A Comparative Analysis of Materialism as a False Ideal in Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace and O.Henry’s The Gift of the Magi

Authors : Samet Guven

Pages : 87-97

Doi:10.30804/cesmicihan.1724699

View : 59 | Download : 115

Publication Date : 2025-07-25

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This comparative study on materialism deals with The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant and The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry respectively. As a literary term, materialism focuses on how some changes in the economy and society affect people. In these stories, it is pointed out that the desires of the characters are highly directed by the communal conditions in which they live. Mathilde in The Necklace comes from a lower-class family and her ambitions to get a higher position led her to give more importance to material belongings rather than sincere relations. Similarly, Jim and Della in The Gift of the Magi suffer from poverty, and they instinctively feel obliged to sacrifice their precious belongings to purchase presents for each other. In other words, these stories harshly criticize the capitalist system and its effect on material possessions by signifying the importance of empathy and compassion for a happier world. In this respect, the purpose of this article is to show how materialism is represented as a false ideal that leads to individual sacrifice and profound irony by uncovering the deeper value of love and selflessness over material prosperity in the selected short stories.
Keywords : Materyalizm, Kapitalizm, The Necklace, The Gift of the Magi, Fedakârlık

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