Della Vs Magi

1280 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Themes in the gift of the magi

What if all of the stress and pains in life could be avoided by one conversation? That’s exactly how it could have been for two fictional couples. Each of the protagonists are individually unique but share some things in common, like rash decision making and their poor financial status. Plotlines of “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” involve hard working men with wives who mean well, but sometimes their actions don’t show otherwise. The setting of each story gives readers a travel back in time. Love for one another makes people willing to sacrifice. However, some people are filled more with their wants, not their love. In “The Gift of the Magi,” and “The Necklace,” selfishness creates greed, guilt, and payment for actions, which can …show more content…

The decisions of Della made the story, while Matilda broke hers. To get a nice Christmas gift for Jim, Della sells her gorgeous hair (Henry 140). Selling her hair allowed her to get the finances she needed to purchase a gift, but for a high cost. Only after this could she realize money and objects aren't everything. Jim still would have loved Della, no matter what. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had a head full of hair and nothing in her hands to give. Different to Della, Matilda’s biggest decision was choosing a big, beautiful necklace to borrow the night of the ball (de Maupassant 146). Choosing to clasp that necklace led to a snowball effect of loss, overworking, and an overall feeling of being distraught. Getting too caught up in the moment can be a dangerous thing. She didn’t take a step back and think, “What if?” and was swept away by the greed inside her and the elegance of her evening. Making those choices led to all of their tossing and turning to be unnecessary (Henry 142; de Maupassant 150). Actually, there was no need to Della to worry. All they needed was a nice Christmas together. Like Della, Matilda did not need to waste her life away, completing back breaking jobs. The necklace looked so real, she was fooled into spending the rest of her days in debt. Della and Matilda had no reason to fret. Della was loving and affectionate to Jim, while Matilda was rude and unappreciative (Henry 140; de Maupassant 145). Like before, it was all about their choices. Even though Della was experiencing stress, she stayed true to her mission of making Jim happy. On the other hand, Matilda let the stress bubble up inside of her and did not act the way she should have. A husband is a teammate, and she was treating him like it was all his fault. He did those things out of love. M. Loisel did not have to give up his hard earned savings, but it was the love for Matilda in his heart that compelled him to do so. Greed got

Show More
Related

  • Marriage in The Ceiling by Kevin Brockmeier

    898 Words  | 2 Pages

    Brockmeier’s short story represents a damaged marriage between a husband and a wife simply due to a different set of values and interests. Brockmeier reveals that there is a limit to love; husbands and wives will only go so far to continually show love for each other. Furthermore, he reveals that love can change as everything in this ever changing world does. More importantly, Brockmeier exposes the harshness and truth behind marriage and the detrimental effects on the people in the family that are involved. In the end, loving people forever seems too good to be true as affairs and divorces continually occur in the lives of numerous couples in society. However, Brockmeier encourages couples to face problems head on and to keep moving forward in a relationship. In the end, marriage is not a necessity needed to live life fully.

    Read More

  • 'Civil Peace And The Thrill Of The Chase'

    594 Words  | 2 Pages

    which explains well how she had a finite amount of money and thought material wealth was more important than happiness. If she only knew before that she would spend the next decade working off her debt, she would have never asked for the necklace and she would have had a happy life. Furthermore, wealth isn’t the only thing that brings happiness to life. With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable.

    Read More

  • As the World Turns, So Do the Days of Our Lives

    1037 Words  | 3 Pages

    Not all characters get a happy ending, and a particular character’s husband turned out to be someone much different than who she believed to be marrying. Through dishonesty, confusion, and chicanery, each character had a helping hand in dishing out each other’s fate, but nonetheless, the relationships that resulted in a law-binding marriage beat destiny and overcame every hardship standing in the way of love and happiness.

    Read More

  • New England Nun Analysis

    446 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout the story, Louisa is shown as a woman who is loyal to her commitments no matter how long she has to wait for something. Louisa is not only loyal, she is also a loner and perfectionist. The perfectionist side of her is shown multiple times. For example, when the narrator talks about Louisa growing her lettuce, the narrator says, “which she raised to perfection” (). The whole story shows how Louisa needs everything neat and

    Read More

  • Lucie's Loving Ways in Charles Dickens´A Tale of Two Cities

    683 Words  | 2 Pages

    The effects of love and sacrifice on one’s life can be shown through the character of Lucie Manette in the novel A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. The way Lucie applies warmth to her friends and family and sacrifices for them has a greater impact than anything else could possibly do. In fact, loving gestures have the power to do anything. They can brighten moods and ameliorate one’s day. Overall, Love is a powerful feeling. It can be defined in many ways, but is always an important emotion to have. Without it, humans are empty. It is a necessary part of living; with it, anything is possible.

    Read More

  • The Birthday Party

    527 Words  | 2 Pages

    The husband was also selfish in his actions. With good intentions, the wife had planned a surprise for him, but he was not pleased. “Instead, he was hotly embarrassed, and indignant at his wife for embarrassing him” (13). When the narrator describes the husband at the beginning, he has a “self-satisfied face” (3). Embarrassment is a result of feeling self-conscious. Because of his self-conscious nature, he assesses first how the few people in the restaurant will view him because of his wife’s actions. He does not prioritize appreciation for his wife’s effort and care, but rather sees the worst in her misguided actions. The husband’s selfishness causes him to be prideful, which in turn causes him to destroy his relationship with his wife through his actions.

