Love
Della and Jim’s unselfish love underscores every decision they make in the story: for example, Della penny-pinches for months to buy a worthy Christmas present for Jim. Along with her extended savings effort, she sacrifices her most beloved possession—her hair—to purchase a gift that tangibly expresses her unassailable love for Jim. Later, Jim reassures and validates Della’s sacrifice, claiming her external appearance, such as her haircut, does not affect his love for her. Similarly, Jim sells his treasured watch to procure a set of adorned, tortoise-shell hair combs for Della. The couple's mutual sacrifice of their dearest belongings for each other’s happiness embodies a generous, undying love that transcends physical assets and material wealth.
However, while the story shows love triumphant over tangible possessions, the narrator acknowledges that adversity can still suffuse and complicate relationships. While Della frets that Jim will no longer find her beautiful with her new haircut, the narrator admits that Della’s love for Jim has “ravaged” or ruined her: she has willingly lost her hair and now runs the risk of angering Jim (11). The narrator characterizes love as a “mammoth task” that risks tumult and anxiety in addition to generosity, tenderness, and selflessness (11).
Systems of Value
“The Gift of the Magi” interrogates the ways we deem external belongings valuable. Della explicitly displays her value system—which prioritizes simplicity rather than opulence—when she purchases the chain for Jim. She admires the chain’s “chaste” and understated appearance, which reminds her of Jim (10).
Notably, Della and Jim take immense pride in two of their possessions: Della’s beautiful, knee-length hair and Jim’s gold watch passed down from his grandfather. The narrator compares Jim’s watch to King Solomon’s treasures and Della’s hair to the Queen of Sheba’s jewels, which highlights the subjective aspect of ascribing value to tangible objects. Because the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon are two of the wealthiest biblical figures, the material value of Della’s hair and Jim’s watch are not truly comparable with Sheba and Solomon’s opulent, extravagant collection of jewels and other riches. Rather, it is the hair and watch’ sentimental, symbolic connotations of beauty and family that underscores and validates the allusion to the two biblical figures. In other words, the story suggests that the "value" of objects is a personal, innately subjective question.
Moreover, the narrator rebuffs the common practice of linking meaning to wealth, as proven by their remark, “Eight dollars a week or a million a year—what is the difference? A mathematician or a wit would give you the wrong answer” (14). Here, the narrator asserts that value is not inextricably tied to money, and that there is not a meaningful difference between a rich man and a poor man. Instead, value is rooted in generosity, thoughtfulness, and sacrifice.
Poverty
Poverty pervades Della and Jim’s lives: Jim only earns $20 a week, and he and Della live in a cheaply furnished flat with a shabby couch, a broken doorbell and mailbox, and a worn-out rug. To afford quality Christmas gifts for each other, they must sacrifice their most precious belongings. Moreover, at the beginning of the story, Della has only saved $1.87 after months of parsimony.
Despite their impoverished living conditions and lack of possessions, Della and Jim live a comfortable, affectionate life together. Della warmly greets Jim every day when he returns from work, and she prays for simple quotidian things, rather than for an ascended socioeconomic position. Indeed, the couple does not lament their lack of wealth, nor does their limited income weaken their profound devotion to each other. By showing Della and Jim’s joy within their economic constraints, the story reveals how true fulfillment and meaning derives from intangible and internal factors—such as love and commitment—over tangible factors—such as material wealth.
Sacrifice
Della and Jim both sacrifice their most valued belongings to buy each other gifts that adequately convey their love for each other. However, neither can use each other’s gifts for their intended purposes precisely because of the respective sacrifices they have made: Della cannot use the combs on her short hair, and Jim cannot use the chain for the now-sold watch.
Situational irony suffuses the futility of Della and Jim’s sacrifices: if Della and Jim hadn’t given up their treasures, then they could have used their gifts for their intended purposes. While the gifts now lack concrete value, they nonetheless represent the extreme lengths Della and Jim willingly endure for each other’s happiness. The generosity of Della and Jim’s sacrifices encapsulates the purest form of gift-giving, which prompts the narrator to compare the couple to the magi from the Christian Bible. The narrator suggests that a gift’s value lies in selfless intentions and sacrifice—rather than its cost or market value. Della and Jim’s sacrifices thus signify the most valuable gift of all: unconditional love.
