Della says it to herself just as her husband Jim is about
to walk through the door. She says it because she has cut off all of her hair and has
sold it to buy Jim a Christmas present. Her hair was her most prized possession, but she
gave it up selflessly to buy Jim a present for Christmas. She tried to make her short
hair look appealing to Jim by curling it and she's hoping that despite the fact that her
hair is gone, he'll still think she's just as beautiful. She sold her hair to buy Jim a
gold chain for his gold watch. Jim's watch is his most prized possession. It was passed
down to him through the generations. However, he would always feel embarassed to take
his gold watch out to check the time because it was attached to a leather strap. They
were a poor couple just trying to make ends meet.
What
Della doesn't know is that Jim has also done a selfless thing. She's about to find out
after he walks throught the door just exactly what that selfless act is. She finds out
that Jim has sold his gold watch to buy Della beautiful combs to put in her hair. Of
course, once Jim walks through the door and sees Della's short hair, he realizes she'll
have no need of the combs until her hair grows back.
It's
situational irony. They no longer have need of the presents they bought each other for
Christmas by giving up their most prized possessions. She has no need of the combs
because she cut off her hair and he has no need of the gold watch chain because he no
longer has the watch. The significance is that their love for each other is their most
prized possession. That's what they find out through the experience. Material
possessions are not what's important. The fact that they'd go that far to make each
other happy is the most wonderful possession of all.
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