Many great stories have been compared and contrasted. "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "The Gift of the Magi" by O. Henry have many similarities and differences. In both stories, the main character struggles financially, however, their reaction to their circumstances differs greatly. In "The Necklace", Madame Loisel receives an invitation to an upper-class ball. After insisting that she has nothing to dress up in and assuming “there’s nothing more humiliating as looking poor in the middle
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“The Gift of Magi” and “The Necklace” Short stories, "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Necklace", by O. Henry and Guy de Maupassant, have many similarities and differences. These stories deal with love, greed, and envy. “The Necklace” shows that some things one wants may not be the things that one needs and “The Gift of Magi” by O. Henry shows that some people will give up their most prized possessions for the one they love. One main difference between these two stories is that in “The Gift of Magi”
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“The Gift of the Magi” Milton Wiscovitch Jr. ENG 125 Prof. Jennifer Chunn November 26, 2012 Theme and Narrative Elements of “The Gift of the Magi” O Henry’s short story written in 1906 “The Gift of the Magi” identifies the theme elements as poverty and love. The lack of money and living in a poor neighborhood affected both Della and Jim. They expressed their unconditional love for each other by sacrificing their most prized possessions in order to buy a Christmas gift. Through this act
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The main, general theme of this story by O'Henry is that giving is the greatest gift of all. Della gives up her most cherished possession, her beautiful hair, to get a gift for her husband, Jim. She buys him a fob for his favorite possession--a pocket watch. Jim sells his pocket watch to buy beautiful combs for Della to adorn her hair. Both gave up their most valued possession in order to give something to the one they loved. The story is classic O'Henry with well developed characters, a city setting
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http://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/short-story/the-gift-of-the-magi Plan of activities 1. Emphasize what the story wants to tell us about 2. Read and understand a short story 3. Make a journal II. Introduction: “The Gift of the Magi” is a short story, one of several hundred written by O. Henry between 1903 and 1910. It was published in a New York City newspaper in 1905 and in a collection, The Four Million, in 1906 The Magi were the so-called three wise men from the east who traveled
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Analysis of The Gift of the Magi ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Analysis of The Gift of the Magi Love is a powerful feeling and when you are in love there is not anything you would not do or sacrifice to see a smile on their face and happiness in their eyes. Almost everyone can relate to the main characters wanting to find that perfect present. O. Henry’s short story The Gift of the Magi is about love and reveals to the reader the sacrifices one will make for the
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The short story “The Gift of the Magi” was written by O. Henry in 1906. The story is about a husband and wife who did not have enough finances to buy each other gifts during the Christmas time. The couple sacrificed two precious items to show their love for one another. This theme and narrative essay will explain O. Henry use symbolism and characters to contribute the themes of poverty, generosity, and selfless love. The main symbolism was used in the title of the short story. In the biblical story
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“The Gift of the Magi” – Deciphering the Theme Scott Cole ENG 125 Introduction to Literature Professor Patricia Vineski 6 Oct 2013 The theme of a story, as I’ve learned, is much more than what happened; this is the plot. Instead, the theme is much more; it “tells you what the story is about” (Clugston, 2010, para. 7.1). In order to decipher what the theme is, our text tells us to ask the question “how” a few different ways in order to come to a final conclusion. “How does the
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Mrs. Carole Borowski Eng 1102 May 6, 2013 Gift of the Magi “Sacrifice is a part of life. It's supposed to be. It's not something to regret. It's something to aspire to (Albom).” In this essay I will take a look at O Henry’s background, his life experiences and how it reflects in his work, “The Gift of the Magi”. As I travel through O Henry’s life you will see how there was no life event he regretted. Nor did he allow his life’s challenges to overtake him. If anything he used those challenges
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a surprise ending such as, “The Gift of the Magi”. In this story of Jim and Della, they are approaching Christmas and have very little money to spend on one another. They each want to surprise the other one with a marvelous gift for Christmas but they have little money and Della only has $1.87. Della ends up cutting her hair for the money while Jim sells his cherished watch. Through selfless acts done for love, they each end up giving one another a Christmas gift they will always remember and cherish
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