She did it up again nervously and quickly. So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and grandfather’s. Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall into its full length. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the looking glass. Something fine and rare and sterling-something just a bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.
Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. She stood by the window and looked out dully. When Della finished her cry, she attended to her cheeks with a powder puff. There was clearly nothing to do but flop down on the shabby little couch and howl. In other words, what is remarkable about ‘The Gift of the Magi’ is that its moral seems to be not just ‘giving is better than receiving’ but ‘giving and losing is all that matters’, since what they receive is of no practical use to them.One dollar and eighty-seven cents. Henry seems to say, is about giving up that which you most treasure in order to show your beloved – whom you should love even more – the extent of your devotion. But with the story’s twist, they learn that their personal sacrifices – committed for their love of the other one – have been in vain.īut they are happy about this, not because of the gesture of buying the gift but the great cost that it has incurred for the other. So Jim is happy to part with a gold watch that has been passed down the male line for three generations, while Della is happy to lose her hair (which would, despite her protestations, take many months to grow back fully) in order to purchase the gift the other one most desires. Both of these statements are relevant to the story, but what is also relevant is the element of sacrifice the two characters make, and their reaction to learning the implications of this. And when it comes to Christmas and buying gifts for our loved ones, it really is the thought that counts.īut there’s a little more to ‘The Gift of the Magi’ than this rather hackneyed old adage, which would reduce the story to a sentimental and rather twee fable about ‘giving being better than receiving’ and ‘love being more important than money’. For surely the ‘moral’ of ‘The Gift of the Magi’, given its Christmas setting and the fact that Jim and Della clearly love each other and treat each other well despite having no money to afford the finer things in life, is that love is more important than possessions.
Henry tell us? Is it because he wanted us to make up our own minds, or did he assume that the answer was fairly self-explanatory? But what makes Jim and Della wise? And why doesn’t O.
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