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Belonging In Guy De Maupassant's The Necklace

826 Words4 Pages

As humans, one of our natural desires is the need to fit in with others. This psychological desire can cause people to go great lengths, even spend unimaginable money just to stay up to date or “stay in the circle”. Celebrities spend money on things that the average person couldn’t think of purchasing for themselves. Even the average person can sometimes feed into the temptation of buying something they really can’t spare the money on. These extra luxuries can come in the form clothing, jewelry, or even traveling experiences. The need to belong has positives and negatives. The need of belongingness can even influence a person’s purchase at the store. Besides one’s basic necessities to live, such as food and water, there are plenty of other things that their money can be spent on. Social groups can play a big role here. For instance, a new player to a college school basketball team might pick up the same habits and fashion style as other members on the team. In order for him to feel more comfortable, he will shop at the same stores and …show more content…

She was born into a poor family, married to a low level clerk who works for the Ministry of Education, and constantly spends hours a imagining a life of luxury. Her husband is content with their life and sees nothing wrong it meanwhile, she dreams of fancy dinners clothing. When her husband is invited to a formal party by the Ministry of Education, to his surprise, she is upset. She says she has nothing to wear and feels unworthy. He gives into her cries and spends 400 francs to buy her a dress, but this isn’t enough. As the day of the party get closer another problem arises, she has no jewelry. Her husband suggests she go to Madame Forestier and ask to borrow a piece of jewelry. Mathilde selects a diamond necklace but ends up losing it sometime during the

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The story introduces the reader to a young lady named Madame Loisel who is a self-absorbed woman who never seems to be satisfied with what she has, no matter how much that may be. This is exhibited when it states in the text, “She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers. ”(Maupassant 333). Not only that but she also has the arrogance to bring her poor husband into the matter by complaining to him whenever the mood strikes her to wish for something she can not have.

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Ladies and gentlemen, what is this sense of belonging? Is it formed through the ties we hold with other people, place and our society itself. Can the sense of belonging simply be achieved through these apparent connections without self-reflection and engagement? No. A deeper, richer understanding, an enriched mutual acceptance and understanding is needed beyond these bonds.

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The average American is exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 advertisements a day (Marshall). This can include emails, commercials, billboards, and many others. Advertising is a means of informing choice to its viewers, and it is vital to the success of any business. Although advertising is necessary, over the past fifteen years, advertising has had a negative effect on culture by encouraging conformity and having harmful effects on self-esteem as well as financial status.

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Americans today tend to believe that people often conform from a desire for security within a group—typically a group of a similar age, culture, religion, or educational status. I’ve always believed that teenagers would want to fit in with others around them. In addition, while they raely admit as much, teenagers often take for granted is being themselves. When it comes to the topic of individuality and conformity most of us will readily agree that teenagers don’t want to be different or themselves because they feel as if it’s a bad thing. “Individuality vs. Conformity: The Healthy Middle?” demonstrates that it’s human nature to fit in and be liked and our need to feel special.

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In addition, before the ball, madame Loisel had borrowed a diamond necklace from her rich friend, and at the conclusion of the ball, we are informed that the necklace went missing. In the effort to replace the necklace, Monsieur Loisel scarifies any future of his and hers to help his wife pay off the debt in replacing the necklace for 10 years. We are later informed that necklace she had borrowed was only a

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Many people have trouble deciding what they should have or not have by trusting their gut or going with what they need to accomplish. Decisiveness may come from want in which it occurs by having a desire to possess something. Although, it might also come from need whereas it is something required for a safe, stable and healthy life. For instance, in “The Necklace” it is a short story by Guy de Maupassant about a young woman who decides to dress for a ball whom she and her husband were invited to, however she dresses with apparel and jewelry that she cannot afford in order for her to look wealthy. Another example may come from necessity which can relate to the short story by Howard Moss titular “King Midas” in which it contains decisions made by their desires and their essentials.

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Many of these celebrities have created a toxic environment that builds peer pressure in society. As seen with advertisements and body shaming that celebrities do whether it 's meant or not people are being influenced by this. Individuals have a growing amount of peer pressure to follow celebrities such as Kim Kardashian and follow their trends due to the poisoning of pure pressure. People may not fit in if they don’t follow to the status quo which has the potential to lead to a ruined society. Individuals are wasting time on entertainment while they can be doing more productive things.

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Segregation was one of the key problems during most of the 1900s. Segregation is the enforced separation of different racial groups in a country, community, or establishment. Around the time when the the Civil War ended, slavery and segregation had been prohibited from the amendments of the U.S Constitution. Segregation was very wrong, because whites believed it was fair and equal. It was most definitely not.

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Subsequently, the celebrities that are symbols for these products become a product in themselves. In some cases, we buy products purely because a celebrity has worn it, endorsed it, or has been associated with it in another type of way. A consumer’s inclination towards materializing a lifestyle of a celebrity leads to the merging of the corporate and the self. This is extremely prevalent with the Kardashian family. The Kardashian family became celebrities through their reality television show Keeping Up with the Kardashians.

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As a result, people’s attachments for tangible goods become more intense, especially celebrities. Celebrities have spent most of their lifetime persisting fame and wealth. However, their sufferings and sacrifices are eventually greater than common people. Everything that they do is exposed on social medias. They cannot do things that the average person can.

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Human nature causes people to desire more than what one already has. However, after desiring material items, people realize the foolishness in their greed. In “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde Loisel, who lives in France during the 1880s, attempts to transform her ordinary life into one of luxury. She attends a reception with her friend Madame Forestier's diamond necklace, but after losing it, she works to buy a new necklace, only to later discover the necklace she lost is fake. Through this experience, Mathilde learns to be content with what she has, and as a result, she realizes the flaws in her character.

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Diamonds are a girl’s best friend. Everyone agrees that Mathilde was in a difficult spot, however some feel Mathilde should have been honest with her friend and told her what happened, while others feel that she should lie because it helped her. Mathilde should have not have lied to Madame Forestier for three reasons: lying is wrong, Jeanne is her friend, and it would have saved Mathilde a lot of trouble. In the short story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, the main character Mathilde, quickly realized that diamonds are not always a girl’s best friend.

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It is this human desire to belong that motivates the insecure to change who they are. They clearly find it too difficult to belong when they have a more defined sense of identity in comparisons to those who they wish to identify with. A strong sense of identity can often lead to a sense of independence or exclusion, but this is not always the case. Rachel Lapp, member of the Amish community is in countless aspects different from those in mainstream society (Walton et al.,

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Agbolabori 1 As consumers, people place items into their shopping carts to help satisfy their needs. Each choice of purchase is based on the products utility value and also the personal symbolic meaning towards that item. There is also an unstated notion of one’s self within a consumer shopping cart and fashion. These unstated notions help define and construct a person’s identity within society by showing their interests, gender, and social class.

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The protagonist of ‘The Necklace’, Madame Loisel, live a rather steady, ordinary middle-class life in the beginning of the story. However, she views that she is intended for a luxurious life, and, therefore, does not cherish what she has. She takes a step forward to her desires, as she was invited to a ball where all the upper-class woman would be, yet she was unhappy with the fact that she does not even have a stone to put on.

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