English

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The Gift of the Magi: Analytical Paper

Nicole Anderson

West Coast University

ENGL 240: Written Communications II

Dr. Brian Paulin

May 16, 2021

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This short story “The Gift of the Magi” is a story of a youthful couple, Jim and Della

Dillingham Young. This story of the young couple takes place during Christmas time. The

couple is far from wealthy, to say the least, and so the idea of being able to present one another

with gifts on this special holiday seems to escape them. The author O. Henry writes, “Furnished

rooms at a cost of $8 a week. There is little more to say about it” (Henry, 1905). The picture that

is painted of their living situation tells of a couple who lives well within their means and may

also have everything that they need to live. The wife, Della, is pondering a gift to give her

husband whom she loves very much, and who also loves her the same. But when you are a

young, modest couple in love and can afford nothing else worth giving on Christmas, what other

options do you have? In this short story, we meet the wisest people of mankind because they

both give their most precious gifts as a gift to one another. This story will teach how a wise

person knows it is not the price of a gift given but the sacrifice behind the gift given.

The audience of “The Gift of the Magi” is really for anyone of any age. More

specifically, the audience of this short story is for anyone who is familiar with the story of the

nativity of Christ and message behind it. The author writes, “The magi, as you know, were wise

men—wonderfully wise men— who brought gifts to the newborn Christ-child” (Henry, 1905).

Jesus, in Christianity, is the son of man, sent by God as a sacrificial gift to the human race. The

author goes on to mention how these wise men—there were three of them—went to the site of

Jesus’ birth with “wise” gifts in tow for the newborn King. The three wise men, or magi, brought

gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts were said to be a symbolic offering Christ,

because he later offered up his body as a sacrificial gift to the world.

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The purpose of O. Henry’s short story is to talk about sacrificing something precious as a

gift of love. He says, “Della knew her hair was more beautiful than any queen’s jewels or gifts”.

As poor as Della was, and she was well aware, she also knew the value of her hair. She knew her

hair would be the envy of any queen and that jewels and gifts couldn’t compare to the hair she

had flowing to her knees. That was Della’s true gift. That is what she knew was her most

precious gift that she could give. Jim was also aware of his most precious gift, the gold watch

given to him by his father. He also knew there was no king who had enough watches to compare

to his one precious watch. Jim, like Della, knew they were poor, but his watch was a precious

gift from his father. No matter if a king had one-hundred watches, there was none like his watch.

The author writes, “Being wise, their gifts were doubtless wise ones.” The three wise men, or

magi, brought gives to the new-born child of gold and frankincense and myrrh. These gifts were

thought of as a symbolic offering to Christ for later offering up his life. According to E. Ernst of

the British Medical Journal, he says, “Frankincense…has a long history of use—for example, in

religious ceremonies and for perfume production—and its medicinal properties have been

appreciated for millennia” (Ernst, 2008). In 2020, the Biblical Archaeology Society wrote,

“These valuable items were standard gifts to honor a king or deity in the ancient world: gold as a

precious metal, frankincense as perfume or incense, and myrrh as anointing oil” (Why did the

magi bring gold, frankicense, and myrrh?, 2020)

The content of this short story is to tell a story of how two very young people manage to

be the wisest of mankind even though there are many odds against them. The author says, “And

here I have told you the story of two children who were not wise” (Henry, 1905). The author

refers to the young couple as lacking wisdom because they were aware of their most precious

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gifts. Even though they were mindful of their gifts, they still gave them away as a Christmas gift

to one another. O. Henry writes, “Of all who give and receive gifts, such as they are the most

wise. Everywhere they are the wise ones. They are the magi” (Henry, 1908). This passage from

the story tells how the couple, Della and Jim, embody the characteristics of both adult and child.

