The story of “The Gift of the MAGI” by O. Henry is about a couple, Della and Jim, who trying to make each other happy by buying gift in Christmas day. Unfortunately, they are very poor, and the only valuable things they have are Della’s beautiful hair and Jim’s gold watch. Since Della does not have enough money to buy Jim a gift, she sells her hair. After shopping in too many places, Della buys Jim a chain for his watch. She is sad for her hair, but happy that she could get him a gift, and she hopes that Jim likes him with a short hair. The time comes for exchanging gift and Jim gives Della a small box. Inside the box were to expensive combs for Della’s beautiful long hair. She is sad, bit she cannot wait to give the gift she has for Jim. Della shows the chain and she wants to see the chain and the watch together. Then, Jim puts his hands behind him and says “Della lets put the gifts away, they are too good us now”. He sold the watch to get her the combs. Although they lost their only two treasures of their house, they tried to make each other happy. Like Magi who give gifts, Della a...
Lots of people have received gift that is not particularly favored. Those people know exactly how Ana and Dori feel. Ana is a character in Erin Fanning’s “The Quinceanera Text”. Dori is a character in Rachel Vail’s story “Good Enough”. Both of these characters received disappointing gifts, but later the girls realized how much these present represent the love the families show towards the young ladies. “Good Enough and “The Quinceanera Text” have similarities and differences such as author's tone and types of characters.
The “Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and ‘”The Hand” by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette are similar in theme and setting. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette and Kate Chopin create the theme of obligatory love and the unhappiness it entails. Both stories illustrate the concealed emotions many women feel in their marriage yet fail to express them. The two stories take place in a sacred room of the house and both transpire in a brief amount of time. The differences between the two stories are seen through the author’s choice of characters in each story. In “The story of an Hour” Kate Chopin involves other characters in Mrs. Mallard’s life, whereas, “The Hand” deals with marriage and togetherness and only involves the husband and wife. Symbolism is seen all throughout “The Hand” not so in ‘The Story of an Hour.” The similarities in “The Story of an Hour” and “The Hand” is portrayed in theme and setting. The differences are illustrated in the choice of characters involved in each story and the amount of symbolism depicted in the different stories.
As the world has transformed and progressed throughout history, so have its stories and legends, namely the infamous tale of Cinderella. With countless versions and adaptations, numerous authors from around the world have written this beauty’s tale with their own twists and additions to it. And while many may have a unique or interesting way of telling her story, Anne Sexton and The Brother’s Grimm’s Cinderellas show the effects cultures from different time periods can have on a timeless tale, effects such as changing the story’s moral. While Sexton chooses to keep some elements of her version, such as the story, the same as the Brothers Grimm version, she changes the format and context, and adds her own commentary to transform the story’s
“Cinderella” the tale of a suffering young girl who finds her prince charming, and lives happily ever after in a big beautiful castle. Truly, the dream of many young female readers. This story is well known all around the world and has many different versions. This paper will specifically focus on the versions by Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile. One cannot argue that while writing their individual version of Cinderella both Charles Perrault and Giambattista Basile were strongly influenced by the many other tales of Cinderella, and this can be seen by the repetitive plot line, character and morals in both their stories. Giambattista Basile story was called “The Cat Cinderella” and Charles Perrault named his “Cinderella” or “Little Glass
Maupassant delighted me with this story. I especially liked how he present the character Mathilde, she seemed to be extremely ungrateful with her mediocre life. She dreamed of wealth and fame and it seemed like nothing would please her. She focused so much on her desire to have social status that when she got the opportunity to go a social gathering with elite members of society, she would not go unless she had a fancy dress and fancy necklace. For one night, she felt like “somebody”. I found this story to display themes of gross vanity, irony and suffering. Because in the end Mathilde worked hard to replace the necklace that she presumed was real. She was never able to have another day of pleasure or go out to any other events. She made such a big deal of the one event, she lost herself in the feeling of being social accepted by a higher class in society.
Values are spread all around the world, and many people’s values differ. These can lead to people being judged, or indirectly characterized by other people. In “The Necklace” Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they search out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she no longer has the necklace on when she leaves the ball. This later troubles her, as she has to work for a long time to collect enough money to buy a new necklace. This story describes the relationship between a couple, who have different dreams, and how desires can revamp your life. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace” uses literary devices to prove people come before materialistic items.
“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is about a girl who lives a poor and unfortunate life. She dreams of living in a high class society with many riches and jewels. She sees herself as something important and a person that everyone should respect as a valuable person. The only way Mathilde Loisel can be satisfied with herself and be content is by having expensive objects in her possession. Unfortunately for her she does not have the opportunity or the availability to buy luxurious items for self and becomes frustrated. Without the things that she desires she can not feel happy about how she is living and can not appreciate what she has. Her strong need for the expensive things makes her sad and sorrowful because she lives a normal life with her husband. Attending to typical housewife duties like cooking and cleaning, when she rather be wearing lavish clothes and fancy jewelry.
