in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation — as all good things should do. It was even worthy of The Watch. 

The fact that Della sold her hair becomes even more ironic when we learn Jim sold his watch in order to buy her a nice hair set. Della sold her hair to buy him a fob for a watch he no longer has, and he sold his watch to buy combs for hair she no longer has.

One thing is for sure, hair grows back. Della knows her hair will eventually be beautiful again, so she did not mind selling it too much. Her hair was her most prized possession. Once it grows back, she will be able to enjoy the combs. Unfortunately, the watch fob is kind of useless unless Jem gets his watch back.

Della and James (Jim) Dillingham Young are a young married couple who, despite their tough financial situation, live in great harmony. The love that they feel for one another is so great, that they sometimes forget that their living circumstances are far from ideal, because they have the most important thing anyone could have—each other. As the gift-giving season approaches, however, both Jim and Della decide that they want to give each other something that will symbolize their love and appreciation for each other.

She had had many happy hours planning something nice for him. Something nearly good enough. Something almost worth the honor of belonging to Jim.

Thus, Della decides to buy a chain for Jim's gold watch and Jim decides to give Della ornamental hair combs for her hair; unfortunately, their plans backfire.

As they cannot actually afford to buy these gifts, both of them realize that they have to sacrifice their most valuable possessions; Della sells her beautiful hair, which makes her feel pretty and confident and even helps her cope with her day-to-day struggles, as it reminds her that there's still a little color and happiness in the grayness that life can sometimes bring. Despite this, she still bravely decides that making her husband feel loved and appreciated is worth the sacrifice and, without any second thoughts, sells her hair in order to buy Jim a beautiful chain for his watch that she knows is of great sentimental value to him.

Jim, on the other hand, sells the gold watch that was given to him from his father, who received it as a gift from his father; a watch that was passed down from generation to generation in his family and an object that he greatly cherished and held very dearly to his heart.

Ironically, neither can use the gifts that they bought for each other: Jim doesn't have a watch to attach the chain to, and Della can't wear the hair combs because she cut and sold her long hair. The sacrifices both of them were willing to make in order to make each other happy, however, reveal the true meaning of the story: the greatest gift that anyone could ever give to or receive from someone is love.

In O. Henry’s short story, “The Gift of the Magi,” Della buys her husband, Jim, a “platinum fob chain” to go with his pocket watch. 

In this story, we are told that Jim Young (James Dillingham Young) has one possession of which he is very proud.  This possession

was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's.

In the days when this story is set, people did not wear wrist watches.  Instead, men had pocket watches that they carried in their pockets.  The fob chain attached to the watch and was secured in a different pocket than the one in which the watch was carried (please read the annotations in the link below to see an excellent discussion of the importance of fob chains for men who owned pocket watches).  The fob chain would ensure that the watch would not fall on the ground and break if the owner accidentally dropped it.

Della buys the platinum fob chain for Jim because it is something that he would love to have.  She sacrifices her own prized possession (her hair) in order to do so.  In doing this, she is demonstrating how much she loves her husband.

In the short story “The Gift of the Magi", it was Christmas time, and Della wanted desperately to get a special Christmas gift for her husband, Jim.  She had saved her pennies and scrounged together $1.87.  She needed a lot more.  What did she have to sell?

“Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride.  One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s.  The other was Della’s hair.  (pg 1)

The only thing of value Della had to sell was her hair. 

“It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.” (pg 1)

So, she went to a Mne. Sofronie, who dealt in hair goods, and asked how much the woman would pay for her hair. She was offered twenty dollars.  She accepted the offer and immediately went out and bought Jim a beautiful chain to attach to his watch.  It cost her twenty-one dollars, but she knew he would love it. However, she hoped her husband would not find her ugly now because she no longer had her beautiful hair.

O’Henry, the author, wrote irony.  The ironic part of this story is that she sacrificed her hair to buy Jim a chain for his watch, and he sold his watch to buy her some beautiful combs for her long hair.

Della's problem in the story is raising the money she needs to purchase a suitable Christmas present for Jim.

The first step in her plan involves saving as much money as possible from the amount budgeted for household expenses. She manages to save $1.87 "by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned."  This amount, however, would never be adequate, and so she needs to develop another step to her savings plan.

This is accomplished as Della takes action to raise funds by selling the one possession she has that would be worth the appropriate amount of money - her hair. Della decides to sacrifice this fabulous asset in order to achieve the goal of raising money for Jim's present.

she did it up again...Once she faltered for a minute and stood still while a tear or two splashed...With a whirl of skirts and with the brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out the door and down the stairs...Will you buy my hair?

Della needed the money to buy her husband Jim a Christmas Present.

Della and Jim are like many young couples: deeply in love, but completely broke. Throughout the year Della scrapes by, but on Christmas she wants to give Jim something special and he wants the same for her. On this memorable Christmas, they each get each other a very unique present.

Della desperately needs money for the present. She has done her best to save as much as possible all year long.

