O. Henry (1862 - 1910) was an American short story author named William Sydney Porter, raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Henry's rich canon of work reflected his wide-range of experiences and is distinctive for its witticism, clever wordplay, and unexpected twist endings.

Some of his best and least known work is contained in Cabbages and Kings.

His second collection of stories,The Four Million, was released in 1906. The stories are set in New York City, and the title is based on the population of the city at that time. The collection contained several short story masterpieces, including The Gift of the Magi, The Cop and the Anthem, and many others. Henry had an obvious affection for New York City and its diversity of people and places, a reverence that rises up through many of his stories.

Summary

It is Christmas Eve and the shops are busy. Della Dillingham Young is amongst the last minute crowd, trying to find the perfect gift for her husband, Jim, something that will reflect the depth of her love. Something just right. The only problem is Della's budget, she has just $1.87 with which to express her love in gift form. Della and Jim are poor, and don't have very much. But as poor as they are in money terms, they are rich in love for each other.

Della goes over to the mirror and lets her hair down from its pins. Her hair is one of the couple's great treasures, it is thick and tumbles to her knees. Their other treasure is Jim's gold watch. Then all at once, Della knew what she must do. Very fast, she put on her cloak and rushed out of the apartment. She ran down the street to a shop where wigs were made. A sign read: “We buy hair.”

She sells her hair for twenty dollars, giving her enough to buy an elegant chair for Jim's watch. She is excited to give it to him and her excitement momentarily cheers her. She goes home and tries to pretty herself up, curling her shorn locks with a curling iron.

At seven o'clock, Jim arrives home, and is unnerved when she opens the door. He stares fixedly at her hair, seemingly unable to process that her hair has gone. Della is confused by his reaction. She doesn't know what his feelings are. After a few minutes, Jim pulls himself together and gives Della her gift. She is filled with joy but then bursts into tears, he has given her a set of beautiful ornamental hair combs that she has been wanting for a long while, but now she has no hair for them. She gives Jim his gift, and her husband smiles, but sinks back onto the couch, overcome. He sold his gold watch to get enough money to purchase the hair combs for Della.

Jim suggests that they put the presents away and have dinner. Although Jim and Della are now left with gifts that neither one can use, they realize how far they are willing to go to show their love for each other, and how priceless their love really is.

Story analysis: Title analysis

The title does allude to the three wise men from the Bible, kings that come from far away to bring the Christ child gold, frankincense, and myrrh, expensive and precious gifts to honor him. However, at the end of the story, the narrator says of Jim and Della, "Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most wise. Everywhere they are the wise ones. They are the magi." Therefore, the title of the story doesn't simply allude to the original magi; the title actually refers to Jim and Della Young because they are the magi.The narrator calls them the "most wise" because they understand that nothing in the world is as valuable as love.

Their gifts require sacrifice, and the gifts given by the three rich kings did not, that makes Jim and Della the real magi.

Genre & Literary Devices

While The Gift of the Magi certainly falls in the fictional short story genre, it employs what could be called a sub-genre of "dramatic irony."

Dramatic irony is where the reader learns a secret that the main character(s) don't know about yet. Without the other knowing, both traded their most valuable possessions (priceless) for a gift that could no longer be used by the other because that person gave up their own possession. 

Character Analysis

Della Dillingham - The young woman, married to Jim, whose prized possession was her long, beautiful hair.

Jim Dillingham - The young man, married to Della, whose prized possession was an old pocketwatch with a leather strap.

  Themes:

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 possessions to find Christmas gifts for each other.

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.

Wealth

The main characters are very poor – this is repeatedly emphasized – and yet the story suggests that their love for each other makes them very rich.

Plot

The moral of ''The Gift of the Magi'' is that selflessness and love are the greatest gifts of all.