his precious watch.

Conflict
1) External – The Couple’s financial struggle
2) Internal- Person vs. Circumstances (classical) – the couple struggles against poverty
Person vs. Himself/Herself (psychological) – Delia struggles with the painful decision
of letting go her only prized possession
 Plot
-The rising action for this short story is when Christmas is near but Della does not have
enough money to buy Jim a Christmas gift. At first, Della does not know how she will get Jim the
perfect gift even though she has been putting a penny aside everyday so she could eventually buy
Jim a gift. But it was not enough. Anxiously, Della contemplated selling her most prized
possession, her hair.
Theme
Love
"Gift of the Magi" is the story of a poor, young couple whose love for each other is the most
important thing in their lives. Such is their love that they're led to sacrifice their most valuable po...
Sacrifice
The two main characters in "Gift of the Magi" are a husband and wife who give up their most
precious possessions to be able to afford gifts for each other on Christmas Eve. The story seems
to be al...
Wealth
In many ways, "Gift of the Magi" is a story about what it means for something to be valuable.
Does something's value lie in how much money it is worth? Or are other things more valuable than
money?...
Women and Femininity
The main character of "Gift of the Magi" is a woman named Della. Loveable as she is, at times,
Della is hysterical, often overreacting, a characteristic that the narrator identifies as "feminine."...

Literary Criticism
Literally speaking, it can be said “The Gift of The Magi” has the theme “Sacrifice sometimes
can be pointless.” I could tell that since Della’s sacrifice to cut her hair off to buy the chain for
Jim’s watch became pointless because in the end, Jim told Della that he had sold his valuable
watch to buy her a set of comb. Unfortunately, Della’s hair was now very short. In conclusion,
their sacrifice does not make any result. But if you’ll see beyond imagination, It’s all about the
love and sacrifice you can give to the person you care the most.
IV. Conclusion
O. Henry is known for his "twist endings," and the ending of "The Gift of the Magi" is
probably the most famous of them all. At the end of the story Della cuts and sells her hair to buy
Jim a chain for his watch, and Jim sells his watch to buy Della combs for her hair. Here we have
a classic case of irony. The determination to find the perfect gift leads each character to make a
sacrifice; that sacrifice makes each gift useless. The result is the exact opposite of what Jim and
Della intended. What makes this ending so bittersweet is that it only comes about because they
acted on their intentions: their gifts wouldn't have been useless if they hadn't given up their prize
possessions. And since we follow only Della in the story, we don't know what has happened until
the very end, during the exchange itself. It's the sudden, unexpected irony, which only strikes at
the very end that makes the ending a twist.

In the narrator's final paragraph, which is definitely a "zoom out" of epic proportions, the
narrator tells us that it doesn't really matter that Jim and Della's presents turned out to be useless.
They are the wisest givers of all – in fact, they're the magi. We leave feeling satisfied and happy.
V. References
1) https://www.shmoop.com/gift-of-the-magi/
2) https://www.shmoop.com/gift-of-the-magi/summary.html
3) https://www.shmoop.com/gift-of-the-magi/themes.html
4) https://www.shmoop.com/gift-of-the-magi/characters.html
5) https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-main-conflict-gift-magi-46109
6) https://prezi.com/l7icknouvrow/plot-diagram-the-gift-of-the-magi/
7) https://www.shmoop.com/gift-of-the-magi/plot-analysis.html
8) https://english.binus.ac.id/2014/11/07/a-critical-analysis-of-o-henrys-the-gift-of-the-magi/