    Read More

  • Situational Irony In The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

    778 Words  | 2 Pages

    Although Madame Loisel isn’t wealthy or part of the social class that is considered high, she tried to do everything to make herself appear as if she is. She believes that her beauty can bring her as far as becoming wealthy or being able to socialize with the wealthy. The ball is important to her because for once her appearance is equivalent with the fantasy of rising above middle class she has dreamt up in her head and “[she] was a success. She was the loveliest of all; elegant, graceful, smiling, and radiant with joy. All the other men looked at her, asked who she was, and wanted to be introduced to her… [t]he triumph of her beauty and the glory of her success enveloped her in a sort of cloud of happiness made up of all the compliments” (175). The reality is beneath her appearance because she is not wealthy, nor is she actually happy with the life she lives on a daily basis. She easily deceives everyone with her appearance to make it seem as if she does have money. Uncontrolled self-absorption can distort lives to those who worry about their appearance too much. Another example of how appearances can be misleading is the necklace that Madame Loisel borrowed. It appears as if it is made of real diamonds but instead it is fake jewelry. The fact

    Read More

  • Louisa, Please Come home by Shirley Jackson

    908 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the story, Louisa runs away the day before her sister’s wedding. After running away from home, Louisa takes the train to Crain. When she gets there, she buys a tan raincoat and drops off the old jacket. She then takes the train to Chandler. When she gets there, she buys a suitcase and other items, such as some stockings and a small clock. She now needs to find a place to get herself settled. She finds a place to live, at Mrs. Peacock’s house, and gets a job at the stationery store. One day, Louisa sees Paul at the train station. Paul desires Louisa to come back, and Louisa agrees. When she arrives at her house, her family can not recognize her and thinks that she is an impostor. Louisa...

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Sacrifice Analysis

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Literature throughout history and all around the world frequently manifests sacrifices as the highlights of love. In the French novel Manon Lescaut, Abbé Prévost 's Des Grieux, the protagonist, becomes a thief and murderer for Manon--a girl who values luxury over love. Des Grieux sacrifices moral principles, innocence, and pursuits of becoming a theologian for his love. However, he does not regret making these sacrifices; in his eyes, being with Manon is worth losing everything. In many stories like this one, one idea is constant: love takes great sacrifice, which may lead to dire tragedies. This idea is explored in depth in William Shakespeare’s tragic play Romeo and Juliet, where the title characters are doomed ¨star-crossed lovers¨ from

    Read More

  • Gift Of Magi Compare And Contrast

    1017 Words  | 3 Pages

    Henry, who wrote “Gift of the Magi”, showed the crazy love between a man and a woman in a serious relationship. Even though giving up their most prized possession was difficult, they did it out of loe for each other. They wanted to give each other the best life possible, even though that meant taking some of their own happiness

    Read More

  • Interpersonal Communication In Matilda

    1136 Words  | 3 Pages

    The movie Matilda is about a young first grade girl named Matilda Wormwood. Matilda is a very smart young girl with a family that does not pay any interest in her. From a young age she had to take care of herself. At the tender age of three she had read all the magazines and newspapers in her home, so she looked up where the library was and walked to it. From then on Matilda would read anything she could in the library, the books gave her an important message, that she was not alone. A few years past and Matilda wanted to go to school, her father, Harry Wormwood, who thought she was four when she was actually six, didn’t want her to go because he wanted her home to sign for packages. Although awful, Harry did manage to give her one piece of

    Read More

  • Analysis of O'Henry's Short Story, The Gift of the Magi

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Mrs. James Dillingham Young, also known as “Della” in this short story. Della is in her early twenties and is married to Mr. James Dillingham Young known as “Jim.” Della is very thin and seems to move around in a fast paste. “Her hair reached below her knees and made itself almost a garment for her.” (O.Henry 166). Della takes a lot of pride in her hair. “Had the Queen of Sheba lived in the flat across the airshaft, Della would have let her hair hang out the window some day to dry just to depreciate Her Majesty’s jewels and gifts.” (O.Henry 166). Della wanted to buy Jim an expensive gift for Christmas. “Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied.” (O.Henry 165).

    Read More

  • Realism In Guy De Maupassant's 'The Necklace'

    1364 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end

    Read More

  • The Ransom Of Red Chief Theme Essay

    582 Words  | 2 Pages

    This story is about Matilda and her husband. Matilda receives an invitation to attend to a party, but she has no jewelry to wear, so she borrows one from a rich friend. Unfortunately, Matilda loses the necklace at the party and has to buy a new one worth thirty-five thousand francs. She works for years to repay all the money she borrowed, but when she finally gets all the money, she finds out the necklace was worth “No more than five hundred francs.” This story has two unexpected twists in it: she loses the necklace and she works for years to pay it off, only to find out it is less than one sixth of what she paid. How Matilda deals with finding out the price is left to the reader’s imagination, but it shows that when Matilda loses the necklace she deals with it relatively calmly, borrowing money to buy a new one and later working for years to pay it

    Read More

  • The Necklace

    764 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.

    Read More

More about Della Vs Magi

Open Document