Della prays for Jim’s acceptance of her haircut-“Please God, make him think I am still pretty”-which suggests that Della has internalized normative conventions of femininity, which dictate that a woman’s value lies in her ability to please a man (12). The narrator remarks that Della now looks like a “truant schoolboy,” while Della references her resemblance to a “Coney Island chorus girl” (11). When Della sells her hair so she can afford a proper Christmas present for Jim, she breaks with the ideals of femininity and instead takes on a more masculine, or immaturely girlish, appearance. As a central symbol of beauty and femininity, Della’s long, brown hair is her most beloved possession, one the narrator compares to the Queen of Sheba’s jewels and gifts.
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