“The Necklace” is an ironic, amusing and witty short story which deals with themes such as the deceitfulness of appearance, the threat of martyrdom and the power of objects. The main protagonist in this short story is Mathilde Loisel. Born in a family of clerks, the alluring Madame Loisel is convinced that her social status the “Petite Bourgeoisie” is simply a blunder and Mathilde is destined for a life of prosperity. She pursues her life in perpetual revolt against her circumstances. However she is not living in poverty, with a comfortable home and a caring husband, yet she remains oblivious of all other than the riches she craves. Her lust for wealth is a continual torment and turmoil.
These may be materialistic items that are filling a gap in one’s life, or it could be emotional, spiritual feelings that someone is seeking. Materialistic and emotional desires are explored within these two short stories. Motivation is what compels both Mrs. Sommers and Ann to follow through with their plans. Without this drive and passion, individuals are unable to fully commit to their course of action. A Pair of Silk Stockings, represents how motivations can be used in many different ways. First, Mrs. Sommers motivation was to support her family. This shows how she was cautious for her actions and how they could positively affect other people. This made Mrs. Sommers “restless and wakeful with anticipation.” Once her motives changed into a personal desire, is when Mrs. Sommers lost sight in plan. The moment she “not move in the direction of the bargain counter,” was when her motivation began to work against her. Being able to own items that were of higher quality drove Mrs.Sommers to “hastily” spend her money. Although individuals will always face different initiatives when placed in alternative situations. In Ann’s perspective, her desire was not to obtain materialistic items, but more to have a spiritual connection. Ann was searching for something deeper with a greater meaning. When she didn’t find it within her husband, she looked for it in Steven. One of Ann’s motives was
Ten years of suffering is the cost of having pleasure for only one night! In “The Necklace,” by Guy de Maupassant presents Mathilde Loisel, an attractive, charming but vacuous and selfish middle class lady transforms to selfness, poor, satisfied and hard-working lady. Even though, Mathidle owns a comfortable home and married to a faithful and kind husband, Monsieur Loisel, who seeks her happiness and satisfaction; she was ungrateful to the things that she had been given, because her greed and desire of wealth had captured her thoughts and blurred the real meaning of happiness in her perspective. Mathidle spends most of her time surfing in her day dreams of being wealthy and suffering from accepting the reality, because her imagination was more than she could not afford. One day Mathidle’s husband brought his wife an invitation for a fancy party, but as a result of their low income, Mathidle’s was ashamed to wear flowers as decoration, so she decided to borrow an expensive looking necklace from a friend of her, Madame Forestier. After attending the fabulous party and spending a memorable great time looking stunningly beautiful, Mathidle discovers that she had lost the expensive necklace that she borrowed, so she decides to buy a similar copy of the necklace to her friend after loaning an enormous amount of money and narrowing the house outcome. The author surprises his readers with a perfectly detailed twist at the end of the story. Losing the necklace was a turning point in Mathidle’s life and the best thing that ever happened to her.
It is said that “everything that shines isn't gold.” A difficult situation can result a vast illusion that is not what one thought it would be, which leads to disappointment and despair. Just like Guy De Maupassant stories, “The Necklace” and “The Jewel.” In the first story, the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel’s need for materialistic fulfillment causes her hard labor which ends her natural beauty. In the second story, the husband Monsieur Latin ends up living a dreadful life due to the passing of his wife and her admiration for jewels. “The Necklace” and “The Jewel” both share many similarities such as the unconditional love each husband haves toward their wife, the necessity each wife haves towards materialistic greed, the beautiful allurement
He was very poor, he did not have enough money for a dowry, so his daughters couldn’t get married… One night, Nicholas secretly dropped a bag of gold down the chimney into the house… The bag fell into a stocking that had been hung by the fire to dry! This was repeated later with the second daughter. Finally, determined to discover the person who had given him the money, the father secretly hid by the fire every evening until he caught Nicholas dropping in a bag of gold. Nicholas begged the man not to tell anyone what he had done, because he did not want to bring attention to himself. But soon the news got out and when anyone received a secret gift, it was thought that maybe it was from Nicholas”
The main things that changes the way a story is written is the audience, the author must be careful not say anything to offend the people he is writing for. Charles Perrault is a French man who used to write for the nobility and the middle class, so it is expected of him to write with a lighter tone to satisfy his dignified audience. He describes the pampered lifestyle of the two step sisters who put on their “gold-flowered cloak[s]” and their “diamond stomacher[s], which are far from being ordinary” (Perrault). He emphasizes the materialistic things that the step sisters posses and describes their wonderful, carefree world. The only concern of the step sisters is the prince’s ball, the girls were “wonderfully busy in selecting the gowns, petticoats, and hair dressing” (Perrault) that was the only thing they worried about throughout th...
O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi,” is about a couple who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house. The story takes place on Christmas Eve in a furnished apartment at eight dollars a week. I feel that the narrator mocks Jim and Della for being poor. “It did not beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad.” (O. Henry 165). Della and Jim’s income shrunk from thirty dollars a week to twenty dollars a week causing them a great deal of financial problems. They both are troubled that Christmas is tomorrow and they cannot afford to buy each other a nice gift. Jim’s gold watch and Della’s hair play an important role in the story.
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