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Greed And Generosity In The Necklace

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It may be hard to imagine how a material item can affect someone’s personality and life choices. Over a period of time these objects can take over and change the way one acts. It is lucky if these events have not happened personally. But if it has, you may be able to relate to the life of Madame and Monsieur Loisel in this short story. “The Necklace” starts out with a poor couple in France, Madame and Monsieur Loisel. Monsieur Loisel is thankful and satisfied with his current lifestyle. On the other hand, Madame Loisel believes she was meant for a more lavish lifestyle and feels bad for herself and everything she does not have. The husband gets the couple invited to a ball and Madame Loisel borrows …show more content…

Irony and symbolism also support the character’s actions from before and after the necklace was lost and what they did to fix the situation. Madame and Monsieur Loisel experience many devastations throughout the story. Although money and the necklace may seem like the couple's common obstacle, they have an underlying meaning to them. These two symbols express different meanings in the husband and wife. Madame Loisel uses the necklace and money as an excuse for the material items she is too poor to afford. Monsieur Loisel takes the necklace as an opportunity to please his wife, he also shows generosity with money by giving it to his wife. Irony is shown at the end when they waste ten years paying back a necklace that was actually very inexpensive. This proves that the couple lacked the morals to admit the truth about Madame Forestier’s jewels. The couple’s insecurities about their social status eventually made matters worse. The author made the Loisels an example for the reader to follow in their own lives. He is trying to teach the reader to be confident with who they already are. If they lie and trick people into thinking they are something else, they will end up causing more problems than intended. The moral of the story is to be thankful with what you already have. If the couple understood each other's emotions, they would be able to get themselves out of trouble. Since the husband and wife had such different personalities, it was hard to come to an agreement on what was truly important in

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All of the years she has spent being critically poor are for nothing. When Mathilde finally tells Madame Forestier what really happened to her necklace, she says “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs” (8)! Madame Loisel realized then that all of the years she had spent in abject poverty were in vain.

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It is said, “Some people create their own storms, then get upset when it rains”. This statement implies that some people create their own problems and then are confused when it all comes back to cause them distress. It proves accurate in the notion that when others are selfish, their very own actions can, in some instances, cause increasingly worse situations than what they were complaining of. This belief is one of the most predominant themes in the three texts that are being referred to in this essay. In “The Necklace,” “The Scarlet Ibis,” and “The Golden Kite, the Silver Wind,” the consequence of the characters’ selfishness lead to their eventual demise.

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To demonstrate, the main character Mathilde Loisel believes that she deserves to be the richest of the rich despite being already pretty well off. Instead of her wish coming true, she ends up becoming the poorest of the poor. After losing her friend Jeanne Forestier’s diamond necklace at a gala she has attended, Mathilde and her husband buy a replica so it would seem nothing was wrong. However, this course of events brings them poverty for the replacement necklace costs 36,000 francs. They were forced to sell their grand home and move to a flat at the top of the building where they work hard every day.

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The Necklace Trevor Moss In the story, “The Necklace” readers can find multiple topics. One topic being greed, greed is when someone has a desire for something , even if they already have more than they need. Another topic being pride, pride is a deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements. One theme that can be pulled from “The Necklace,” is the feeling of greed.

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When Mme Loisel visited one of her rich friend, Mme Forestier, the lady instantly offered all the jewelry that she has to Mme Loisel. One particular necklace caught her eye and blinded her judgement, making her desperate. Mme Forestier easily said yes to her borrowing “a superb necklace of diamonds [in a black satin box] (Maupassant)”, a suspicious gesture to anyone if they thought about it since something so expensive would make the owner think twice about lending it to someone else. Another huge foreshadowing that Maupassant incorporated in his story is when the husband found a jeweler for the box but he replies,”it was not I, madame, who sold that necklace; I must simply have furnished the case (Maupassant)”, proving that the one that Mme Forestier own could possibly be a replica. If Mme Loisel wasn’t so blinded, she would’ve think about all the little details since the beginning and realized that she could’ve avoid all the years that she wasted on piling debts because the necklace was a false.

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In the story, The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant we take a look at a Mathilde Loisel and how she is not satisfied with her life. Throughout the story the central theme that I got was insecurity and greed. Mathilde had the looks but felt as if she needed diamonds and expensive clothes to be loved or wanted by a man. All she wanted in was to be married to a rich guy that could provide for her since her family was not wealthy. “She was simple since she could not be adorned; but she was unhappy as though kept out of her own class” showing that even though Mathilde has the looks she feels as low someone that doesn’t.