ONE DOLLAR AND eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.

Della wants to use the Christmas present to demonstrate to her husband how much she loves him. She does not want to get him just anything. She wants to get him something special.

Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling—something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.

Della does not mind making a sacrifice in order to get something nice for her husband. She sells her hair and makes twenty dollars. With that, she buys a special watch band for her husband’s favorite watch. She knows that the watch is his most prized possession.

Ironically, Jim is thinking the same way as Della. He wants this Christmas to be memorable for her. He buys her a gift for her most prized possession: He gets her a set of combs for her hair. As you can see, they know each other well. Unfortunately, neither realizes the sacrifice the other is willing to make to show how much they love each other.

In "The Gift of the Magi," Della is distraught because she does not have enough money to buy her husband Jim a proper Christmas present. She counts out one dollar and eighty seven cents that she has been able to save and begins to cry because she wants something special for Jim. Della decides to cut off her hair and that same day, she sells it for twenty dollars in order to purchase Jim's special gift. After much looking, she finally finds it-a beautiful chain for his prized watch. The chain is made of platinum and is simple in design, not gaudy or overdone. "It was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design, properly proclaiming its value by substance alone and not by meretricious ornamentation-as all good things should do."  Della feels that the chain is perfect for Jim: "Quietness and value--the description applied to both." She buys it for twenty one dollars and happily returns home with eighty seven cents left over.

O. Henry's classic story "The Gift of the Magi" is about love and giving. Since the story is told from the point of view of Della, the reader knows more about what Della went through to give her perfect gift to her husband Jim. It is important to look at both gifts. 

Della valued her hair. It was her "crowning glory."  Jim  loved her hair. 

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her.

On this Christmas Eve, Della had something more important than her hair on her mind: she needed money to buy her Jim a Christmas present. She would give anything for Jim, so she sold her hair.  She was worried about what he would say, but still, it enabled her to buy the watch fob that would hold his precious watch. 

The reader does not know much about the circumstances of Jim's present. 

Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim's gold watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's.

This was a family heirloom. Jim's grandfather had bought it and used it; then, the grandfather had given it to his son, who used it; then, the father had given it to Jim.  It was a tradition that Jim hoped he would be able to carry on with his son. 

Della meant more to him then the watch.  He willingly gave it up to buy his Della a beautiful set of hair combs to hold her long hair in place. 

Each of the couple has given the most valuable thing that he/she possessed.  Della's hair was a part of person.  However, no less important was the personal loss of Jim's heritage. Della hair would grow back eventually.  What about Jim's watch? Would he be able to buy back his watch? This was a little more questionable. 

The most important part of the gift exchange was that the seemingly worthless gifts that they gave each other were so valuable after all.  As long as they have the gifts, they will each remember the selfless act that each performed to give the perfect gift to the other one.  That feeling cannot be bought, and its value cannot be estimated.    

Before the gift exchange, each person had a prized possession.  The watch was Jim's and the hair was Della's.  Both of these were sacrificed.  In the sacrifice, each of them gained something new.  The love that they share knowing that the other gave his most important possession for the other is more important that anything else.  In the gift exchange, the couple is now closer together based on the love that was required to give the gift. 

Who sacrificed more? Possibly Jim--he may not be able to buy his watch back.  But this is not the important part of the story.  It is what each received from the other that makes this a grand love story.

Della had beautiful brown hair. Most women in her day let their hair grow very long and had to pin it up in a sort of bouffant style. Della was proud not only of the rich quality of her hair but of its length. O. Henry describes the length as follows:

So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. 

She must have spent many hours caring for her hair. Washing it would be a big project, and then letting it dry would take a long time because there were no hair dryers in those days. But most women spent their time at home except when they went shopping. There was a common saying that "A woman's place is in the home." Women also wore dresses that covered them from their necks down to their ankles and had sleeves that covered their arms down to their wrists. The hair and the clothing restricted their movements and seemed to symbolize their domestic confinement and servitude.

Della makes a great sacrifice when she sells her hair. O. Henry describes the transaction in a way intended to show how she must have been feeling. The woman who buys her hair is inconsiderate and rude. Madame Sofronie can turn on her fake Old World charm with people who buy her wigs and toupees, but she makes up for it when she is dealing with hair sellers rather than hair buyers. 

O. Henry spends many words describing Della's beautiful long hair in order to emphasize the stark contrast after she has been scalped. She has traded one problem for another. She wanted to buy Jim a present, but now she is afraid she will lose his love when he sees her.

Within forty minutes her head was covered with tiny, close-lying curls that made her look wonderfully like a truant schoolboy. She looked at her reflection in the mirror long, carefully, and critically. 

It turns out that Jim has also made a sacrifice. He has sold his treasured gold watch. But this is Della's story. Jim is only a minor character who comes in at the end. People will always remember "The Gift of the Magi" as a story about a young woman who sold her hair to buy her husband a present for Christmas.