Our English Class Blog

Irony is one of the hallmarks of the short story form. Almost every story has at least a trace of irony, and many stories could not survive the removal of their ironic elements. Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and O’Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” are two such stories: irony is so integral to the plot and theme of these stories that we could justly say that without irony, these stories would likely never have been published. Irony, in these two stories, is the foundation of the stories’ memorial twists, serving also to anchor and develop the theme.

Both  “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” have plots that depend in large measure on the use of situational irony to create a surprise ending. “The Necklace” tells the story of Madame Mathilde Loise, a lowly clerk’s wife, who, in an effort to appear more debonaire than she is, borrows expensive jewels from Madame Jeanne Forestier, a wealthy friend. After the inevitable loss of the jewels, Madame Loisel and her husband secretly replace the jewels. Years later, Madame Loise, now impoverished, encounters Madame Forestier on the streets of Paris and admits to the secret. Madame Forestier, shocked by the change in Loise, explains that the necklace was merely costume jewelry. The situational irony — that both the reader and Madame Loise experience simultaneously — is the twist, the unexpected turn of events that is both a perfect example of irony and the very element that makes the plot so original and memorable.

Similarly, “The Gift of the Magi” employs irony to provide the unexpected ending. A young couple, barely able to feed and house themselves, sell their most valuable possessions to buy presents for each other. In an ironic catch typical of O’Henry, Della sells her hair to buy a watch fob for Jim, her husband; Jim, in turn has secretly sold his watch to buy the tortoise-shell combs Della dreamed of running through her long, dark hair. The story makes use of both dramatic irony (readers know that that Della has sold her hair to buy the fob) and situational irony (like Della, readers learn only at the end that Jim has sold the watch to buy the combs) to create the literally-doubly ironic ending: both “sacrifice for each other the greatest treasures of their house.”

Yet the irony in the stories does more than simply provide an unexpected epiphany for characters and readers alike. It also is at the heart of the themes of both stories. With its theme of the futility of pride, “The Necklace’s” theme only appears with the unexpected ending. Had the diamonds been real and therefore the replacements valid, Madame Forestier would simply have thanked Madame Loise and perhaps expressed some pity. Nothing would have been lost. As it is,the Loises lost literally everything because of Madame Loise’s pride, which forced her to suffer “endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury” but unable to attain them. Once she is able to attain the status she feels she deserves, she is unable to lower herself yet again to admit to Madame Forestier that she and her husband don’t have the money to cover the loss immediately.

Likewise in “The Gift of the Magi,” we find a theme that is intricately bound to the irony of the story. Jim’s and Della’s love lead them to sacrifice all for the other, only to find that their sacrifice renders the other’s gift relatively useless. Yet because of their sacrifice, the narrator points out that, far from being foolish, “of all who give gifts these two [are] the wisest.” Their giving meant sacrificing; it meant putting the other’s happiness above their own. It is only through the double irony of the story that this is possible.

While most short stories have some element of irony in them, few have the degree that “The Necklace” and “The Gift of the Magi” contain. Fewer still depend so heavily on irony to make a memorable story with a equally memorable theme.