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- Rather than describing complex characters with well-developed backgrounds and intricate psyches, O. Henry gives the audience just enough detail to help them sympathize with the characters’ situation. This, coupled with an optimistic tone and warmth, makes “The Gift of the Magi” popular among readers to this day.
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Character List. Next. Della Dillingham Young. A young housewife who struggles to afford a Christmas present for her husband, Jim. The story’s protagonist, Della is kind-hearted but impulsive. She loves her husband deeply, and prides herself on her long, beautiful hair. Read an in-depth analysis of Della. James Dillingham Young (Jim)
Need help on characters in O. Henry's The Gift of the Magi? Check out our detailed character descriptions. From the creators of SparkNotes.
‘The Gift of the Magi’ is a short story by the US short-story writer O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter (1862-1910). His stories are characterised by their irony, their chatty narrative style, their occasional sentimentality, and by their surprise twist endings.
- Introduction
- The Gift of Magi Summary
- Themes in The Gift of Magi
- Characters Analysis
- Literary Analysis
The Gift of Magiis a short story written by an American short story writer, William Sydney Porter. He has written his literary works under the pen name of O’ Henry. This story was first published in 1905. It is a sentimental tale of a financially upset couple. Both of them sold out their prized possessions in order to buy presents for each other fo...
Della Dillingham, holding 1.87 dollars in her hand wanders here and there in the room. She is worried because it’s Christmas Eve and she needs to buy a gift for her loving and caring husband to show that she loves her too. Also, she feels like crying because she doesn’t know what to do. Moreover, the couple lives in a small and simple apartment. Ja...
Endless Love
One of the themes of this story written by O’ Henry is the revelation of endless love between the couple. They both sell their valuable things to buy gifts for one another and to show how much they love each other. Della sells her hair and buys a watch chain for her husband and lover as he has not got a good chain with his family watch. So she sells her hair, a beautiful thing for her love. One the other side James sells his family watch given to him by his father to buy a gift for her wife....
Beauty
O’ Henry has tactfully interwoven the theme of inner and outer beauty. Throughout the story, one can see the narrator praising Della’s hair and Jim’s watch. Similarly, there are also the glimpses of outer beauty occurring in the prized gifts they bought for each other. However, all those things possess only outer beauty as those are only material objects. The very inner beauty lies in both characters; the love they are having for each other. Those material objects also reflect the love and se...
Sacrifices
Readers may find the spark of selflessness in both characters. This very element leads them to sacrifice. Della, being a woman of beautiful hairs, the only possession she has, sacrificed it for her love. She just wanted to see delightfulness on Jim’s face. On the other hand, Jim also sacrificed his prized possession, passed down to him from generations for her wife. He wanted to give Della happiness on the Eve of Christmas. For this, he sold his watch.
Della Dillingham
She is the caring, beautiful, and loving wife of Jim Dillingham. She calls him Jim shortly and with love. Moreover, she has only prized possession that is her beautiful hair with the length from head to knees. Readers may explore most of the story through her perspective. Similarly, she is described as an affectionate and selfless character. From the start of the story, she seems worried about how to purchase a gift of Christmas for her husband. She tried her best to save even a single penny....
James Dillingham
James Young Dillingham called by Della as Jim is a gentleman of age 22 but has a burden of responsibilities of running home and family. Nevertheless the heavy burden, he seems content, quiet, and good-natured. Just like his wife he has only prized possession of a gold watch passed down from generations. Similar in manner to his wife, he sold his prized possession and bought a gift of tortoise comb for Della. This describes his love and cares towards Della.
Madame Sofronie
She is the owner of the hair shop to which Della sells her hair. She is described as a brusque and cold lady. Moreover, she so much to the point that she didn’t waste time in evaluating and paid twenty dollars for the hairs of Della.
The Gift of Magiis a short story written by an American short story writer, William Sydney Porter. He has written his literary works under the pen name of O’ Henry. This story was first published in 1905. This story recounts the endless love between the couple, the way they sacrificed their prized possessions for each other. On one hand, Della cut ...
The main characters in “The Gift of the Magi” are Della and Jim Dillingham Young. Della Dillingham Young is a young housewife. Though Della and her husband, Jim, are poor, Della still...
The story tells of a young husband and wife and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. As a sentimental story with a moral lesson about gift-giving, it has been popular for adaptation, especially for presentation at Christmas time.
The narrator’s paragraph on the magi suggests that the true spirit of giving involves sacrifice and generosity and that the intent counts more than the external value of the gift—which is why, he says, Della and Jim are the wisest gift givers.