麦琪的礼物 论文

课号：DK3Y41A00 课程名称：英美文学史及作品选读(2) 阅卷教师：潘家云班级：10英语4班学号：104175421 姓名：俞扬帆成绩：Bitter and Sweet in Consumerism SocietyAbstract: The Gift of the Magi is written by O. Henry. He uses the unique language to describe the love and sacrifice of the young couple and reflects the social reality of the United States during that hard period of time. The young couple use their most valuable things to buy Charismas gifts but made a fool’s result. The short story reflects that people pursue materials which are beyond their reality because of the consumer culture. In this short story, the young couple buy gifts to their beloved people, and they never lose their nice moral spirit. They give in to the consumerism but they also persist their love. They have the bitter of losing their valuable possession, but they are paid back for their love from each other. They are also sweet.Key words: bitter, sweet, consumerism, The Gift of the MagiO. Henry is the pen name of William Sydney Porter. He is one of the most famous short novelists in the United States in the early 20th century. He is one of the three leading short stories. His stories are both interesting and enlightening with profound meaning. His short stories expose the darkness of capitalism from different angles, describe the difficult life of lower class and praise their sincere friendship, love and desire to happy life. His stories usually win the artistic effect within the plot and pay much more attention to the character’s artistic power. O. Henry's short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings. His stories have surprise endings frequently. Many authors wrote plot twist endings, but O. Henry stories were much more humorous. A twist of plot turns on an ironic or coincidental circumstance. It is a typical of O. Henry's short stories. His stories are also known for witty narration. Most of O. Henry's stories are set in his own time, the early 20th century. Many stories take place in New York City and talk about the most ordinary people: clerks, policemen, waitresses and so on. His stories move so many people in the world for such a long time. Many people all over the world make researches in those works and found their profound values constantly.Consumerism is a kind of consumption model to satisfy people’s needs and desire. At first, it happene d in课号：DK3Y41A00 课程名称：英美文学史及作品选读(2) 阅卷教师：潘家云班级：10英语4班学号：104175421 姓名：俞扬帆成绩：America. The most important reason is that the United States has become the world's Number One economic power at that time. “In the 1880s, the value of industrial production is more than the value of agricultural output. The revolution of social economic pushes up the consumerism in the United States” (Zhang Wenwei 2008). People purchase goods and consume materials in excess of their basic needs. The Industrial Revolution increased the availability of consumer goods, although it was still primarily focused on the capital goods sector and industrial infrastructure, such as mining, steel, oil, transportation networks, communications networks, industrial cities and financial centers. “The advent of the department store represented a paradigm shift in the experience of shopping. For the first time, customers could buy an astonishing variety of goods, all in one place, and shopping became a popular leisure activity”(Wikipedia). In the late 19th century to early 20th century, “money takes place of God and the moral is broken down.”(Zhugang 2001) Consuming is a status symbol. American people got rid of Puritanism and focused on enjoyment. They put consumerism in the first way and the main target in their life. They showed their individual styles by consuming. Consumerism is the symbol of happiness in their life.O. Henry wrote many short stories, and every short story has a deep meaning. They are filled with joys and sorrows of life. The readers can learn much truth from them.The Gift of the Magi is a ridiculous but movable short story. It is about a young couple who are short of money but want to buy each other Christmas gifts. Della has beautiful hair and Jim has a gold watch which comes from his father's and his grandfather's. They are all proud of their tre asures. Queen of Sheba’s jewels suffer a shadow because of Della’ shiny hair. King Solomon envied Jim’s gold watch. “Unbeknownst to Jim, Della sells her most valuable possession, her beautiful hair, in order to buy a platinum fob chain for Jim's watch; while unbeknownst to Della, Jim sells his own most valuable possession, his watch, to buy jeweled combs for Della's hair.” (Wikipedia) This short story reflects the difficulty and bitter of the lower class of American when they face money and love.Christmas is one of the most important festivals in western countries. In