Another theme that can be found in these two short stories are wealth. In The Necklace, wealth is a theme that the author uses when he describes Mathilde’s history, fantasies, and jealousy against wealthy people. The author talks about Mathilde’s history and how she lacked wealth. The narrator, writes “She was one of those pretty and charming girls, born by a blunder of destiny in a family of employees. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, married by a man rich and distinguished” (Maupassant 1884). This shows that Mathilde is born to be luxurious, but instead is born into a low class family. It has been established that Mathilde wants a lot more than what she has. Mathilde fantasizes about wealth. The …show more content…
Because of the issues with wealth Della has to save money penny by penny, the couple has to live in a low class flat, and the couple is insecure about living in poverty. Della has to save money whenever she gets the opportunity to. The narrator narrates, “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied” (Henry 1906). This shows that Jim and Della are extremely poor. It’s very challenging for them to save up a small amount of money such as “One dollar and eighty-seven cents” (Henry 1906). Della has to embarrass herself because she has to act cheap to obtain pennies from various vendors of all sorts. Because of the lack of wealth, the young couple has to live in a low-class flat. The narrator explains the living conditions of the couple by using imagery, “A furnished flat at $8 per week. It did not exactly beggar description, but it certainly had that word on the lookout for the mendicancy squad” (Henry 1906). This signifies that the young couple live in a very underprivileged flat. The story teller uses certain words such as “beggar” to show how poor the couple is. The couple is insecure about living in poverty. The narrator claims, “The "Dillingham" had been flung to the breeze during a former period of prosperity when its possessor was being paid $30 per week. Now, when the income was shrunk to $20, though, they were thinking seriously of contracting to a modest and unassuming D” (Henry 1906).The quote talks about Jim’s salary and how it has decreased. They think about how they look to others, and they're presently so poor that they're even humiliated to have a name that may sound
Here’s fifty bucks” This quote shows that Dally provided them with whatever he had. Paragraph 3 gives a more detailed answer to how Dally has changed significantly throughout the book. In the end, Dally sacrifices his life because the one thing he loves, Johnny, is gone. Dally always gets what he wishes for and his wish was to die at that moment. A rough man in the beginning, but slowly transforms into a caring person in the end.
In The Necklace, the setting of Paris in the late 19th century is a world of elegance and wealth. If not born into a wealthy family, one would have two options: marry into a wealthy family, or stay in their social class. That is just the case for Mathilde Loisel, who is endowed with beauty but born into a family of clerks. She was born free and could have had a plentiful life because of her beauty. However, she was held back by the chains of her social status and forced to marry her wealthy husband Monsieur Loisel. Together they have an awkward relationship consisting only of their need for marriage.
Mathilde wanted to be rich and live a luxurious life. She did not just want to be rich but she thought that she deserved to be rich. Before she got married she was living a decent lifestyle,she even had a maid for the house “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born every delicacy and luxury.” (1). One night Mathilde and her husband got invited to go to a fancy ball. But she did not have any jewelry to wear so she borrowed a necklace from her friend. After the party she realized that the necklace was gone. She and her husband had to go out and buy the same necklace but for thirty six thousand francs. They had to be in debt for more than ten years. One day she decided to tell the woman that she borrowed the necklace from that she lost her original one and this is another one. ‘“Oh my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at very most five hundred francs!...”’(8). Mathilde and her husband were in debt for most of their lives and lived in poverty. The irony in the story is Mathilde wanted to be very rich but ended up the poorest of the poor and the necklace she lost was imitation and she ended up paying so much more money to replace it than she actually
That is to say that in “The Necklace,” Mathilde’s perception of herself as a woman of higher social standing lead to her losing the one thing she had going in life, her true beauty. “It is Madame Loisel 's desire to be part of the upper class which sets the story 's events in motion” (Hatboro and Horsham). Mathilde is described as a beautiful woman who finds her life to be not up to her standards because she is not a part of the higher class. “She had no
The beginning of the story, the author starts out by describing the mother’s feelings toward the children. “She had bonny children, but she felt as if they had been thrusted upon her, and she could not love them.” A child can tell when a mother does not love them, and they will do anything to gain that love. In this case the boy knows about the unspoken phrase in the house; “There is not enough money”.
Francie and Neeley, the main characters, struggled against many opposing forces as children. One of their major problems was poverty. Many times, Francie and Neeley had to drink coffee to sustain themselves on days when there was no food. Many times, Francie and Neeley wished to have nice clothing and shoes, but were never able to afford them. Although they never got the things they wanted, both Francie and Neeley never complained, they still worked hard no matter what, and earned money whenever possible. In addition, because both Francie and Neeley were poor, they were humiliated a lot by people in their society. Francie hated to be humiliated. But, despite all of their problems, they continued to work hard and earn money for the family.
