Summary
It is Christmas Eve, and the narrator describes a perilous financial situation: someone only has $1.87 to spend, 60 cents of which consists of pennies saved from spending as little as possible at the grocery store, produce stand, and butcher. We learn that a woman named Della is the owner of the $1.87. After counting the money three times, Della collapses onto the couch in her worn-down apartment and begins to cry.
The narrator explains that Della’s husband, Jim, rents the apartment, which costs eight dollars per week and lacks a functional doorbell and mailbox. While Jim’s earnings have decreased from $30 to $20 a week, Della warmly embraces him with a hug whenever he returns to the flat after work.
Della stops crying and gazes at a “gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard” out the window (8). The narrator then reveals the reason behind Della’s melancholy: after months of saving, Della only has the $1.87 to buy Jim a Christmas present. She has spent much time planning to buy a deserving gift for Jim—“something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim” (8).
Della suddenly looks at her reflection in a pier-glass, a thin full-length mirror that fits between windows to fill wall space. She examines her long brown hair, which falls pasts her knees. The narrator explains that Della and Jim take “mighty pride” in two of their possessions: Della’s beautiful hair and Jim’s gold watch, which has been passed down from his grandfather (9). The narrator compares Della’s hair to the Queen of Sheba’s jewels and gifts, and Jim’s watch to King Solomon’s treasures.
Della inspects her hair before quickly tying it up. After shedding a few more tears, she puts on her brown outer coat and brown hat and leaves her apartment with a "brilliant spark in her eyes" (10). Della walks to a nearby hair shop owned by Madame Sofronie, a larger, chilly-looking woman. Della asks Madame Sofronie if she will buy her hair, to which Madame Sofronie replies, "Take yer hat off and let's have a sight at the looks of it" (10). Della releases her hair from the up-do, and Made Sofronie offers her $20 after assessing it.
Now in possession of $21.87, but without her hair, Della spends two hours "ransacking the stores," searching for the perfect present for Jim (10).
Analysis
The expository passages of “The Gift of the Magi” introduce the story’s two most prominent themes: the triumph of love against dismal circumstances, and the subjectivity of value.
The narrator immediately introduces the drab, impoverished circumstances surrounding Della and Jim’s lives. Even after months of saving and penny-pinching, Della has only saved $1.87 for Jim’s Christmas present, which drives her to tears. The narrator then describes the story’s central setting: Della and Jim’s cheaply furnished, eight-dollar-a-week apartment, characterized by a “shabby little couch,” broken doorbell and mailbox, and a worn rug (7). With a weekly income of $20, Jim can barely afford the dilapidated apartment. Further claiming that the apartment does not “exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad,” the narrator asserts that the apartment resembles the dwellings of homeless beggars (7). Bleak imagery even engulfs the world outside the squalor—as Della gazes out her window, she merely sees “a gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard” (8). Della and Jim’s living conditions, as well as their lack of disposable income for gifts and non-essential items, clearly illustrate the abject poverty of their lives. As such, we may expect misery, desperation, and agony to invade Della and Jim’s lives—poverty limits excess to basic resources and comforts, and often leads to immense suffering, stress, and shattered relationships.
Remarkably, after establishing Della and Jim’s constrained socioeconomic position, the narrator highlights the affection and warmth defining their marriage. Whenever Jim returns home, Della “greatly hugged[s]” him (8). While Jim publicly presents himself as “Mr. James Dillingham Young,” he simply goes by “Jim” in the comfort of his private and intimate—albeit humble—home. As such, the narrator starkly juxtaposes the comfort and love of the couple's relationship with the gray, indifferent, materialistic world around them. The contrast between Della and Jim’s relationship and their dreary external surroundings illuminates one of the story’s central themes: intangible markers of fulfillment and meaning—including love and commitment—triumph over external markers of fulfillment and meaning—including material wealth and belongings.
Indeed, the couple does not complain about their lack of material wealth, nor does impoverishment limit or weaken their love for each other. Instead, the primary inhibition poverty poses to Della is that it limits her ability to express her profound appreciation, admiration, and love for her husband. Della simply and earnestly strives to work within economic constraints to save as much money as possible to give Jim “something just a little bit near to being the honor of being owned by Jim [him]” (8). Her determination to make Jim happy brightens the otherwise drab setting with a joyful, optimistic tone. In addition to her extensive savings efforts, Della’s willingness to sacrifice a highly valued material possession—her hair—for a gift all the more highlights her fierce commitment to Jim. Clearly, her love for her husband transcends the couple’s physical belongings and socioeconomic status.
Through biblical allusions to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, the narrator shows the inherently subjective aspect of meaning and value. The narrator characterizes Della’s hair and Jim’s gold watch as the “two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride” (9). The narrator claims that Della's gorgeous hair would diminish the value of the Queen of Sheba’s jewels and gifts—if the Queen of Sheba “lived in the flat across the airshaft” (9). Likewise, if King Solomon worked as a janitor, he would envy Jim’s watch. Two famous figures from the Old Testament, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon were renowned for their opulence, excessive wealth, and royal splendor. The allusion thus serves several purposes: first, it infuses a humorous tone into the already hopeful, lighthearted story. The imagery of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon sharing similar socio-economic conditions with Della and Jim drastically deviates from their conventional characterizations in the Bible, which produces an exaggerated, comedic contrast in turn.
Moreover, by inferring that Della’s hair and Jim’s watch would provoke the Queen of Sheba and King of Solomon's envy, the allusion illustrates the immense value of Della’s hair and Jim’s watch. Of course, the hair and watch are not truly comparable to Sheba and Solomon’s extravagant array of luxuries and jewels. However, to Della and Jim, the hair and watch are the most esteemed, valuable possessions they own—because of the subjective, sentimental meanings they ascribe to these items. Della’s hair symbolizes her external beauty and femininity, and she must have spent much time and effort taking care of it for its length to reach past her knees. Jim’s watch, meanwhile, represents familial tradition and rituals, as it was passed down from his grandfather. In other words, the symbolic and personal value of these items transcends their material worth. The allusion thus conveys the significance of Della's hair and Jim's watch, and shows the inherently subjective aspect of objects' "value."
