Della's love in the gift of magi

The gift of magi is a love story of the well-known American writer- O.Henry in which the true love is challenged by the poverty. The love of Della and Jim is apparentlty revealed by the ways they think for each other, get ready to sacrifice the most valueable possessions for each other. Especially, the devotion of Della is the evidence of intense love she spends for her Jim. Della’s love demonstrates partially Shakespear’s point of view. No matter how poor the living condition is, it can not quench the fire of true love .
The story is opening with a symbolic number. “One dollar and eighty-seven cents” which is repeated five times in work. One dollar and eighty-seven cents is all of the money that Della has been saving for months . “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”. But the expenses for family is much higher than she calculates; therefore, she has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents left to buy a christmas present for her Jim. The repeatation of “ One dollar and eighty-seven cents” strongly expresses that the poverty surrounds Della’s life and puts her to the impasse. Her action of counting this amount of money three times in tears and the question she asked herself “But what could I do - oh! what could I do with a dollar and eighty-seven cents?" are manifestation of the deep sorrow and disappointment when she can not have enough money for Jim’s gift. However, Della still spends a lot of the time leading up to Christmas just thinking of what to get him. Despite the poor situation, she still wants her husband to be happy and sacrified with a fine, rare and sterling gift. The heart wins the mind, the love wins the thinking. The love of Della does not have place for poor or rich condition.
O. Herry surprises the readers by Della’s final decisive action that is the highest sacrifice for love. She