Sacrifice In The Gift Of The Magi

Sacrifice in “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Necklace” In “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry and in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant the characters face poverty. “The Gift of the Magi” Della and Jim want to get each other something special for Christmas. They both sacrifice their most valuable possessions for each other. “The Necklace” Mathilde asks her husband for money because they are going to the Minister of Education, and she says that her clothes will make her look poor; she gets a dress and then borrows a necklace from a friend. She loses the necklace and they are then in debt for ten years. In both stories Mathilde and Della face poverty, they approach their situations very differently. Della faces her situation differently. She …show more content…
She does not care that this is all of his money he was saving for a gun; when she gets the dress she complains because she has no jewelry to wear with it. Mathilde borrows a necklace from a friend. She has the time of her life while her husband sits with the rest of the men. Mathilde never tells her husband that she is thankful for him for giving her the money and she loses the necklace and they end up even more in a bind. They go into debt and they have to make deals just to get another necklace. Mathilde never makes any sacrifices for her husband and their marriage. Sacrifices can be very important, but if the spouses do not make them for each other it can affect their marriage. Della and Jim make sacrifices for each other, but Mathilde and her husband do not make sacrifices for each other. He lets her buy the dress and helps her get a replacement necklace. They both love each other enough to give up their favorite possessions for each other to get them things they no longer have. In the end spouses have to love each other enough to be able to give things up when they have little left to give just to make their love