The Story Behind The Most Famous Christmas Short Story

Christmas can be a wonderful time. But it can also be a stressful time. The desire to show our love and appreciation for those dear to us can sometimes outstrip our financial means. For many people, the realities of life make Christmas tough.

O. Henry distilled these elements of Christmas into a perfect piece of short literature. With The Gift of the Magi, he explored the difficulties many face around Christmas time and shone a light on the themes of love and togetherness that are so easily forgotten at this time of year. Or at any time of year. It’s these themes that have helped this short story stand the test of time.

The Master of the Short Story Form

Much has been made of The Great American Novel, over the years, but what about The Great American Short Story? It’s this shorter form of literature that has made William Sidney Porter one of the best-known figures in the English language.

But if you’ve never heard of Porter before, don’t worry. Most know him better as O. Henry, the prolific short-story writer, and the author of such collections as Cabbages and Kings, Roads of Destiny, and Waifs and Strays.

The life of O. Henry was a celebrated one. But it was a tragic one too. Caught embezzling funds while working at the First National Bank of Austin, O. Henry fled to Honduras in 1896 but returned early in 1897 upon learning his wife Athol was dying of tuberculosis. Athol succumbed to the disease, and O. Henry served three years in prison for his crime. Heavy drinking would mark the remainder of the author’s life, and his second wife left him in 1909, shortly before his own untimely death, aged just 47.

The Gift of the Magi

The maelstrom of love, tragedy, alcohol, and hardship, that colored O. Henry’s own life, certainly influenced his work. Perhaps his most famous short story is The Gift of the Magi, published first in 1905, and then again in 1906 as part of his The Four Million Anthology.

The Gift of the Magi begins on Christmas Eve, as Della Dillingham Young discovers she has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a her beloved husband a Christmas present. With nothing else of value with which to raise money, Della takes drastic action – she cuts off her flowing brown hair and pawns it.

Receiving $20 in return, Della purchases the perfect present to demonstrate her love for her husband Jim. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Della, Jim is in a similar predicament.

O. Henry’s story has not only become a Christmas classic, but also a far broader moral tale. Seeking a means to express her love, Della sacrifices something incredibly dear to her. The themes of selflessness and devotion have made The Gift of the Magi a timeless work, while O. Henry’s deft use of a twist ending have cemented his position as one of the most skilled storytellers in literary history.

Writing His Christmas Classic

Love, tragedy, hardship – these aspects are all present and correct. But what about alcohol? How did O. Henry’s drinking influence The Gift of the Magi?

Despite the lack of obvious clues in the text itself, alcoholism did in fact drive the formulation and creation of what is perhaps O. Henry’s best-loved work. The author was a people-watcher, someone who understood the complexities and imperfections of human interaction out there in the real world.

While he was born in North Carolina and spent time in Texas and Central America, O. Henry lived most of the latter years of his life in New York City. He adored New York City and the tangled web of characters who inhabited its streets. Observing the minutiae of every day, working-class life was a constant source of inspiration for O. Henry, and much of this is evident in his writing.

Unfortunately for the author, wandering New York City and taking in the rich drama of its humanity meant wandering its bars and watering holes too. One of these places was Pete’s Tavern, originally opened in 1864, and still open for business on East 18th Street to this day. The bar welcomed many of New York’s colorful characters but also featured high-sided booths that afforded some privacy.

So, O. Henry was able to gain inspiration for his work, and also produce the work itself in the bar’s more private corners – legend has it that The Gift of the Magi was one of the stories penned right here in Pete’s Tavern.

The Story Today

There’s nothing wrong with seeking inspiration in bars and drinking establishments. These are human places after all, and literature is at its heart a human endeavor. But alcohol is a dangerous drug, and it can get the better of us. It certainly got the better of William Sidney Porter.

Porter was only 42 when The Gift of the Magi was published for the first time, in the lead-up to Christmas 1905. He had less than five years to live. Cirrhosis of the liver made his final years an ordeal, and, while there are conflicting reports as to the true cause of his death, heavy drinking certainly played its part.

Today, we remember O. Henry for the beauty of his prose and for the light he cast on the world for a few short decades in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For all the difficulty and pain that made life tough for the writer, he was able to see the beauty of the humanity around him. That beauty, and that vision, is evident in The Gift of the Magi, and it remains an incredible expression of the human capacity for love and sacrifice.

Whether at Christmas, or at any other time of the year, re-reading The Gift of the Magi is a wonderful experience, and one that won’t be forgotten in a hurry.