The author is saying that whether on the giving end of the gift, as an adult, or on the receiving

end of the gift, as a child, this couple is still the wisest of both sides. The story mentions how

Della had one $1.87 to buy Jim a gift. This $1.87 Della had been saving for months so that she

could buy Jim a gift that showed her love for him. Della embodies both a child and an adult in

that adults may stash away money all year long in order to prepare for the Christmas holiday. But

like a child, she has only managed to come up with only $1.87 toward Jim’s gift. Jim was

bringing home only $20 a week from his work that helped him and Della survive and the plaque

that was on display in the home they shared read his full name, Mr. James Dillingham Young.

Over time, this name, to the couple, seemed “too long and important”. This speaks to the choices

of a child. The couple, although wise, were still young and so made choices in the way that

young people would, over-compensate to make amends for their lack of wealth. The author says

that, “Mrs. James Dillingham Young put her arms warmly about him and called him “Jim””. In

contrast to being child-like, this passage brings them back down to their grounded, wise selves.

O. Henry notes the color brown a number of times throughout his story of Della and Jim. The

author mentions the color brown when describing Della’s hair, referring to it as, “…shining like

a falling stream of brown water.” He also says, “She put on her old brown coat. She put on her

old brown hat.” The color brown can be seen as being grounded, down to earth, stable,

dependable, and trustworthy. These are usually qualities of people with wisdom, but again, also

contrasts with Jim’s shiny, gold watch and Della’s shiny hair, characteristics of youth. O. Henry

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writes, “Eight dollars a week or a million dollars a year—how different are they?” He is hinting

that a sacrifice is all in perspective in what you view a valuable.The couple was paying $8 a

week for their fully furnished home, but if they were able to afford a million dollars a year,

would they perspective in value remain the same?

The mood throughout the short story is one of sweet misery. Della felt deep misery and

loss after cutting her knee length, shiny hair. Della had put so much value on her hair because

she had nothing else of value, and she did know that it was valuable enough to give up for a gift

to Jim. This showed her true love to Jim. The author says, “Love and large-hearted giving, when

added together, can leave deep marks. It is never easy to cover these marks, dear friends—never

easy”. “I want you to understand me Dell…Nothing like a haircut could make me love you any

less. But if you’ll open that [his gift], you may know what I felt when I came in.” These were

Jim’s words to Della after coming home to find Della had cut off all of her hair. This was the

love they both shared. Jim says, “I sold the watch to get the money to buy the combs” which

finally confirms the depth of love and sacrifice they both share for one another.

The style of this short story is mostly informal writing. In the middle of telling the story

of the young couple, the narrator says, “The magi brought valuable gifts, but that was not among

them. My meaning will be explained soon” It was almost like the reader is actually a listener and

is sitting there with the narrator as they tell the story. There were many incomplete sentences

throughout the story, which also speaks to this short story being informal. The story also felt as

though it was being told from a personal account and being shared with the audience from

experience on the narrator’s behalf.

The structure of this short story is centered around one day in the life of a young couple.

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The story takes place on Christmas, but much is told about the couple to understand their current

circumstances and why this story is important. The denouement of the story explains the small,

seemingly random facts about the couple that the narrator told. Again, the narrator seems to have

a firsthand account of the lives of this couple. This helped to send the message that was intended

by the author, O. Henry.

This is a story about wisdom, and we see that from two point of views. The first is from a

child’s point of view where children are usually the recipient of gifts. The other is from the

adult’s point of view, where adults are usually the gift givers. In both examples we learn that

these are not assigned roles and that with wisdom we can all take up any which role so long as

we use wisdom. The true gift is being able to sacrifice something so precious to someone or

something you love so much.

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Works Cited

Ernst, E. (2008). Frankincense: systematic review. British Medical Journal, 1.

Henry, O. (1997). The gift of the magi. Simon & Schuster.

Why did the magi bring gold, frankicense, and myrrh? (2020, November 2020). Retrieved from

Biblical archaelology: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-

bible/jesus-historical-jesus/why-did-the-magi-bring-gold-frankincense-and-myrrh/