Greed has been taking over human beings since there was the human civilization. It is one of the main reasons our world is like it is today. Many of the past problems were caused by the humans nature of greed. Guy De Maupassant, the author of "The Necklace", perfectly shows how greed can lead to bad outcomes in the short story. Guy De Maupassant, one of the fathers of the short story, was born on August 5th 1850. A quote representing the legacy of Maupassant "French writer of short stories an novels of the naturalists school who is by general agreement the greatest french short story writers"(Bennet). In his short story, "The Necklace", Maupassant focuses mostly on greed. He portrays how greed will lead to a downfall in anyway, …show more content…
She clearly does not want to look out of place at the ball. In order for her not to look out of place, she borrows the diamond necklace. With this necklace, it would represent her social class. An example from the book is, “It’s embarrassing not to have a jewel or a gem-nothing to wear on my dress. I’ll look like a pauper: I’d almost rather not go to that party”(Maupassant 228). What Mathilde was saying was that she needs the jewels to not embarrass herself. This ties back to the theme because the need of a jewel for selfish needs represents her greed. Another example of symbolism is her apartment that she lives in. Mathilde is constantly reminding herself of how she has such a miserable life every time she goes back to her apartment. With this miserable life, this sparks her greed for wealth. A literature source by Christopher Smith says, “The apartment that she lives in with her husband is a constant reminder of what she feels is a miserable life that she doesn't deserve and that she was not born to”(Smith 1). She felt that she was not born to live miserably. A quote from the book that supports this is, “She grieved over the shabbiness of her apartment….All these things, which another woman of her class would not have noticed”(Maupassant 224). This means that she points out all the
Selfishness in The Necklace by Maupassant In Guy de Maupassant's, "The Necklace" all the characters in the story exhibit similar behavior by showing that they think of themselves rather than of others. A close look at the behavior of the characters in "The Necklace" reveals more than a story about a spoiled selfish woman, but what we see is a story about a whole society of selfish people. In "The Necklace" a woman named Mathilde lives a depressed life because she does not live the life style that she desires.
What drives someone to feel greed? Mathilde, a beautiful, young French woman, always believed she belonged somewhere else. She felt she should be experiencing the finer things in life. This desire to have more and be more drove her and her husband to a place of despair. In Guy de Maupassant’s tale The Necklace greed and selfish desire forced Mathilde deeper into the lifestyle she desperately wanted to escape.
In Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is the story of Mathilde Loisel, who resents her "station" in life. Mathilde Loisel is shown to be a vain and ungrateful person who believes that she was born to have a better life. She feels that she has married beneath her, in spite of the fact that her husband is a hard working and dependable man. Mathilde is unable to recognize and appreciate the
People who are driven by greed end up focusing on what they do not have instead of being grateful for what they do have. This is relevant in the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant because Mathilde Loisel ends up losing everything she owns just because she lets greed drive her decisions and get the best of her. When receiving an invitation to an extravagant ball, she declines because she says she does not have anything nice to wear. In the beginning of the short story she says, “There is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women.(Maupassant).” The reader sees how she puts value in possessions and what others think of her. After finding a dress and then borrowing a necklace that she thought
First, marriage symbolizes way to rise in social status. In the exposition, the narrator describes Mathilde by saying, “She had no means of getting known, understood, loved and wedded by a man of distinction.” Through connecting her desire to marry to a man of distinction, Mathilde, once again, exposes her external motivations and her pessimistic view because she only desires to rise social status, but she does not think she can ever marry a man of distinction. Furthermore, the invitation that she receives in the rising action should excite her and fill her with joy; however, Mathilde is flustered and upset because she does not think that she has a nice enough dress and jewelry for the ball. Mathilde’s disappointment is filled with insecurity that completely sabotages her husband’s thoughtful gift. In addition, Mathilde loses a necklace in the resolution and does not tell Mrs. Forestier, the owner of the necklace, about the lost necklace; consequently, Mathilde ends up paying 18000 francs to secretly replace the necklace that only cost 500 francs. Mathilde ends up looking like a fool because she feels so entitled that she feels impeccable. The author uses these symbols to intently design the character of the
Around the world, values are expressed differently. Some people think that life is about the little things that make them happy. Others feel the opposite way and that expenses are the way to live. In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, “The Necklace”, he develops a character, Madame Loisel, who illustrates her different style of assessments. Madame Loisel, a beautiful woman, lives in a wonderful home with all the necessary supplies needed to live. However, she is very unhappy with her life. She feels she deserves a much more expensive and materialistic life than what she has. After pitying herself for not being the richest of her friends, she goes out and borrows a beautiful necklace from an ally. But as she
Thereafter, by learning a lesson from her doings there was a great transformation in Mathilde’s character from beginning to end of the story. After giving the diamond necklace to Forrestier she knew they have to live a “horrible” (5) life “of the needy.” (5) . Thus “with sudden heroism” (5) she decided to repay the debt taken for that necklace and “dismissed their servant, changed their lodgings and rented a garret under the roof.” (5) The woman who valued her youth and beauty the most lost it and became the woman of “impoverished household-strong and hard and rough.” (5) But sometimes she
Kelly J. Mayes defines plot in The Norton Introduction to Literature as the way the author sequences and paces the events so as to shape our response and interpretation. Every piece of literature contains a plot pattern that follows Freytag’s pyramid. This pyramid consists of an exposition, rising action, a climax, falling action, and a conclusion. Though each story displays this pattern of organization, authors use many different literary devices to differentiate their work and to acquire the response they want to achieve from their audience. The author of “The Jewelry,” Guy De Maupassant, correctly followed Freytag’s Pyramid and used varied literary devices to create a suspenseful read for the audience.
