Reader-response Criticism of “The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry"

“Wherever there are people giving gifts, exchanging cards. I believe that Christmas is truly in their hearts.”

Have you heard this song by Jose Marie Chan, especially when Christmas is coming? Have you also experienced giving gift/s but in exchange for something precious to you? These are the questions that relate to the story of O. Henry entitled “The Gift of the Magi”.

Christmas symbolizes the birth of Jesus which also means the sacrificial love of Almighty God to people that he gave his only son to save the people. The same thought as to when we give gifts to show our love to anybody. However, sometimes these gifts cost a lot so you have to sacrifice something valuable to make the gift precious and to make the person you love happy.

At the beginning of the story, it was clearly shown that Della felt so sad that she even cried because she doesn’t have enough money to buy a gift. This simply means that in this world people are becoming materialistic and that they show their love through gifts/material stuff and if they feel like they cannot give something, that would frustrate them for that affect their emotional well-being, and they are afraid that the people they love would not feel that they are being loved.

Then, Della decided to sell her hair just to buy the fob chain for his man. This means that Della can sacrifice everything for her lover. In life, when you truly love the person- you can sacrifice anything for that person, you would make sure that your special one would be happy because you will be happy if he/she is happy. A sacrificial love brings happiness to us as long as our loved ones are happy also.

Moreover, Della hoped that Jim would still like her even if she cut her hair. This reminds us of how we make ourselves pretty in the eyes of the people we love. We wanted to look good of everybody for ourselves and for our loved ones. That is why even if we got into a new look, we wished that we still look good.

In the end, Della and Jim unwrap their gifts for one another and found out that they both give one another special thing but in exchange also the valuable things for them, and so the narrator said that their gifts were wise but the thought of sacrificing their treasures were unwise. However, in today’s time, they were the wisest of all the people who give gifts. They lost one thing they treasured but they are still happy that they brought happiness to one another and that they realize how they love one another.

It is not because of the monetary value of the gifts that we feel loved, but rather because of their sentimental value, knowing that they took time and effort to makes us happy and appreciated.