20 points // complete at least one paragraph for each story.
describe the use of irony in the story “charles,” “the gift of the magi,” and “the necklace.”
what is ironic in each story?
how is each use of irony different?
use specific examples from each story to support your answer.

The Gift of the Magi:  

The ironic thing in “The Gift of the Magi” is that the husband gives up his most cherished treasure a watch, so he can buy her a comb/hairpiece for her hair. She gives up her most cherished treasure, her hair, to buy a chain for his watch.  Its ironic because they both gave up something that they cherished most event though the things they sold it for were just things/possessions.  What is important is there love for each other and that should outweigh everything else.

The Necklace:

The irony in "The Necklace" is that the woman borrows a necklace from her friend and loses. So the woman got buys a replacement for a lot of money.  Only to find out the original necklace was a cheap fake. The ironic thing is if she would have just told her friend then she wouldn’t have had to spend money and replace it.

Charles:

The irony in “Charles” is that Charles goes around telling stories about himself. I find this ironic because If your spreading stories you usually don’t spread them about yourself. That’s what I thought was ironic in the story “Charles”.

Explanation:

as for symbolic actions, the narrator's tearing down the wallpaper in an attempt to find the "woman" in the wallpaper represents her struggle to retain or regain her sanity.   the wallpaper has been part of her confinement and by her tearing it down, she is freeing herself from that confinement.