The Bar At The Folies Bergere

In late 19th century Paris, cafés-concerts (best described as “glorified beer halls” (Clark 206)) were a very popular destination for the people of Paris. Cafés-concerts became an integral part of Parisian social life, as they were visited by hundreds of people each night, regardless of class. A bar at the Folies Bergère became the topic of Edouard Manet’s last painting, as Manet tried to portray the new, “modern” Paris, and the introduction of mass production during this time. A Marxist art historian, T.J. Clark finds this particular painting important because it revealed a lot about the new, modern Paris, and Manet’s intentions with the painting. Clark focuses more on the emergence of the new social class during this time, and how this affected the role of women in Paris. The painting, A bar at Folies Bergère, has historical significance because of how it depicts modernity in the context of the emergence of a new social class (the petite bourgeoisie), the introduction of mass production, and the changing role of women.

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” the narrator describes the importance of the cafe compared to all the other places that are open to convey the idea of loneliness and despair. Through the use of imagery, symbolism, point of view and, allegory Ernest Hemingway establishes a connection between the older waiter and the deaf guy, as he illustrates the significance the well-lit cafe brings to their lonely night. As the waiters discuss their thoughts on being open so late, the older waiter claims to be one of those who enjoy the aura of the cafe being open so late compared to other places. “With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night.“ The role the cafe plays to diminish loneliness and despair does not go unrecognized by the older waiter and deaf guy who find their escape in that clean well-lit cafe. Loneliness screams louder at night for those who walk through it by themselves. They look to find comfort in a well-lit place with a calm and pleasant aura. The feeling displayed between the old deaf man and older waiter does not register with the younger waiter who does not understand the search of finding peace found in the cafe. The younger waiter has a wife to go home to as the older deaf man and older waiter have nothing and that is their escape from their dark loneliness, the cafe. Since it is clear that Ernest Hemingway has established that the old deaf man

Throughout her essay, Woolf never once describes to us her immediate surroundings. By describing only what is outside, Woolf isolates herself from the rest of the world, instead of embracing it as Dillard did. She is chiefly concerned with describing where she isn't. Her focus is on the world outside of her window. She describes the field that is being plowed, the black, net-like flock of birds flying together. These images engender a rather unpleasant feeling of dreariness.

The short story“The Necklace” by Gui de Maupassant follows Madame Loisel and her husband who are living in the middle-class during the rise of the middle class in Paris, France.There are many different examples of irony throughout the short story, demonstrating Maupassant's talent at commenting on the society in which he was immersed in. The theme of “The Necklace” is revealed through the character Madame Loisel, irony, and symbolism.

An important part in every person’s life is the search for personal identity and self-knowledge. This struggle involves working out a concept of oneself as a unique individual and embracing an ideology or system of values that provide a sense of direction, as stated in Weiten’s Psychology: Themes and Variations. Similarly, in Girl With a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, Griet grapples with her identity as a maid, and entertains the idea that she can choose a path not set out for her. Her journey of self-discovery leads to a deeper understanding of her role in Vermeer’s paintings, and what it means for her own life. The Vermeer’s influence on Griet affects her transition from adolescence into adulthood, thus affecting the choices she makes. These choices define Griet as a person even when she feels she no longer has any trace of her old self left. Although Griet does not completely sever her ties to her old life, Griet does fit the archetype of a hero on a hero’s quest because of the challenges crucial to her journey and through the redemption of her personal values.

Charles Darnay, Evremonde as we know him, is a rich leader of France. On the other hand, a lawyer, whose name is Sydney Carton, seems to not care about anyone but himself. However, when he met Lucie Manette, his life was changed a little bit and added her in his circle of obligation. Both of these guys, in our case Charles Darnay

In Guy de Maupassant’s story the necklace, Madame Loisel’s is a women in the middle class who’s unsatisfied with her lifestyle and envies the upper class lifestyle. Her personality takes her through a irony filled roller coaster throughout the story. The story shows three different types of irony in the story which are verbal, situational, and dramatic.

