“The Gift of the Magi.” southernbelleviewdaily. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
“The Necklace.” farmlanebooks. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.
In this blog, I will be comparing and contrasting “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant.
A similarity between the two short stories’ are their economic situation. The author sets up the characters in an uncomfortable environment. In “The Gift of the Magi” poverty is shown through their house and property. For example, “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all”, and “Only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim.” The quotes shows that Della does not have enough money to purchase a Christmas present for his husband Jim.
In “The Necklace”, poverty is shown through her house. For example, “She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains.”. Monsieur Loisel also cannot afford anything on her own. Where its shown through this quote, “Nothing. Only I haven’t a dress and so I can’t go to this party.”. She is asking for a dress to go to the party where she can’t afford, so she convinced her husband to pay for her.
Sacrifice is also a similarity between the two stories. In “The Gift of the Magi”, both Della and Jim sacrificed their most valued belongings for each other. Della cut off her hair for money, and Jim sold his gold watch for money as well. They then buy a Christmas present for each other. The couple’s selfless actions towards each other is an element to sacrifice A quote that shows sacrifice, “Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. It’ll grow out again–you won’t mind, will you? I just had to do it. My hair grows awfully fast. Say `Merry Christmas!’ Jim, and let’s be happy.”
In “The Necklace”, sacrifice is shown through Loisel’s husband’s selfless actions by giving his money for Loisel’s dress instead of buying a gun for his own.”Very well. I’ll give you four hundred francs. But try and get a really nice dress with the money.” His husband also sacrificed his time by finding the necklace Loisel lost, and also helping pay the money for the necklace they bought. “I’ll go over all the ground we walked,” he said, “and see if I can’t find it.”
The second part of this blog will be about the differences of the short stories.
A difference I found between the two stories is that the character’s relationship between each other. Even though both of the stories’ main characters are married couples, but their relationship between each other is completely different. For instance, in “The Gift of the Magi”, the couple appeared to have a perfect and happy life. The Loisels do not have a balanced relationship. The reason is that the Youngs married out of their choice, but the Loisels let herself be married as stated here: “let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education”. Even though Monsieur Loisel’s husband loves her and is willing to sacrifice for her, but Monsieur Loisel herself seems like she cares more about wealth than relationship.
In conclusion, wealth and sacrifice are themes that the story shares a similarity. Where both of the character’s economic position are relatively poor, and both characters in the book show some kind of sacrifice. A difference between the stories is that the character’s relationship between each other is quite different. Where a couple married by free will, and another couple lets themselves be married together.
Links to the two stories:
The Gift of the Magi:
https://www.auburn.edu/~vestmon/Gift_of_the_Magi.html
The Necklace:
http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml