House Of Spirits Vs. The Gift Of The Magi

In the short story “The Gift of the Magi” written by O. Henry, is about a poor and young married couple by the names of Della and Jim. They are deeply in love and besides loving each other, they both hold something they love and cherish too. For Della, she loves her hair, while Jim loves his gold watch. This story is set during the time of Christmas, where everyone goes out of their way to buy presents for their loved ones. Whereas Della and Jim had to sacrifice their own assets that they love to buy a gift for each other. Without knowing that their gifts were going to be useless to them. Throughout the story, it shows the implicit idea of love and sacrifice has no boundaries. By using the language features of symbolism, irony and metaphor.

Values are an important aspect of life. Having values is a representation of the individual of not only who they are but what they believe as well. Someone who does not have any values cannot have any respect for themselves These lack of family values are progressive, and have become a part of the postmodern. In both stories “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri and” The Storm “by Kate Chopin, the plot sets upon the characters having a lack of values, and as a result may encounter negative consequences.

Both Guy de Maupassant and O.Henry are two very recognized short story writers and they wrote respectively The Necklace and The Gift Of The Magi which are going to be compared in this text. In the Necklace, Mathilde, the protagonist, is a jealous, poor, unhappy person and she does not give values to thing that she has. She is married with a young guy that is poor two but is not jealous. Her biggest fear was becoming poor and it turns reality at the final of the story when she realizes that the necklace was fake. The Gift Of The Magi is a story centered on a young couple living in a small apartment located in New York. They are poor so they have to sell something to buy each other a christmas gift. At the end of the story, the couple realize that they do not need gifts. Both stories deal with young and poor couples who face in a objective and are surprised with a unexpected, ironic turn. The objective of this report is to establish clear differences between the short stories and to provide

The Gift of the Magi is one of the most popular short stories by O. Henry, a pen name for William Sydney Porter - a renowned American author. Originally published in 1906, in O. Henry’s second collection of short stories, The Gift of the Magi which displays all of the major O. Henry traits in abundance has given him credit for his genuine talent. It has been retold in various forms since then, especially at Christmas time. The story is about a young poor couple, Jim and Della Dillingham Young, who each sells their most precious possession in order to buy a Christmas gift for their partner, but in doing so, they end up making each others gift worthless. The profound

“We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give” (Winston Churchill). While money is necessary, an abundance isn’t required to be happy. Attaining happiness comes through serving others. The Necklace and The Gift of the Magi share a valuable lesson about materialism. However, both stories have a different outlook. In The Necklace, Madame Loisel’s materialism is selfishness. In The Gift of The Magi, Della and Jim’s materialism selflessness. The placing of value on materialistic goods can end up positively or negatively impacting one’s life. In The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant the only thing that seems to make Loisel happy are things that money can buy. Unlike in the Gift of the Magi by O. Henry, Della learns that the

The moral of this short story, “The Necklace” is that everyone should be grateful for what they have, who their dating, and how life is provided for them. The wife was far from grateful, she was greedy. For example, her husband provided her with an envelope with an invitation to a ball and handed her. Her response was unnecessary. She should have been grateful that she got an invitation. “Instead of being delighted as her husband expected, she threw the invitation on the table with disgust, muttering, "What do you think I can do with that?" "But, my dear, I thought you would be pleased. You never go anywhere, and this is such a rare opportunity. I had hard work to get it. Everyone is wild to go: it is very select, and invitations to clerks

According to Bob Marley “ Possessions make you rich? I don’t have that type of richness; my richness is life”.P This quote exemplifies one of the themes of the stories “ The Necklace “ and “ The Gift of The Magi “ which is material possessions. The main character of the story “ The Gift of The Magi “ is Della, who sacrifices herself WW M for her husband. Moreover, the main character of the story “ The Necklace “ is Mathilde, who does not sacrifices herself for his husband. By comparing Mathilde and Della through similarities and differences, it is possible to analyze that, even if they are both women they have different types of behavior and perspectives about how they see life.

