The Gift of the Magi

Christmas Eve and Financial Despair

The story opens on the eve of Christmas with Della counting her savings: exactly one dollar and eighty-seven cents, sixty cents of which is in pennies saved through persistent, embarrassing bargaining with the grocer, vegetable man, and butcher. Della is utterly dejected because tomorrow is Christmas, and she has virtually no money to buy a worthy Christmas gift for her beloved husband, Jim.

Della weeps on their worn couch in their modest, furnished flat rented for eight dollars a week. The flat bears hallmarks of shabby gentility—a broken electric buzzer, a letter-box slit too narrow for letters, and a card bearing the name 'Mr. James Dillingham Young,' harking back to a more prosperous era when Jim earned thirty dollars a week. His current income has shrunk to twenty dollars, yet whenever Jim returns home, he is warmly embraced by Della, who loves him with unwavering devotion.

The Two Prized Possessions

The narrator highlights that the James Dillingham Youngs possessed two treasures in which they both took immense pride. One was Jim's gold pocket watch, an heirloom that had belonged first to his grandfather and then to his father. The other was Della's long, lustrous brown hair, which cascaded past her knees like a shimmering brown waterfall when unbound.

O. Henry playfully remarks that had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels; and had King Solomon been the janitor with all his treasures piled in the basement, Jim would have pulled out his watch every time he passed, just to see the monarch pluck his beard with envy.

Della's Sacrifice and the Platinum Fob Chain

Catching sight of her reflection in the slender pier-glass mirror between the windows, a sudden resolution seizes Della. Her eyes shine brilliantly, though a tear or two drops on the worn red carpet. She quickly puts on her old brown jacket and brown hat, whirls out the door, and hurries down the stairs onto the street.

She stops at the shop of 'Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds' on the second floor. Della asks if Madame will buy her hair. The cold, business-like Madame Sofronie unpins Della's hair, inspects its rich texture, and offers twenty dollars. Della accepts immediately, requesting the money without delay.

For the next two hours, Della eagerly scours the city shops for Jim's gift. At last, she discovers a platinum watch fob chain of simple and chaste design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone rather than vulgar ornamentation. It costs twenty-one dollars. Della happily pays for it and rushes home with the remaining eighty-seven cents, knowing the chain is worthy of Jim's heirloom watch.

Jim's Homecoming and the Mutual Revelation

At home, Della takes out curling irons and lights the gas to tame the closely clipped locks into tiny, schoolboy curls. Surveying her reflection critically, she whispers a heartfelt prayer: 'Please God, make him think I am still pretty.'

At seven o'clock, the coffee is brewed and the frying-pan is hot on the stove. Jim steps inside the door, thin and serious-looking at twenty-two, burdened with family cares and needing a new overcoat and gloves. As his eyes fix upon Della, an unreadable expression freezes on his face—neither anger, nor surprise, nor disapproval, nor horror. He simply stares at her with a peculiar, stunned gaze.

Terrified by his silence, Della leaps up and explains that she cut and sold her hair because she could not live through Christmas without giving him a present. She assures him her hair grows extraordinarily fast and urges him to wish her a Merry Christmas. Coming out of his trance, Jim embraces Della and tosses a paper-wrapped package onto the table.

The Beautiful Irony and the True Magi

Della tears open the package with an ecstatic scream of joy, which immediately turns into hysterical feminine tears and wails. Inside lies 'The Combs'—a set of pure tortoiseshell side and back combs with jewelled rims that Della had worshiped for months in a Broadway shop window. They were expensive luxury items she had never dreamed of owning. Hugging the combs to her chest, she smiles through tears and reassures Jim, 'My hair grows so fast, Jim!'

Then, remembering Jim's present, Della holds out her open palm to display the gleaming platinum fob chain, urging him to hand over his watch so she can attach it. Instead of reaching for his pocket, Jim tumbles onto the couch, clasps his hands behind his head, and smiles gently. He tells Della to put their Christmas gifts away for a while, confessing that he sold his gold watch to raise the money to buy her combs.

O. Henry concludes with a warm philosophical reflection comparing Jim and Della to the Magi—the wise men who invented the custom of giving Christmas presents to the Babe in the manger. Though two foolish children unwisely sacrificed the greatest treasures of their household for each other, in their selfless mutual sacrifice they proved to be the wisest of all who give and receive gifts. Everywhere, such lovers are the wisest; they are the Magi.