The Gift of the Magi

The Gift of the Magi Summary | Detailed Summary

The day before Christmas, Della counts all the money she has saved over the past year. By haggling mercilessly with the grocer, the butcher, and the vegetable man, swallowing her pride and thinking only of the penny or two that she had saved each time, she has been able to save exactly one dollar and eighty-seven cents. She counts it again, and even one more time, noting that sixty cents of meager sum is in pennies. After counting three times, her situation is the same. She has one dollar and eighty-seven cents, and one day, to buy her beloved husband Jim a Christmas present.

There is nothing to do but cry over the hopelessness of the situation. The couch that Della lies and howls her frustrations out on is threadbare, in keeping with the shabby interior of the furnished flat that surrounds her, not even worth the $8 a week they pay for it. The one good thing about the small flat is that each night Della's husband, Mr. James Dillingham Young, comes home to the very same flat in which Della sits, making her the happiest of women.

When Della's sobs have turned to sniffles, she rids her cheeks of its tears with her powder rag, and looks out the window at the gray backyard of the flat. She realizes that her expenses had been more than she had calculated, although with a total income of $20 a week, there was not much to calculate.

Suddenly, as she stares dully at herself in the pier-glass, Della has an idea. Her eyes light up and scarcely allowing herself to believe the daring of her own thoughts, she unfastens her hair and lets it fall down her back. It reaches below her knees, almost a garment in and of itself. She does it back up quickly and decisively, only faltering for a second. She puts on her jacket and hat, and rushes out the door, her eyes alternately sparkling excitedly and shining with sad tears.

It is important to note there are two possessions of Mr. and Mrs. James Dillingham Young in which they take inordinate pride including Jim's fine gold watch, an item that had been passed down to him through two generations, and Della's hair. "Had the queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty's jewels and gifts."

The shop Della enters has a sign that reads "Mme. Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." She walks up one flight of stairs, and encounters Madame Sofronie, who is large and white, like a beluga whale. Hardly looks like a "Sofronie," Della thinks fleetingly, before blurting out to the large lady before her, "Will you buy my hair?" Madame responds curtly that she is in the business of purchasing hair, and requests that Della take her hat off so she can see the merchandise. She glances at the brown ripples with a practiced eye, and flatly offers twenty dollars. "Give it to me quick," says Della.

Two hours later, Della has been relieved of her heavy crown, and has found the perfect present for her Jim. It is a platinum watch chain, simple yet substantial. The item is unique, she has not seen its equal in any of the dozens of shops she has visited and she feels that this chain is truly worthy of The Watch, and of being worn by Jim. For both Jim and the watch chain, Della feels, share the two important characteristics of quietness and value. The chain costs twenty-one dollars, and Della leaves with 87 cents in her pocket.

Despite Jim's unquestionable pride in his watch, he is in certain company forced to look at it on the sly, due to the old leather strap he uses instead of a proper chain. Della thinks delightedly to herself as she goes home that with his new chain, "Jim might be properly anxious about the time in any company."

When Della gets home, she realizes that she should take certain prudent measures, to avoid giving her beloved husband a heart attack before he can even be presented with his gift. She spends the next forty minutes covering her cropped head with small curls, and her efforts are rewarded by giving her the look of a truant schoolboy.

At 7 o'clock, everything is ready for Jim's arrival. The coffee is made and the frying pan is ready to cook the chops. Jim is never late, and as the clock strikes seven Della perches herself on the table by the door, the watch chain in her hand. As she hears his footsteps, she whispers a little prayer to herself, "Please God, make him think I am still pretty."

As Jim enters and sees Della, he has an expression that Della cannot read. It is not anger, surprise, disapproval nor horror, and Della is terrified. She runs to him, pleading with him not to look at her in that way. She tells him that she had to sell her hair to buy him a present, her voice taking on a pleading note as she adds that her hair grows very fast.

"You've cut off your hair?" Jim says stupidly. "Cut it off and sold it," Della says promptly. "Don't you like me just as well, anyhow? I'm me without my hair, ain't I?" He asks the whereabouts of her hair one more time, as if he has not yet grasped the fact that it is gone for good, thinking that perhaps she has hidden it somewhere.

Suddenly, Jim seems to wake from his trance. He takes Della in his arms and holds her there for a full ten seconds. He then lets her go, and withdraws a small package from his overcoat, throwing it on the table. "Don't make any mistake, Dell," he says, "about me. I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less." He then requests that she open the package, so that she may see the source of his evident despair.

Della hastily unwraps the package, and with a scream of joy beholds the contents. Her joy suddenly dissolves in hysterical tears, for there lay The Combs. Della had been worshipping these combs for as long as she can remember, from their inaccessible perch in a Broadway window. The combs are pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims, combs worthy indeed of Della's beautiful but vanished head of hair.

At length, she is master enough of herself to offer up a weak smile to Jim, comforting herself and him with the thought of how fast her hair grows. Suddenly, Della bolts upright. In the excitement, she had forgotten to give Jim his present. She extends her hand out to him, the precious chain looking finer than ever in her small palm. She prods him to take out his watch so that they can see how it looks.

Instead of obeying, Jim collapses onto the shabby couch. "Dell," said he, "let's put our Christmas presents away and keep 'em a while. They're too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on."