she’d say, cocking her head to the side to get a better view of the hole in my head. Thirty-five dollars could buy new bunk beds for Junior and Gretchen’s boy”. Poor families living in destitution are resourceful, “‘my sailboat cost me about fifty cents’”. Even though they do not have the financial benefits, the children play with toys they make themselves. They value money because there is less of it so it goes to the important things in life.
She began to feel pity towards the man, and when he asked her for the price of the candy at the counter, Mae responded, “Oh--them. Well, no--them’s two for a penny” (Steinbeck 160). Mae knew the price of the candy was more than the man could afford, but she truly she wanted to help the man and his sons. Her actions symbolize how it is in the nature of humans to be kind and help each other in times of need, and helps create the compassionate tone throughout Steinbeck’s novel. However, Steinbeck included other situations, besides Mae’s magnanimity in the diner, in which other character’s actions also portray
“Thirty-five dollars could buy new bunk beds for Junior and Gretchen's boy. Thirty-five dollars and the whole household could go visit Grand-daddy Nelson in the country. Thirty-five dollars would pay for the rent and the piano bill too” (628). She becomes frustrated because it is finally making sense to her that her family is impoverished and that thirty-five dollars would be considered a luxury to them, she knows now that there is definitely economic inequality out there and it is not within her power to fix.
In “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara, Miss Moore travels with a group of children from a low-income neighborhood to a high end toy store in hopes to educate them on the value of money. At first glance her lesson seems simple, but a closer reading reveals a more complex message. There are many small indications throughout the story that indicate she is trying to teach the children about the vast differences between wealthy and poor individuals. For instance, on their way to the city, Sylvia—the narrator—mentions: “and she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country” (649). This quote shows that Miss Moore's lesson is about money and that she has strong feelings about how money is allocated to different individuals of different classes.
Pride is an admirable quality to have, when expressed moderately. However, an excessive amount can lead to a terrible downfall in works such as “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allen Poe, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, and “The Odyssey” by Homer. In all of these works, pride leads to the downfall of the characters. It is important to have pride and dignity, however too much pride is not the way to go. In “The Necklace”, Mathilde Loise was a beautiful woman who envied those of the lavish lifestyle.
You can tell this fact because in the story it states that Jim is paid only 20 dollars a week, which he uses to support himself and Della. Obviously, you can't be rich if you have to support two people with only 20 dollars. So, when Della looked in the looking glass, she realized that in order
In the book Belle Prater’s Boy by Ruth White, the real world issue of poverty is shown throughout the work of fiction. The author presents the issue of poverty mainly through Woodrow’s past, as well as Gypsy’s experience with him. White uses several techniques to present this real world issue of poverty, including very detailed descriptions on characters and conflicts. The real world issue of poverty is evident as soon as the narrator mentions that Aunt Belle, Woodrow's mother, went missing. White uses direct and indirect characterization to portray Woodrow as impoverished.
Three examples of greed and its effects are shown in the stories of “The Necklace”, “Civil Peace”, and “The Golden Touch”. The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of a woman, named Mathilde, who borrows a very expensive necklace, ends up losing it, and spends 10 years of her life repaying the debt it took to buy a new one, only to find out the original was fake and not expensive at all. This alone states the extent at which we will go to replace materialistic items. The lady had been part of the middle class, living comfortably, and even had a maid and a cook.
In the short story, Marth’s feelings changed throughout the whole passage. At first, Martha was excited and stimulated in hope that she might get the scholarship jacket. In the second paragraph it states, “This one, the scholarship jacket, was our only chance.” Clearly, Martha’s family could not afford to buy luxurious objects for Martha and Martha had missed out on many activities as a child. The scholarship jacket was free, and who wears it was determined by skill and observation, not money.
She believes that “[with] $ 8.00…”(257) she can do whatever she wishes. To early children and young teenagers it may seem that eight dollars is a lot of money. However, in Aline’s situation eight dollars is impossible to live off in the city. Living in the city requires a lot more than eight dollars, as people need to buy food, shelter, clothes and pay for transportation. Having eight dollars and living in the city does not benefit Aline at all as most items cost more than eight dollars.
Madame Loisel learns in “The Necklace” that being greedy is not the way you want to live your life. In the beginning of the story, Madame Loisel is a greedy and spoiled person that thinks she deserves the most because she is beautiful. For example, when Madame Loisel gets upset over not having a nice dress for the ball she starts to cry, “Two great tears ran slowly from the corners of her eyes towards the corners of her mouth” (18). She demonstrates how greedy she is by already having an invitation to the ball but is still crying over her dress. This develops the theme that being greedy is not the way to live life because she shows greed and starts crying over her dress when other people would be incredibly ecstatic.
Views about wealth can be different from every people. Some believes that wealth can solve every problem and provide happiness and others believe that wealth is not really the most important thing in the world. It just depends on what the person wants from being wealthy or how they want to use it in their lives. Two authors, Guy de Maupassant the author of “The Necklace”, and Chinua Achebe the author of “Civil Peace”, wrote short stories where views on materialism are portrayed by characters in similar and in different ways. Madame Loisel from “The Necklace” is a middle class woman who always dreams of becoming rich but ended being poor because of valuing the necklace more than anything to her that caused her happiness at first but years of suffering after .
Narcis Celic Bauer English I 15 December 2016 Compare/Contrast English I Essay Mathilde in “The Necklace” is simply unhappy because she doesn't have money but has a rich husband. Della in “Gift of the Magi” is unhappy because she doesn't have money to buy her husband a gift for Christmas so she makes a decision. Let's start with similarities with both of the main characters in “The Necklace” and “Gift of the Magi”. Della and Mathilde are both women who struggle against money. The two women have been blessed with physical beauty,
On the other hand, Della’s hair is so gorgeous that it could even devalue the queen of Sheba’s jewels (Henry). Another similarity between Mathilde and Della is that both of them are affected due to their lack of money. Della suffers because she struggles to buy Jim a present (Henry). Meanwhile, Mathilde suffers because she cannot buy fancy clothing, diamonds and live in a palace (De
Greed is a prevalent theme in literary works, “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Necklace” both show this problem. “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Necklace are two completely different stories. The stories are different in setting, the character's background, and what happened because of their greed.
