Irony In The Gift Of The Magi

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Recommended: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Analysis

Irony is when something happens that seems to contradict what actually happens and what you thought would happen. In both “The Gift of the Magi”, written by O. Henry, and “The Necklace”, by Guy De Maupassant, irony is displayed. Both stories have strong messages with an underlying theme of irony. Irony is shown in different ways throughout both stories. The ending of the short story, “The Gift of the Magi” is very ironic. Main characters Della and Jim exchange Christmas gifts towards the end of the story. In the beginning of O. Henry’s short story, were are introduced to main characters Della and Jim. Della and Jim are a married couple, who would be considered poor. Throughout the whole beginning of the story Della struggles to find money She is getting by in life, isn’t to poor nor overly rich. When her husband gives her an invintation to a very formal ball, she is astonished at the fact that he thinks she can attend in the things she owns. So Madame Loisel goes out and buys a nice dress and borrows jewlrey from her friend. She attends the ball and has a wonderful time. When she arrives how she is horrfied to see that she has lost the diamond necklace that her friend Madame Forestier lent her. After searching for the necklace for hours on end, she buys an expensive replacement and hopes that Madame Forestier won’t notice. After 10 years of hard work, Mathilde and her husband finish paying off the debt of the necklace. Throughout those 10 years, Mathilde saw what it was like to really struggle in life. She realizes that her life before wasn’t all that bad. One day, old and worn down Mathilde sees Madame Forestier in the street. She says hello to her friend and tells her about all the hardships she went to because of the lost necklace. Madame Forestier responds that her necklace was only worth 500 francs at most… way less than what Mathilde had payed for the replacement, and wasn’t even real diamond. This is ironic because Mathilde spent all those years paying of a replacement that was way more money than the original. Both “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” show terrific examples of irony. Irony is displayed

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