In "The Necklace" the authors choice of words, or diction, is very well articulated. I enjoyed this story because the narrator, Guy de Maupassant sets us so much suspense with the tone of the story. Madame Louisel essentailly loses a valuable item, or so she thought, and goes to major extents and even life-deminishing problems to just make it seem like she was not responsible enough to take care of a necklace for a night.
In Guy De Mauspassant's `The Necklace," the author examines the theme of how learning a difficult lesson about honesty can impact someone for the rest of their life. The author also examines the theme through the use of his title, the characters who act out the events, and the plot.
“She so much longed to please, be envied, be fascinating and sought after” (de Maupassant 67). The main character desires to be at the center of attention, she wants to be coveted by others. In his fictional short story titled, “The Necklace,” Guy de Maupassant writes about how the lusting for more may cause people to be blinded and unable to see/value the treasures they already have. The story begins with an introduction of a lady who daydreams about the happiness that materialistic yearnings can bring her, forgetting her situation and social class. After taking her husband’s recommendation to borrow jewelry, specifically a diamond necklace, from her close friend Madame Forestier to wear alongside her dress at the evening reception, the main character later discovers that she had lost the necklace. Following their failure to find the necklace, Madame and Monsieur Loisel devise a plan to borrow money to replace the necklace with another and in doing so, fall into years of debt. Moreover, Maupassant uses direct characterization, imagery and situational irony to further depict why you should be grateful for what you already have before it’s too late.
At first glance, Chopin’s Story of an Hour (1894) and de Maupassant’s The Necklace (1884), appear to have very little in common. Chopin’s story, as displayed in its title is quite short; while in comparison, de Maupassant tells a much more detailed account of the beleaguered Loisel’s, who must learn from the self-centred Madam Loisel. With de Maupassant’s depiction of his female protagonist as selfish and ungrateful; it is difficult to fathom Chopin, known for her active role in describing woman's oppression in the nineteenth century. Interestingly, Chopin, a realist, did consider de Maupassant to
The nineteenth century French writer, Guy De Maupassant, tells an intriguing story in "The Necklace." He depicts the painful life of a beautiful woman, unhappily born into an average family of clerks. She felt that she was destined to marry into wealth but sadly found herself settling as she married an average copyist. Unlike the women of today, women in the nineteenth century were not fortunate enough to have a career of their own; they were either born into a wealthy family or married a man with money. In "The Necklace", Guy De Maupassant creatively reveals Mathilde Loisel's dreams of a decadent lifestyle. As her struggles start to unravel, it becomes obvious that her heartache is solely
“According to the Census ACS survey, the median household income for the United States was $55,775 in 2015.”- (deptofnumbers.com). In the short story “The Necklace” the Losiels are a middle-class family. Madame Losiel cares about her social ranking and wants to improve it somehow. Her husband gets tickets to a ball. Madame Losiel makes him get her a new dress, and she borrows a diamond necklace from a friend. They go to the ball and have a fun time. After the ball, they go home. When they get home Madame Losiel finds out she lost her borrowed necklace. She then has to go into ten years of debt to buy a new diamond necklace. She buys the new necklace and gives it to her friend. After the ten years are over she meets her friend and her friend tells her that the necklace she had borrowed from her ten years ago was fake diamonds. The article”Spending Spree” talks about how teens fall into deep credit card debt and cannot get out of it. It gives you a place to go to stay out of credit card debt. Is it possible for people today to fall into a similar financial problem as the Loisels? No, it is not possible for people today to fall into debt like the Losiels because of knowledge of money management, social ranking, and accessibility of money.
Money and wealth isn't everything. Madame Loisel from The Necklace by Guy Maupassant has to learn that the hard way. Madame Loisel is a woman who feels entitled to a lavish lifestyle. She is a character who is dissatisfied with her current lifestyle even though she has a caring husband who provides her with everything he can. Madame Loisel is invited to an elaborate party in which she feels she needs a beautiful gown and a diamond necklace. In order for Madame Loisel to attend the party her husband gives her 500 Francs and she borrows a very expensive diamond necklace. After the Loisels attend the party they realize that they have lost the necklace and now their lifestyle must change dramatically so that they can pay to replace the necklace. The Loisels both work very hard for the next ten years to pay back the money they borrowed to replace the necklace. Madame Loisel realizes what a comfortable life she had and how her greed got the best of her. Leading her to a life of misery and hard labor to replace the diamond necklace. Madame Loisel is a complex character because she is both round and dynamic.