In “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” experience characterizes the older waiter because he empathizes with those around him, thereby proving that enduring hardships encourages greater acceptance of others. By explaining how he is different from the young waiter, the older waiter clarifies why he disagrees with the young waiter’s decision to force the deaf customer to leave: “I have never had confidence and I’m not young. … I am of those who like to stay late at the cafe. … With all those who do not want to go to bed. With all those who need a light for the night” (Hemingway 9). Without the overconfidence of the young waiter, the older waiter has humility, a trait that allows him to develop empathy through his life experience. Also, the waiter is older, so he persevered through more difficult situations than the young waiter. Since he undergoes the same sleeplessness that the deaf man faces, the older waiter willingly sacrifices his time because he notices the importance of his job at the cafe to other people. Furthermore, the older waiter acknowledges the importance of the cafe to those like him when he describes that “[e]ach night [he is] reluctant to close up because there may be some one who needs the cafe. … This is a clean and pleasant cafe. It is well lighted. The light is very good and also, now, there are shadows of the leaves” (Hemingway 9). Unlike

It’s important that we understand the dichotomy of Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge. Both are separate, complex (and in some cases, simple) creatures. The most obviously identifiable similarity between the two is that they are women. Lucie, feminine, sensitive, and kind is in complete antithesis to the dark, masculine Madame Defarge. Lucie recalls men to life and Madame Defarge sentences them to death at “La Guillotine”.

exhibition of his longing for the familiarity of Paris and the sanctity of his past, a

One can also only speculate that how Madame Lantin’s insatiable craving for jewels, that her husband cannot afford, is motivated by the socioeconomic condition of the world in which she moves. When Maupassant explains that Madame Lantin is extremely reluctant at first to go out in the evenings without her husband to escort her, he gives the reader one of the only clues about her possible feelings as she makes the transformation from a dutiful and virtuous wife into a woman who is extravagantly showered with expensive gems by other men. (Constantakis 1)

In Gustave Flaubert’s short story “A Simple Heart” Flaubert tells of the life of Felicite, a poor woman who does not seem to have any luck at all. Felicite is the kind of character that makes the reader pity her while at the same time finding her to be incredibly strange. Flaubert uses human emotions in a story that is incredibly simple in both word and tale to tell the reader of a woman who does not live a particularly exciting or happy life. Through this short story, Flaubert has given the reader a character that is simple but loving, strange yet human, and easily attached to things. Through his use of realism and a firm grasp on human emotions Flaubert has crafted a tale that is unlike any other.

In Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary, it is difficult to know what to think of Monsieur Binet and his lathe. His constant devotion to such an unrewarding pursuit would seem to act as the bourgeois backdrop to Emma Bovary’s quest for eternal passion and excitement, a polar opposite with which Emma can stand in sharp contrast. However, it turns out that Binet and his lathe have more in common with Emma and her rampant desires than what would first appear obvious. Binet’s lathe still serves as a background with which to compare Emma’s quest for love and riches, but instead of acting as a complete antithesis to everything she does, the lathe is meant to be subtly different

With each letter in Les Liaisons dangereuses, Choderlos de Laclos advances a great many games of chess being played simultaneously. In each, the pieces—women of the eighteenth-century Parisian aristocracy—are tossed about mercilessly but with great precision on the part of the author. One is a pawn: a convent girl pulled out of a world of simplicity and offered as an entree to a public impossible to sate; another is a queen: a calculating monument to debauchery with fissures from a struggle with true love. By examining their similarities and differences, Laclos explores women’s constitutions in a world that promises ruin for even the most formidable among them. Presenting the reader glimpses of femininity from a young innocent’s daunting debut to a faithful woman’s conflicted quest for heavenly virtue to another’s ruthless pursuit of vengeance and earthly pleasures, he insinuates the harrowing journey undertaken by every girl as she is forced to make a name for herself as a woman amongst the tumult of a community that machinates at every turn her downfall at the hands of the opposite sex. In his careful presentation of the novel’s female characters, Laclos condemns this unrelenting subjugation of women by making clear that every woman’s fate in such a society is a definitive and resounding checkmate.

Monsieur Lantin, of Guy De Maupassant’s, “The Jewelry” is a man married to a woman who he became infatuated with over the influence of others, resulting in their marriage, and her eventual untimely death; shortly after her death it is revealed that she lived a mysterious life with her not-so-fake jewels. Madam Lantin’s character is revealed from the perspective of her husband, by way of Maupassant using third person point of view, consequently making her a flat character. Monsieur relies upon his wife to conserve his ever so quaint lifestyle. Monsieur is that of a dynamic individual, in the sense that he has the ability to adapt to life by a swayed decision making method, usually resulting in their misplaced value in his happiness. Based on the context in this short story, it is safe to say that Monsieur takes life at face value, is critical of two of his wife’s habits, and eventually becomes overwhelmed with skepticism concerning his emotional and financial life.