The Necklace And The Gift Of The Magi Short Story

In "The Gift of Magi," Della and Jim sacrifice their prized possessions for each other and for love. Irony is represented in this story when Della and Jim both get each other gifts that mean a lot to each other. However, what they did not realize is that when Della cut her hair to to buy Jim a chain for his watch, she was unaware that Jim was going to sell his watch to buy her combs for her hair. The irony of their gift exchange is monumental as their unconditional love for one another took over for their own personal possession. Jim exclaims, “I don't think there's anything in the way of a haircut or a shave or a shampoo that could make me like my girl any less. But if you'll unwrap that package you may see why you had me going a while at first." The magi which are described as wise men also signifies irony because Della and Jim's presents were more than wise. They represented that a gift does not need to be expensive to have value. A gift can be more meaningful just by the thought.

The characters of the short story, “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” go through a personality change because of their thoughts on materialistic items. Even though others may believe that materialistic items bring you confidence and pride, pride is not found in materialistic items, but in company of others because pride can overtake your sense of reality and wealth is not found in items one can buy. Throughout the story, the authors of the two short stories illustrate how as humans, one prides him/herself with wealthy and expensive products. Author of “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant, illustrates the theme of wealth taking your pride through his characters and plot. “The Gift of the Magi,” written by O. Henry, uses characterization to illustrate the character’s pride in their precious items. Both authors speak through their characters to illustrate a common theme that affects one’s everyday life.

The quality of one’s emotional life changes over the years. But the basic instincts and desires, greed and hope, seem to remain constant. In short story “The Necklace” written by Guy de Maupassant is about a woman by the name of Mathilde. She’s described to be average in the physical sense and was married to a clerk by the name of Loisel. The couple get invited to a ball and shortly after, Mathlide complains that her wardrobe was too embarrassing to wear to the ball. Loisel buys his wife a gown and suggests she borrows a necklace from her friend to complete the outfit. Mathlide falls in love with a necklace from the collection. “She threw her arms round her friend's neck, kissed her passionately, then fled with her treasure” (Maupassant 44). The night of the ball Mathlide realized she had lost the necklace. The couple decide to replace the necklace ad work ten years to pay off the debt, finally finds out the original necklace was a fake. This short story created a perspective for who to blame for the outcome of the situation, which in this case is Mathlide.

‘The Necklace’ is a morality tale written by Guy de Maupassant where he portrays the life of a beautiful but dissatisfied girl named Mathilde who desires to live a luxurious life despite being born into a clerk’s family and marrying a clerk too. Mathilde’s discontentment in life instigates her to pretend someone rich that she is not. Moreover, it leads her to severe trouble that caused ten years of hardship to Mathilde and her husband. So, this suffering is a punishment for Mathilde which taught her a lesson and changed her dramatically over the course of the story by making her a person of completely different personality for whom appearances

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

Have you ever want too many things even though your life was already fulfilled and lost yourself? Have you ever ask too much and regret for what you did? Every desire, ambition, selfishness and a bit of extravagant of a human being was carefully portrayed in this story, “The Necklace”. The story is about a young woman named Mathilde Loisel. Born in a family of artisans, she wasn’t rich, but beautiful and glamor. But she never feel satisfied of what she had and never stop dreaming to have more, to live a luxury life with expensive homes and glittering dresses, and eventually paid hard for her nonsense dreams. In “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant uses third person limited narration to show how Mathilde Loisel changes in how she

Both Guy de Maupassant and O. Henry, the authors of “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi”, are considered two of the best short story writers to have ever lived, and they both use irony to develop a complex theme in their stories. They both deal with young, poor couples who face certain trials, and are surprised by an unexpected, ironic event – although in different ways. In both of these stories, the authors create suspense and humor to create an enjoyable story. In both stories; there are several main themes including wealth, sacrifice, pride, and love; that can be seen in both “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Necklace.” One of the most noticeable pieces in both stories is the amount of wealth, or lack of wealth, that the couples have. The authors set the characters in an uncomfortable, drab environment. This can be seen in “The Gift of the Magi,” in lines 11-13 as, “a furnished flat at $8 per week (…) did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad” (Henry, 11-13), and in “The Necklace” in lines 13-15 as, “shabbiness of her apartment, the dinginess of the walls, the worn out appearance of the chairs, and the ugliness of the draperies” (Maupassant, 13-15). The Youngs are a low working class couple, while the Loisels are part of the middle class before the they lose the necklace. Altogether, it is clear that in

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.

The Characters who appear in the story “the Necklace” written by Maupassant, are go through many changes. The main character in “The Necklace” is Mathilde Loisel whose life changes because of the necklace. Mathilde Loisel is a dynamic character. At the beginning of the story she is a manipulating lady, but after losing the necklace, she changes; now she is working and collaborating with her husband. The readers meet Mathilde Loisel as a beautiful and unhappy lady: “She was one of those pretty and charming women” (7, par. 1).

The internal conflicts established in “The Necklace” were a result of Madame Loisels perception of happiness. Because of her ungrateful and dejected views on life, she didn’t realize nor recognize true merriment. In the text, Guy De Maupassant shows how Madame “..was one of those pretty and charming girls born as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of

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, “She grieved incessantly, feeling that she had been born for all the little niceties and luxuries of living” (Maupassant 1884). After Della sells her hair she obtains twenty dollars to purchase Jim's Present, she is ecstatic and fulfilled because now she can buy a Christmas present for Jim. But, when Monsieur Loisel tells Mathilde that they are invited to a high class party, she demonstrates no gratitude; instead, she whines that she doesn't have anything to wear. Monsieur Loisel selflessly gives the money he had kept aside for his rifle to his wife to spend on the dress. Mathilde communicates no thankfulness; rather, she later cries that she has no jewelry to wear with the dress. It is clear in The Necklace that Mathilde places material

Many people in today's society often live a life of arrogance and selfishness showing little to no concern for those around them . Guy De Maupassant’s “ The Necklace ” and O. Henry’s “ The Gift of the Magi ” are two prime examples of why one should not value a life of luxury and arrogance over a life of modesty and selflessness. For this reason this essay will focus on two young women known as Mathilde Loisel and Della Dillingham Young, And the similarities and differences both women share. In order to conclude which of the two represents the majority of modern days society.

The common ground that Madame Loisel and Della share is that they are very emotional when reminded of their wealth status. In “The Necklace” Madame Loisel starts to tear up at the sight of M. and Mme. Ramponneau’s invitation to an evening reception. Madame Loisel is troubled because

In Guy de Maupassant’s short story “The Necklace” the protagonist, Mme. Loisel, is a dynamic character because she moves from a woman who places appearance and status above all else and is dissatisfied with what she has to a figure that puts value in hard work and accepts her position in life. When Mme. Loisel is first introduced to the reader, the author illustrates her as an ungrateful, unhappy and materialistic character.

“She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born, as if by an accident into a family of clerks” this is what Guy de Maupassant started “The Necklace” off by saying (Maupassant 221). Also, this helps describe the main character and to give the readers a visual of Mathilde Loisel. “The Necklace” is a short story that Mathilde Loisel, the main female character, wants to be a higher class than she really is. Mathilde’s life drastically changes one night after she loses the necklace. Guy de Maupassant incorporates his use of the social class into the short story.