The short stories I chose are "The Gift of the Magi," and "Hearts and Hands," by O. Henry, and "The Necklace," by Guy De Maupassant". The reason why I chose these three short stories in particular is because they all involve some sort of situation with money. From "The Gift of the Magi,"" in which the poor, loving couple spend all the money they have to buy each other the perfect Christmas gift, to "The Necklace,"" where the main character loses her friend's necklace and has to pay it off. In contrast, the last story, "Hearts and Hands,"" expresses a plot that is similar to the others (that it involves wanting money), but also a little bit different. The main character in this story is being sent to jail for a crime that he committed, regarding money. All three of these stories teach different lessons for the reader and can apply to his or her everyday life.
The short story, "The Gift of the Magi," written by O. Henry, is a touching story about a poor couple in their twenties who live together in a shabby apartment. $1.87 was all Della Dillingham Young had to her name, besides her knee-length, beautiful brunette hair; she earned just one to two pennies at a time for working for the small neighborhood businesses. Of course, as most people would be, Della was in a depression from the financial struggle that her and her husband, James Dillingham Young (or Jim, as she calls him), had been going through. Even worse, Christmas was only a day away and she still had not bought her husband a gift, as she was hoping to save up much more than just less than one dollar. As she cried to herself in front of a mirror, an idea surfaced in her mind; her hair! She quickly left her home and went to a hair store to sell her pride and joy, in hope to be able to afford the perfect gift for Jim. Her hair was bought for twenty dollars, leaving her with twenty-one dollars and eighty-seven cents. Since his prized possession was a gold watch passed down from his forefathers, she decided she would buy him a unique platinum fob chain for his watch.
