Comparing The Monkey's Paw And The Gift Of The Magi

People are always searching for acceptance

I’m sure most of us have heard the phrase, “People are always searching for acceptance”. This is usually done to show people that they need the approval of you or your behavior. The short story, The Gift of the Magi shows two couples who value two objects they own and give them up to buy each other a Christmas present. But both Jim and Della were low on money and came up with the idea to give up the two special things they owned. Della gives up her beautiful long hair that Jim adores, and Jim gives up his gold watch that once belonged to his father. Della is then worried about how Jim will react to her cutting her long, beautiful hair. Similarly, in the short story “The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs, there is an element of wanting money to be accepted by society or to be considered rich. In both short stories, “The Gift of the Magi” and “The Monkey’s Paw,” the authors use objects to reveal that

Jacobs short story “The Monkey’s Paw,” the author's writing moves when the author mentions the monkey’s paw and what it does. It explains it could possibly be called magic because “it had a spell put on it by an old Fakir,'' said the Sergeant-Major,” a very holy man” (W.W. Jacobs 2). When Mrs.White asks how to do it, he mentions that “if you do wish for something, you must wish for something sensible” and that you must hold it up in your right hand and state your wish out loud so he can be heard. When Herbert mentions to him, “Why, we’re going to be rich, famous, and happy.” Wishing a king, father, to begin with;then mother can’t complain” (W.W. Jacobs 4). Mrs White says he has everything he wants and isn’t sure what to wish for, and it seems like he had everything. Herbert then says that two of the hundred pounds would enable them to pay off the money owed for the house. Afterward Mrs. White is convinced and decides to wish for two hundred pounds, but later on, this shows how the monkey's paw had affected the