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Essay about The Necklace: the Development of Irony

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"The Necklace": The Development of Irony

by Kimberly Ednie
Mrs. Connolly
ENC 1102 M-W-F 9:00AM
Short Story Essay
January 29, 1997

Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is situational irony written in 1884.
The story was written in a time when there were very distinct social classes primarily determined by one's birth. It is about a woman who can not come to terms with her position in the middle class. Although she knows she can not escape her class, she refuses to accept it gracefully. It is through Matilde that Maupassant develops the story's irony. This is reflected through
Matilde's daydreaming, which only serves to torment her, the loss of the necklace borrowed for show, which only worsens their economic position, and …show more content…

When the necklace can not be found,
Matilde and her husband have no choice but to replace it. As a result,
Matilde's desire to appear part of the upper class has only succeeded in making them part of a lower one.

Without a doubt, the most ironic part of the story is the Loisel's unnecessary sacrifice. The Loisel's decide to replace the necklace without telling the owner of its loss. "In a shop in the Palias-Royal, they found a necklace that seemed to them exactly like the one they were looking for" (8).
They secure the thirty-six thousand for the necklace from Mr. Loisel's inheritance and in the form of loans. They struggle and live in poverty for ten years to pay off the necklace. By now, Matilde looks old. "She had become the strong, hard, and rude woman of poor households" (9). Matilde is walking along the Champs-Elysees when she encounters the friend who loaned her the necklace.
Her friend is shocked when Matilde finally tells her about the necklace. It is then that Matilde learns that the necklace her and her husband toiled to replace was only costume jewelry. Even among the rich there are apprearances to keep up.

Maupassant, through irony, shows us that in pursuit of wealth or status it is easy to forget what one already has to appreciate. Also, appearances are just that, no matter what class you belong to. Because Matilde did not understand this, desire to rise above the middle class was replaced with a desire to merely rise above

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