this day, people will buy something for their beloved people as gifts. Della and Jim are too poor to buy expensive gifts. At the课号：DK3Y41A00 课程名称：英美文学史及作品选读(2) 阅卷教师：潘家云班级：10英语4班学号：104175421 姓名：俞扬帆成绩：beginning of the short story, the author has deliberately exag gerated Della’s poor life condition. Those are all the money—one dollar and eight-seven cents. This money is from different people where Della buys things with a bargain. They have a rough life. They lived in a simple house without many furnishes. It is li ke a “mendicancy squad” (O. Henry, Baidubaike). They cannot afford the expensive consuming. It is obvious that they will have a tragedy when they buy luxury which is beyond their reality. Zhugang said that at first people focus on why love in spirit should show by gifts in material. In the late 19th century to early 20th century, capitalist developed very fast in America and the factories produced a number of goods. The consumer culture was popular among people from different levels of the American race. “T he value of gift is beyond the value of love”(zhugang 2008). In America, families like Della and Jim’s could hardly keep their economy balanced. So it is impossible for them to buy a good gift for the other people. This poor couple buy expensive gift is very funny. They do not admit their poverty in potential. They think that everyone is equal in goods. They cannot know their ability to buy what they can afford. They use their own most valuable possession to buy gifts for their beloved person to match their most valuable possession. Ironically, the gifts is only for them to watch but cannot use. The consumerism results in their blindness to society and their value is changing. Della wants to buy a rare and valuable thing for her husband as Christmas gift. It is a funny drama. When Della buys things from shops, she is often shamed by bargain. This reflects that people use the consuming to measure social status. If people have not enough money to buy gifts, they can make gifts by themselves. But at the consumerism society, people get used of expressing love by consuming. The higher consuming, the deeper love. The moral is collapse. It is a world which money and consumer first at that time.However, in the consumerism society, the young couple is also sweet. They do not lose all moral to pursue the material. They buy gifts for each other to express their love. Della is a little worried after cutting off her hair. Because her husband loves her hair very much and she fears that she is not as beautiful as before. Although she knows that, she could not help thinking anymore instead of buying a valuable gift for her husband. She considers this is the fittest thing for Jim. Because they want to buy the most matched gift to each other, and they are influenced by the consumer culture, they buy their gifts in a not intelligent way.课号：DK3Y41A00 课程名称：英美文学史及作品选读(2) 阅卷教师：潘家云班级：10英语4班学号：104175421 姓名：俞扬帆成绩：The two gifts are very suitable for their beloved person in their view, although they have to pay their own most valuable possession. But we cannot deny their deep love. They are sweet. They receive love from each other. The author emphasizes that Della counts money pitifully and hardly, especially through “several” repeated action to let us feel the difficulty of Della’s life. This description indicates Della’s shy and kind-hearted personality. At the same time, it also allows us to deeply understand the poor’s life in that money society. Della decides to sell her beautiful hair eventually. This decision is painful and heavy. However, she feels pleased, because she loves her husband. So she would prefer to suffer losses. Because of the love, she researches the gift from one shop to another. She wants to buy the best gift to match his husband’s gold watch. Although they live in a consumerism society, this love is still true and precious, ignoring they show it in a money way.In the late 19th century to early 20th century, with the development of economy, money is the first. It is a phenomenon that people like to consume to show their society status. In this society, Jim sells his gold watch to buy the comb for Della’s beautiful hair and Della’s hair has cut off to buy a chain for Jim’s gold watch. The young couple buy gifts to each other in a blind way. They result in a ridiculous ending. But we also should admit that it reflects their deep love.References[1]Consumerism. Wikipedia [OL]. /wiki/Consumerism (accessed 09/06/2013).[2]O.Henry. The gift of Magi [OL]. /view/415346.htm (accessed 09/06/2013).[3]O.Henry. Wikipedia [OL]. /wiki/O._Henry (accessed 09/06/2013).[4]马兰. 《麦琪的礼物》之故事情节探究[J]. 兰州教育学院学报，2010(05).[5]张文伟. 美国“消费主义”兴起的背景分析[J]. 广西师范大学学报(哲学社会科学版)，2008(01).[6]朱刚. 重读《麦琪的礼物》[J]. 外国文学评论，2001(02).。