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Her husband , Monsieur Loisel , said that her dress was decent for the ball , then she began to bawl. She begged to get money so she could be able to buy a decent dress for the royal ball. As she begged Monsieur Loisel asked her how much it would cost for this decent dress. She responded and said to him ¨Four hundred francs¨, he thought to himself about this amount of money. This money he was saving up to buy a gun.

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Story The Necklace wrote by Guy de Maupassant is about a woman who is an unsatisfied middle-class woman who wants wealth longing for expensive belongings, but in the end, it all seems to become disastrous. Others may say that the main character Mathilde Loisel deserves sympathy and life is to blame for her demise since she is a gorgeous woman, but only married to a middle-class man and does not have the fancy items she wants plus what she goes through

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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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M. Lantin turned to his late wife’s jewelry collection; he knew that it was fake jewelry but he was desperate and was in need of money. He took the jewelry to a jewelry store expecting to receive only a few francs but then he was told he was receiving thousands of francs. M. Lantin was in shock and could not believe that the entire time it was real jewelry and not fake; he became a very wealthy man and resigned from his job, eventually marrying another woman who made his wife miserable. M. Lantin’s first wife had a big impact on his life; however, his selfish actions lead to what he deserved ending up with a wife that made him miserable. M. Lantin’s first wife was a young beautiful woman who he fell deeply in love with, she was the ideal woman that any of the men would want in their life.

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The Necklace is a short story based in France in late 19th century and how people were solely judged on their appearance and wealth rather than personality. Maupassant explores the themes of materialism and selflessness. He follows the guidelines of literary realism to express the real mentality of people at the time. It is based on a middle classed woman married to a well earning junior clerk with a decent life who always thought she was intended for more. Through the use of realistic descriptions and characterization, Maupassant creates for us a negative image of society in France at the time.

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Loisel lives a decent life but constantly wants more, her greed and desire to be rich and wealthy is what ultimately brings the downfall of her character. On the night of the reception, Madame Loisel wears a magnificent diamond necklace from Madame Forestier. As Madame Loisel spends her time at the ball, she is able to live the life she believes she is entitled for. The happiest night of her life slowly becomes her worst nightmare. As she loses the necklace, and is unable to admit her mistake due to her excessive pride.

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At some point a friend of Madame Loisel lets her borrow a diamond necklace, with the following text in paragraph 48 being her reaction: “... her heart started beating with overwhelming desire. Her hands trembled as she picked it up.” Madame Loisel goes to even call this piece of jewelry, a “treasure”, and ends up putting so much value into this item based on solely appearance that she later struggles to pay off debts when she loses it. Mathilde just assumed that it was an expensive item and because of this, ended up putting a great price on it. Although she made a big deal about receiving such a thing from a friend, it only gave her temporary happiness at the ball.

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Originating in France, ‘The Necklace’ is a short story written by French writer Guy de Maupassant in the late nineteenth century, the period where literary movements realism and naturalism dominated French fiction. Maupassant played an important role in both the realist movement and the naturalist movement through his depiction of the setting as well as the character’s decision. The short story reflects upon the rigid patriarchal society during the late nineteenth century, demonstrating how the wealth of a person can lead to their generosity and greed; thus affecting their lifestyles. Through ‘The Necklace’, Maupassant aims to depict the conflicts between the upper-class and the lower class, how their inner desires vary. This essay will analyze ‘The Necklace’ and how Maupassant uses the social context, characters and literary devices in the short story to illustrate his misogynistic viewpoints towards women.

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Originating in France, ‘The Necklace’ is a short story written by French writer Guy de Maupassant in the late nineteenth century, the period of time where literary movements realism and naturalism dominated French fiction. Maupassant played an important role in both the realist movement and the naturalist movement through his depiction of the setting as well as the character’s decision. The short story reflects upon the rigid patriarchal society during the late nineteenth century, demonstrating how the wealth of a person can lead to their generosity and greed; thus affecting their lifestyles. Through ‘The Necklace’, Maupassant aims to depict the conflicts between the upper-class and the lower class, how their inner desires vary. This essay will analyze ‘The Necklace’ and how Maupassant uses the social context, characters and literary devices in the short story to illustrate his misogynistic viewpoints towards women.

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