Strapped for cash and wanting to give her beloved husband the most luxurious gift for Christmas to express her deep passion for him, we are immediately introduced to the initial situation at hand. With only a dollar and some change to spend on Jim, Della is forced into a situation
Love is a defining force for Della and Jim too, overshadowing the poor condition of their finances. Jim and Della do not have much. They would most certainly be considered to be in the lower class, living in a little $8 a week flat in the city and going from a sufficient income of $30 a week to a less than adequate $20 a week with Jim in need of a new overcoat and pair of gloves (Henry). Henry articulates how their love for each other transforms their drab house and surroundings and gray circumstances into a warm and inviting refuge called home. “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all Della had,” not nearly enough to get a gift worthy of her beloved Jim (Henry). She desires nothing but to please him and considers him worthy of something
Throughout The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant, Matilde acts very needy throughout the story, as she wishes to be wealthy. However, whenever or wherever Matilde gets in her dreams, Matilde continues asking for more than what she
Now consider the role of Mathilde Loisel in “The Necklace”. She constantly grieves about her simple life and fantasizes about extravagant life style with rich people and food surrounding her. Her husband is a simple man and is satisfied with his life. He appreciates her for the food which is cooked and never complains. Being in the Ministry of Education their lifestyle is modest. Mathilde is not satisfied on the other hand even when her husband proudly announces that they have been invited at a formal party held by the Ministry of Education. The irony in the story is more or less the same with regard to the female characters. Mathilde cries and gets her prize in the form of a dress but she is never satisfied. She wants jewelry as well. The necklace that she borrows from Madame Forestier teaches her a lesson of life. Since she is not familiar with the real jewelry she picks the cheapest one from her collection and wears it to the party why she loses it. Upon not finding the jewelry her husband takes the pain of selling everything out just to purchase an identical necklace worth 40,000 francs which leaves them poverty stricken for the next ten years during which her husband does three jobs and
Both Guy de Maupassant and O.Henry are two very recognized short story writers and they wrote respectively The Necklace and The Gift Of The Magi which are going to be compared in this text. In the Necklace, Mathilde, the protagonist, is a jealous, poor, unhappy person and she does not give values to thing that she has. She is married with a young guy that is poor two but is not jealous. Her biggest fear was becoming poor and it turns reality at the final of the story when she realizes that the necklace was fake. The Gift Of The Magi is a story centered on a young couple living in a small apartment located in New York. They are poor so they have to sell something to buy each other a christmas gift. At the end of the story, the couple realize that they do not need gifts. Both stories deal with young and poor couples who face in a objective and are surprised with a unexpected, ironic turn. The objective of this report is to establish clear differences between the short stories and to provide
At the beginning of the story, Della is racking her brain to think of a way to get money for Jim’s present. “Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents and the next day would be Christmas,” (p. 247). This shows that Della doesn’t have much money and she is running out of time to get his present.
One, noticeable part that plays a huge part in the theme is irony and/or suspense. In “The Necklace” the readers are suspenseful of if Mathilde will come out and tell the truth or try to cover up her steps. Mathilde hurries to find the diamond necklace that she has lost, and to find someone willing to work with her payment plan. Throughout this short story Mathilde faces hard tasks of work to receive the money until she can pay it off. Also, It was very suspenseful when overtime we watched Mathilde try to conquer her external conflict. Suspenseful was a feeling that took over most readers because most of them were worried that Mathilde’s friend was going to find out about to lost of the necklace. Also, Ironically the necklace was fake causing all of Mathilde’s hard work to be useless. Overall, this taught Mathilde a lesson.
The central conflict of the story is that both Della and Jim want to buy each other Christmas gifts, but neither of them are able to afford one. According to Della, she has “One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies” (Henry). Della loves her husband so she will go great lengths to do something for him, despite how poor they are. She knows she must make a sacrifice for him and she is willing to do it. Consequently, this leads her to decide to cut and sell her hair so she can have enough money to afford a gift. Jim’s actions are similar, selling his watch to afford a gift for
Throughout the story the title "The Necklace" becomes several other symbols, for example when Mathilde loses the necklace and makes the decision to be dishonest, the necklace becomes a symbol of Mathilde's greed and the severe consequences that came with it. After all, the necklace is the reason why Mathilde's life went into extreme poverty and unhappiness.