History Literature / TheGiftOfTheMagi

** On the hand, Jim's gift to Della will not be much of a total waste once her hair grows back.

* ImportantHaircut: Della cuts her hair and sells it so that she can have enough money to buy a gift for her man.

* TrueMeaningOfChristmas: You betcha.

A young married couple, Jim and Della, have very little money, but each has one treasure: she has long and beautiful hair, and he owns a valuable heirloom pocketwatch. Desperate to give her man something nice for Christmas, Della sells her hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for Jim's watch. When she proudly presents it to him, he reveals that he sold the watch to buy a set of combs for her hair.

* ShakingHerHairLoose: Della is said to have hair past her hips, but keeps it pinned up all the time. She lets it down dramatically just before it gets cut off.

* TheThreeWiseMen: The Magi get a mention, and give the story their name, as the TropeMakers of giving Christmas presents.

* LettingHerHairDown: A different take on the usual in that the character is showing off her hair to a non-love-interest: Della takes her hair once to admire it one last time, and a second time to offer it to the hair-buyer.

* LongHairIsFeminine: Della's hair is her glory. When it's gone, her main fear is that Jim won't think she's pretty.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: The story compares Della and Jim to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba-- Biblical figures of wealth -- and says that they were richer. This is subtle foreshadowing to the ending, where the "foolish children" are deemed wiser than the Magi, the {{Ur Example}}s of Christmas giving.

* LongHairIsFeminine: Della worries that Jim won't think she's pretty without her hair.

* TwentiesBobHaircut: Della styles her new short hair with curls to look as feminine as possible, but she still worries that Jim will think she looks like "a Coney Island chorus girl."

* BittersweetEnding: The couple's dearly-bought gifts are made worthless by the other's sacrifice, but the act of giving them proves that they both loved each other more than their own treasures. [[TrueMeaningOfChristmas The narrator calls them the wisest givers of all]] (immediately after referring to both of them as "foolish children.")

* AsTheGoodBookSays: The story compares Della and Jim to the Magi who brought gifts to baby Jesus-- Biblical figures of wealth -- and says that they were richer. This is subtle foreshadowing to the ending, where the "foolish children" are deemed wiser than the Magi, the {{Ur Example}}s of Christmas giving.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: The story compares Della and Jim to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba -- two Biblical figures of wealth -- and says that they were richer. This is subtle foreshadowing to the ending, where the "foolish children" are deemed wiser than the Magi, the {{Ur Example}}s of Christmas giving.

A young married couple, Jim and Della, have very little money, but each has one treasure: she has long and beautiful hair, and he owns a valuable heirloom pocketwatch. Desperate to give her man something nice for Christmas, Della sells her hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for Jim's watch. When she proudly presents it to him, he reveals that he sold the watch to buy a set of combs for her hair. The original story can be found [[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html here]].

This story has become one of the all-time classic Christmas stories, and with good reason. Also frequently used to teach DramaticIrony. A popular source for WholePlotReference; see GiftOfTheMagiPlot. It was set as an {{opera}} by American composer David Conte.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: The story compares Della and Jim to King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba -- two Biblical figures of wealth -- and says that they were richer. This is subtle foreshadowing to the ending, where the "foolish children" are deemed wiser than the Magi, the {{Trope Maker}}s of Christmas giving.

* TwentiesBobHaircut: Della styles her new short hair with curls to look as feminine as she can, but she still worries that Jim will think she looks like "a Coney Island chorus girl."
* AluminumChristmasTrees: At the start of the story, Della has only $1.87 to her name -- and 60 cents of it in pennies. When this story was written, the U.S. minted half-cent, two cent and three cent coins, making it perfectly possible for Della to have $1.27 with no pennies.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: The title is a reference to the Three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to the infant Jesus in [[Literature/TheFourGospels the Gospel of Matthew]].

* RapunzelHair: Della's hair, unbound, falls past her knees.

A young married couple, Jim and Della, have very little money, but each has one treasure: she has long and beautiful hair, and he owns a valuable heirloom pocketwatch. Desperate to give her man something nice for Christmas, Della sells her hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for Jim's watch. When she proudly presents it to him, she discovers that he has sold his watch to buy a set of combs for her hair. The original story can be found [[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html here]].

* LongHairIsFeminine: Della is worried that her hair, once cut short, will make her look like a Coney Island chorus girl.

A young couple, Jim and Della, have little more than each other. Desperate to give her man something nice for Christmas, Della sells her beautiful hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for his heirloom watch. When she proudly presents it to him, she discovers that he has sold his watch to buy a set of combs for her hair. The original story can be found [[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html here]].

* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: The DramaticIrony comes from the fact that Jim gave up his watch and Della gave up her hair without knowing how useful it would be for the other's gift.
* AsTheGoodBookSays: The title is a reference to the Three Magi who followed the star to Bethlehem to bring gifts to the infant Jesus in ''Literature/TheFourGospels''.
* BittersweetEnding: The couple's dearly-bought gifts are made useless by the other's sacrifice, but it shows that they both loved each other more than their own treasures. [[TrueMeaningOfChristmas The narrator calls them the wisest givers of all]] (immediately after referring to both of them as "foolish children.")

"The Gift of the Magi" is a 1906 short story by Creator/OHenry, where a poor couple, Jim and Della, have little more than each other. Della sells her beautiful hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for her man's heirloom watch. When she proudly presents it to him, she discovers that Jim has sold his watch to buy a set of combs for her hair. The original story can be found [[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html here]].

* RapunzelHair: Della's hair reaches to about her knees.

* TwoRightsMakeAWrong: Both Jim and Della's gifts were extremely thoughtful and sacrificial; the combination of the two good intentions had unlucky results.

"The Gift of the Magi" is a 1906 short story by Creator/OHenry, where a poor couple, Jim and Della, has little more than each other. Della sells her beautiful hair to a wigmaker to buy a chain for her man's heirloom watch. On Christmas day, she discovers that Jim has sold his watch to buy her combs for her hair. The original story can be found [[http://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html here]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Not long before this story was written, the U.S. minted half-cent, two cent and three cent coins, making it perfectly possible for Della to have $1.87 with $0.60 in pennies. [[note]] As in, she had sixty pennies. Today, the number of pennies would have to end in 2 or 7. [[/note]]

* BittersweetEnding: The couple's dearly bought gifts are both useless, but it shows them how much they love each other, which is the TrueMeaningOfChristmas.

* HappilyMarried: Jim and Della clearly love each other very much. In fact, the whole twist of the story happens because they love each other more than they love their own treasures.
* ImportantHaircut: Della cuts her hair and sold it so that she can have enough money to buy a gift for her man.

* RapunzelHair: Della's hair grows very fast, and it reaches to about her knees.

* RichesToRags: Downplayed. At one point in the past Jim's salary was as much as thirty dollars a week (described as if it was a prosperous, golden era), but is now twenty dollars a week, with almost half of that going towards the rent.

* AlwaysNeedWhatYouGaveUp: The DramaticIrony comes from the fact that Jim gave up his watch fob and Della gave up her hair without knowing how useful it would be for the other's gift.

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: A fourth-wall-breaking example. The ''narrator'' tells the audience to look at some unimportant thing in the other direction [[LeaveTheTwoLovebirdsAlone while Jim and Della are hugging]].

* GoLookAtTheDistraction: A fourth-wall-breaking example. The ''narrator'' tells the audience to look at some unimportant thing in the other direction while Jim and Della are hugging.