This unit, we have read five short stories. The Gift of the Magi, Rules of the Game, To Build a Fire, The Most Dangerous Game, and The lottery. I love The Gift of the Magi, the plot of the story is really sad. Both characters sacrifice their most precious item to buy a gift for each other. We also learned the five elements that make up a story. Plot, character, conflict, theme and setting. The Gift of the Magi and Rules of the Game both have two elements that are very well written so I want to compare the differences and the similarities. The two elements I’m going to analyze are theme and character.

The first element I’m going to compare in the two stories are the characters. I feel that both authors did a really great job on building their characters, making them very realistic, so that you can relate to them. Which makes the stories even better. The audience will have feelings about the characters since they know them so well.

In Rules of the Game, Mei Mei is the main character. The author makes her very hard working and passionate on chess: “‘Let me! Let me!’ I begged between games when one brother or the other would sit back with a deep sigh of relief and victory, the other annoyed, unable to let go of the outcome.”

Mei Mei sacrificed her time to practice and research chess, her passion. She never gave up on it and won the championship to become the best player in San Francisco: “I found out about all the whys later. I read the rules and looked up all the big words in a dictionary. I borrowed books from the Chinatown library. I studied each chess piece, trying to absorb the power each contained.”

In the Gift of the Magi, the Author makes the main characters, Della, and Jim passionate towards each other: “whenever Mr. James Dillingham Young came home and reached his flat above he was called ‘Jim’ and greatly hugged by Mrs. James Dillingham Young”

Both of them had something that they were very proud of and loved a lot: “Now, there were two possessions of the James Dillingham Youngs in which they both took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch that had been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other was Della’s hair.”

They sacrificed their most precious items to buy something nice for each other: “‘Will you buy my hair?’ asked Della. ‘I buy hair,’ said Madame. ‘Take yer hat off and let’s have a sight at the looks of it.’ Down rippled the brown cascade. ‘Twenty dollars,’ said Madame, lifting the mass with a practised hand.” and “I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs. And now suppose you put the chops on.”

These two authors use the Main Characters’ Characteristics to reveal the story’s hidden theme.

In Rules of the Game, the theme is spending time on something will help you be successful. In the Gift of the Magi, the theme is giving is more important than receiving. Both of the stories’ theme is about sacrificing. In the Gift of the Magi, the sacrificing equals love. The greatest gift is the gift of love. Della and Jim show their true love to each other through selling their most valued possessions.

Another important theme in Rules of the Games is the relationship between mother and daughter. Mei Mei is a Chinese-American girl and she is from an immigrant family. Her family live in San Francisco’s Chinatown. In fact, the meaning of Mei Mei is “little sister” in Chinese. At the beginning of the story, Mei Mei’s mom teaches Mei Mei the art of invisible strength and expects Mei Mei to follow Chinese culture. Through many struggles and culture conflicts with her mother, Mei Mei ponders what she should do next.

Story Links:

Rules of the Games:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QmC1Atxvi_UmZ-0FKLGyeHyz_FAGqwEfxRN4R9F9O8M/edit

“One Account. All of Google.” Google Docs. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

Gift of the Magi:

https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html

“THE GIFT OF THE MAGI.” The Gift of the Magi. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.