The Necklace Vs The Gift Of The Magi
Compare and Contrast Essay on Short Stories
Dragons, witches, princesses and knights. These are the imaginary friends in so many children's lives. For young adults, those fairy tale characters give way to darker characters and more realistic situations. However, what do they all have in common? They live in short stories. Two short stories that are interesting are "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Both center around two woman who are both wanting things very badly. Mathilde in "The Necklace" wants to be wanted in her life and she wants to be rich and have luxurious things, but she married a poor clerk. Della from "The Gift of the Magi" is poor but she wishes to buy something for her husband on Christmas Eve for Christmas. While there are …show more content…
Both begin sad and then light hearted and happy then both end in some sort of dismay. Della and Mathilde are complex characters seeing that they both change from where they started. In the begging Mathilde is vain and only cares about luxury and finds her life insufficient. In the end it says "She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery... She washed the dirty linen... And, clad, like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money" (Maupassant). She changes to working and insulted, she seems to give up the life of luxury. As for Della in the begining of the story she wanted to get her husband a present so badly and that seemed like all that mattered but in the end it looks as if she finally realized that her husband would've been happy even if she didn’t give him a present. Both stories have a very valuable message, be happy with what you have even if its not the best, at least you have
Dragons, witches, princesses and knights. These are the imaginary friends in so many children's lives. For young adults, those fairy tale characters give way to darker characters and more realistic situations. However, what do they all have in common? They live in short stories. Two short stories that are interesting are "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry. Both center around two woman who are both wanting things very badly. Mathilde in "The Necklace" wants to be wanted in her life and she wants to be rich and have luxurious things, but she married a poor clerk. Della from "The Gift of the Magi" is poor but she wishes to buy something for her husband on Christmas Eve for Christmas. While there are …show more content…
Both begin sad and then light hearted and happy then both end in some sort of dismay. Della and Mathilde are complex characters seeing that they both change from where they started. In the begging Mathilde is vain and only cares about luxury and finds her life insufficient. In the end it says "She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery... She washed the dirty linen... And, clad, like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money" (Maupassant). She changes to working and insulted, she seems to give up the life of luxury. As for Della in the begining of the story she wanted to get her husband a present so badly and that seemed like all that mattered but in the end it looks as if she finally realized that her husband would've been happy even if she didn’t give him a present. Both stories have a very valuable message, be happy with what you have even if its not the best, at least you have