The Gift of The Magi
Gift giving is an important theme in stories about Christmas, this week we look at the one of the most infamous stories that takes this theme with a famous twist...
The Facts
Text: The Gift of The Magi Author: O Henry Genre: Christmas story, Classic Year: 1905
Available: Free Here
Spoilers Below!
The Fiction
The countdown to Christmas continues! This week I look at a classic Christmas short story. If you haven't heard or read this one, you're probably at least familiar with the twist even if you don't know it. It is something has been referenced, parodied, and adapted in pop culture a lot since it first appeared in O Henry's 1905 Christmas tale The Gift of The Magi.
This week's story is a bite sized easy read, but no less satisfying for that. We are introduced to Della, a woman counting her pennies saved over the year and coming to a total of 1.87. We learn that her husband James Dillingham Young makes 20 dollars a week at his job, and they rent their furnished rooms for 8 dollars. With food and other expenses 1.87 is all she has been able to save, and she despairs that she can't afford to give him a good Christmas gift.
She reflects on how much she loves her husband, Jim, and wants to get him a great gift. She looks in a mirror in their rooms for a moment, and we learn from the narrator that the Young's have two possessions which they are most prized to own: for Della it is her beautiful hair, for Jim it is a gold watch given to him by his father.
Coming to a decision Della goes to a salon and sells her beautiful treasured hair for a whopping $20. She spends the afternoon going in and out of shops before deciding on the perfect gift: a delicate gold watch chain to go with Jim's prized watch. She returns home makes dinner and nervously waits for Jim to come home worried about how he will react to her loss of hair. When Jim returns he has a look on his face she can't read.
Della begs him not to be upset saying her hair will grow back. Jim responds he isn't angry but she should see what he bought her for Christmas: beautiful jeweled combs. She responds her hair will grow back and shows him the watch chain she bought with her hair, only for Jim to respond that he paid for the combs by selling his gold watch!
The narrator reflects on the story of the Magi, the wise men who brought valuable gifts to baby Jesus, the first Christmas gifts. The narator tells us that they were not the wisest gift-givers, the wisest were these two young lovers, and all those who give in the same manner of love that they give.
The Feeling I've written before throughout this project about the value of irony in a short story. Short stories do not have a lot of space to leave an impact on their readers, but one way to tell a complete and satisfying story in a small word count is by pulling off a great ironic twist, which this story nails.
Della sells her hair for a watch chain, Jim sells his watch for combs. Its hilarious, its silly, its endearing and heartfelt. In the past two weeks we've read A Christmas Dream and How it Came to Be, and A Christmas Memory both stories about Christmas and also gift giving. In the first a little girl is bored with material gifts and learns through a dream and her mother's devotion the true magic of gift giving when she is given the chance to provide a beautiful Christmas for poor girls. A Christmas Memory follows Buddy and his friend in their Christmas traditions, including their saving pennies all year like Della in this story to buy fruitcake ingredients, and only being able to afford to make kites for each other. However, being able to fly them together makes them the best gifts. The Gift of The Magi also has a theme about gift giving, and what it truly means to give to other's. In this story there is an emphasis on love, and unselfish sacrifice for another, and also in finding that love matched in another person willing to give same to you.
When Jim returns home the narrator mentions that Della can't read his face when he sees her hair: it's not as simple as anger or surprise but beyond that we get no description. I think this was a good move on O Henry's part. How do you describe what Jim would be feeling here? There are so many emotions going on in this moment, it is better to let the reader experience them with Jim and Della as we discover what they have done for each other. Sometimes in good writing, less is more, and not over writing, but leaving space for the audience to read between the lines and interpret subtext or characters' actions for themselves makes for a more engaging experience.
It might be easy to write this off as simply comedic story, but the narration at the end stating firmly that Della and Jim are not fools (despite the foolish things they have done) and are in fact the wisest of gift givers firmly cements this as a story meant to be taken with a serious moral. It is not about the material it is about the unselfish love with which the gifts are given a classic Christmas message, given with what has become a classic ironic twist in this classic Christmas story!
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