Analysis of O'Henry's Short Story, The Gift of the Magi

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O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi”

O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi,” is about a couple who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in a furnished apartment at eight dollars a week. I feel that the narrator mocks Jim and Della for being poor. “It did not beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.” (O. Henry 165). Della and Jim’s income shrunk from thirty dollars a week to twenty dollars a week causing them a great deal of financial problems. They both are troubled that Christmas is tomorrow and they cannot afford to buy each other a nice gift. Jim’s gold watch and Della’s hair play an important role in the story.

Mrs. James Dillingham Young, also known as “Della” in this short story. Della is in her early twenties and is married to Mr. James Dillingham Young known as “Jim.” Della is very thin and seems to move around in a fast paste. “Her hair reached below her knees and made itself almost a garment for her.” (O.Henry 166). Della takes a lot of pride in her hair. “Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.” (O.Henry 166). Della wanted to buy Jim an expensive gift for Christmas. “Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.” (O.Henry 165).

By Christmas she had saved up one dollar and eighty-seven cents. She was so distraught about only having one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a...

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... or a million a year-what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer. “(O. Henry 168). The irony is that a million dollars a year would get spent fast and you would lose it faster than eight dollars a week. “And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.” (O. Henry 168). The irony is that they both sacrificed and bought each other a gift and neither of them can use them. Their sacrifice for one another shows how much they love each other.

The irony of the stories ending is even though their gifts was not wise because they both cannot use them but they sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house, which is their true love for each other, making it the wisest. They are the Magi.

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