Gift Of The Magi Compare And Contrast Essay

The story was written by O’Henry in 1906. The story was centered around a seemingly poor couple who did not have enough money to buy each other the gifts that their significant other deserved. The story took place during Christmas. The Gift of the Magi is like a classic wisdom story in the bible. O’Henrys choice of title depicts symbolism between the three magi that brought gold, frankincense, and mur, to the baby Jesus and the gifts that Jim and Della had given to each other which mainly consisted of selfless love, Della’s hair and Jims pocket watch. This itself ties into the theme of his story. These gifts all entail the act

Della from The Gift of the Magi and Mathilde from The Necklace are two characters whose only striking similarity is a shared monetary conflict, although the ways in which they acquired this conflict are completely different. In other words, both characters don't have enough money to fulfill their desires, but Della is inspired by selflessness while Mathilde is inspired by selfishness. For example, Della isn't concerned about buying herself anything, she's only troubled with getting her husband something "a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned” by him. On the other hand, Mathilde is almost the exact opposite of Della when she disregards her husband's hard work and “grieved incessantly" over her lack of money and material

To understand the differences and similarities between the Gift of the Magi and the sesame street version of it, it is necessary to look at the main concepts of both stories. The Gift of the Magi is a classic story, adapted into many T.V shows and movies in modern day. The original story is about a young married couple in New York city during the 1900's that sell their most prized possessions to buy something for their significant other. The item that they buy for each other though is for the other's most prized item, therefor, they can't use their gift because they don't have their prized possession anymore. The main concept of the sesame street version is two friends that live together, that trade their favorite item belonging to

“But in a last word to the wise of these days let it be said that of all who give gifts these two were the wisest” (Henry). In the short story, “The Gift of the Magi”, the two main characters and couple, Della and Jim, live on a low income and want to purchase gifts for each other on Christmas. Although, their low income proves to be troublesome in doing such a thing. As a result, Della decides to sell her long hair to a wig maker in order to buy Jim a pocket watch chain. Likewise, Jim sells his pocket watch in order to buy Della hair combs to style her long locks.

What makes these two main characters so different is it Della’s selflessness from “The Gift of the Magi” or Mathilde’s selfishness from “The Necklace”. When Della realizes that she only has $1.87 in her possession by saving every penny she could for months and she knows tomorrow is Christmas Day. She tries her best with her expenses to find something find and rare for her him. Even if it means selling her hair for money.

In the beginning of the short stories “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Necklace” the two female characters were polar opposites but, after the conflicts of the stories they turned out to be quite similar.

Additionally, they both bought new things, made compromises and they all gave up valuable things. In “The Gift of the Magi” says, “Della”, said he, “let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep keep them a while. They’re too nice to use now. I sold the watch to buy the combs. And now I think we should have our dinner”

In the story, Della sacrifices her hair for her husband. Her hair was cut so she has money to buy her husband a chain for his watch. Her hair was a symbol of pride to her, but she was willing to give up that for her husband. This is her response to the situation that she will cut her hair for her husband. This displays that she is selfless, loving, and caring.

In the story of The Necklace, Mathilde was very unhappy of the way she lived. She didn’t like what she wore, where she lived, everything. Her husband had brought home an invitation to a ball. It was a very special party. She was unhappy about it because she didn’t have anything nice to wear, she had asked her husband for 400 francs he had gave them.

For instance, Della and her husband had a mutual love and respect for each other; where Mathilde was only in love with the person she wanted to be. During the gift exchange between Della and her husband, they found selling their most prized possession, the purchase of their Christmas gifts was rendered useless since Della no longer had her hair and Jim his watch. However, when Mathilde lost the necklace, both her and her husband spent ten years to pay off the debt. Additionally, Mathilde lost her beauty, “Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households. He hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red.” The authors in the stories demonstrated the negative effects for seeking items which one could not afford through an ironic twist. However, the irony was predictable in both

In both “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Necklace,” Della’s and Mathilde’s wants and desires leads them to different outcomes. Della, in “The Gift of the Magi,” is a poor woman who, although isn’t unhappy for herself, needs money to buy her husband a Christmas gift, a chain for his watch. She then decides to sell her hair, which is her most precious possession, “Had the Queen Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out...just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts…” Due to her willing sacrifice for her husband, what ended up happening is that her husband ended up selling his watch to buy some jewels for Della’s hair, if she didn’t sell her hair to buy him a gift in the first place. Mathilde from

The comparison O. Henry makes between the story of Jim and Della and that of the Magi is rather relevant as the Magi were the ones who are credited with being the origins of the “giving nature” of the Christmas season. In this story, we see a man and a woman so blinded by love that they are willing to make ultimate sacrifices for the happiness of the other. Similar to the Magi, Della and Tim put each other before themselves and through their generosity and considerable lengths they both went to achieve that generosity is something more admirable than any materialistic gift they could ever offer each other, thus making the uselessness of their gifts irrelevant.

Della only had a dollar and eighty-seven cents to get her husband a gift for Christmas, but it was not enough to buy “a present for Jim. Her Jim.” Della wanted to get the best gift for Jim. So she went to the store to sell her hair. She was given twenty dollars for the hair that she sold.

Stories of love and sacrifice abound in literature. Perhaps one of the most well known stories among teens and adults is the tale of a poor, young couple struggling to find the perfect Christmas gifts for each other using their very limited means. They each manage to get what they think is the perfect gift for the other, but only accomplish this by selling a prized possession which effectively makes the new gifts impractical. This bittersweet narrative, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, illustrates the moral idea that a person, motivated by nothing but love for another, can possess a willingness to give in a self-denying way which necessitates that the reader consider that wealth be measured by something more than having money

Now consider the role of Mathilde Loisel in “The Necklace”. She constantly grieves about her simple life and fantasizes about extravagant life style with rich people and food surrounding her. Her husband is a simple man and is satisfied with his life. He appreciates her for the food which is cooked and never complains. Being in the Ministry of Education their lifestyle is modest. Mathilde is not satisfied on the other hand even when her husband proudly announces that they have been invited at a formal party held by the Ministry of Education. The irony in the story is more or less the same with regard to the female characters. Mathilde cries and gets her prize in the form of a dress but she is never satisfied. She wants jewelry as well. The necklace that she borrows from Madame Forestier teaches her a lesson of life. Since she is not familiar with the real jewelry she picks the cheapest one from her collection and wears it to the party why she loses it. Upon not finding the jewelry her husband takes the pain of selling everything out just to purchase an identical necklace worth 40,000 francs which leaves them poverty stricken for the next ten years during which her husband does three jobs and