Both Mathilde and Della are youthful, pretty married women with loving husbands. In terms of personality they are total opposites of each other. Della from The Gift of the Magi is as selfless and adoring wife who treasures her husband and yet Mathilde from The Necklace does not care about anyone’s emotions and wishes except her own. Both of these women complain about their financial position, but Della complains about money only because she want to get a present for Jim. The narrator proves this by saying, “Only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim” (Henry 1906). Contrarily, Mathilde takes part in self-indulgence in light of the fact that she can't bear the cost of things for herself: the narrator states this,

“The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” are both stories with ironic endings. In “The Necklace,” Mathilde is a lady dealing with poverty. She loses a necklace that a friend let her borrow, but she ends up losing it. She has to come up with a way to afford the necklace back. In “The Gift of the Magi,” Della is also dealing with poverty and is upset about not having the money to afford her husband a christmas gift. Mathilde and Della face their challenges with poverty by no communication, fashion, and value.

“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is a short story about a middle class couple who desire to be rich. This fantasy life causes problems when they are invited to a ball. Mathilde Loisel loses a borrowed necklace and it greatly affects her life. In “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry a lower class family has financial problems when christmas approaches. Della and her husband Jim gave their most valued possession for each other. In both of the short stories “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry, there are many similarities and differences in characterization, theme, irony, and symbolism.

The Gift of the Magi, by O.Henry. In the story an impoverished couple, Jim and Della, give up their most prized possessions in order to prove their worth and love to each or. By using allusion, characters , and tone the story conveys the ideal that all requires not only selflessness, but sacrifice as well.

The author of “The Story of an Hour” creates a new aspect of overjoyment but using it in a negative tone. It is clear that while Mrs.Mallard is upset by her husband’s demise but is also relieved and now feels that she has gained a new found freedom she didn’t have before. The story creates another feel to marriage; it can beautify one sided or devastate two sided love. Nonetheless this does not indicate marriage is negative, although it is not always rainbows and sunshine either. Analyzing what the author is trying to confront readers with is equally easy and difficult, for this story gives little detail and insight of Mr. and Mrs. Mallard’s marriage.

The author of “The Gift of the Magi” represents this through, “and here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house” (177). Mr. and Mrs. Dillingham Young made foolish decisions because they both did not thing about the consequences of giving up their gifts would be. Henry displays the tone as humorous when he says, “they’re too nice to use just at present. I sold my watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on” (179). This is humorous because Jim just moves right along asking Della about dinner and does not give her a chance to respond. This is significant to sacrifice because he loves her so much that he was willing to sacrifice anything for her. The tone is romantic because they care strongly for each other and wanted to please the other one with a great gift that will represent their love for one another. The author presents the romance through the quote, “isn’t dandy Jim? I hunted all over town to find it. Instead of obeying, Jim tumbled down on the couch and put his hands under the back of his head and smiled” (176). At the end of the text, after both characters exchanged presents they have the opportunity for disappointment, yet the couple realizes that the gifts are temporary whereas the love and sacrifices the two shares is eternal. Henry also suggests the romantic tone with the

Della buys Jim a platinum fob chain. “There was no other like it in any of the stores…it was a platinum fob chain simple and chaste in design…” (Henry 2). Jim buys Della a set of combs she always wanted. “…the set of combs, side and back, that Della had worshipped long in a Broadway window. Beautiful combs, pure tortoise shell, with jeweled rims…” (Henry 4). Jim and Della both sacrificed their most valued belongings to buy the presents. “And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house” (Henry 5). The gifts then become a symbol of their self-sacrificing love for one another because of how willing they were to give up something very valuable to make their loved one

William Sydney Porter, or O. Henry as it is widely known, is one of the most famous names in American literature. He was a master short-story writer of nearly 300 short stories. With a very inventive mind, he made plots for his stories from the commonplace things. The settings of his stories were drawn from his experience and, likewise, his characters were based on actual people he had known. In rapid-moving prose, he developed his stories imaginatively and skillfully, keeping readers wondering about the outcome, which was always a surprise. Among his short stories, The Gift of the Magi is possibly the most well-known. Its enduring appeal can be traced to the universal themes of wealth, poverty,