“Thank You, Ma’am”, by Langston Hughes, is a tale about a young lad named Roger who attempts stealing to provide for himself, when instead he learns a valuable lesson. “The Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant, is a story about a selfish woman named Mathilde and her husband, with a surprising twist at the end of the short story. These fables are going to be used to compare and contrast the messages of morality, socio-economic status, and family.
On the topic of morality, Roger from “Thank You, Ma’am” and Mathilde from “The Necklace” are different. Roger was stealing to care for himself, while Mathilde had the necklace because she wanted to stand out. When Mathilde lost the necklace, she lied to her friend who gave her the piece of jewelry so she could have time to find it or buy another one. Lying was wrong. Stealing was also wrong for Roger but he was doing it so he could buy shoes for his feet. He
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Furthermore, family-wise, there are not many similarities between these two characters. Roger has no family to support him and he needs to provide for himself. Mathilde however, has a loving and doting husband, wanting to please her with fancy dresses and invitations to parties. Her husband may love her, but in the story “The Necklace”, he told her to lie about losing the necklace and instead say that they broke the clasp and had to replace it. In saying this, her husband basically got them into this whole “I’m poor, woe is me” mess. If her husband had told Mathilde to come clean right from the beginning and tell her friend, they’d be saving themselves a lot of trouble. Because of Roger’s lack of family and support, no one could tell him that stealing was wrong (except for Mrs. Jones in the story, who serves as a motherly figure), and no one could care for him when he needed it. In the story “Thank You, Ma’am”, Mrs. Jones sacrifices her time and money and gives helpful information and can relate to Roger’s situation. They connect in this story through their