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Thank You Ma Am Comparison

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Compare and Contrast Essay The two short stories, “The Necklace,” written by Guy de Maupassant, and “Thank You Ma’am,” authored by Langston Hughes, have two characters that portray similarities and differences. In the story by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde borrows a necklace from her friend, but loses it. She lies to the lender, saying she broke it and is getting it fixed. This leads to Mathilde and her husband paying wallets of money to purchase a new diamond necklace, identical to the one lost. The friend reveals that it was a fake, made from cheap plastic. In the story, “Thank You Ma’am,” Roger is a young boy who tries to steal a large purse form an old woman. The woman, Mrs. Jones, takes Roger to her house to feed and wash him. Roger walks …show more content…

Roger has no family to give him the support he needs, while on the other hand, Mathilde has a husband to take care of her. In the short story, “Thank You Ma ’am”, Mrs. Jones asks Roger, “Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?” Rogers response to this is, “No’m.” This text evidence revels that Roger has no source of support where he lives. In “The Necklace,” Mathilde has a husband, “One evening, her husband returned, elated, bearing a large envelope.” Having a husband gives Mathilde and advantage over Roger. Mathilde has someone who loves her, and wants the best for her. Roger’s livelihood is compromised by the fact that he doesn’t have such a …show more content…

Mathilde lies to her friend, telling her that she broke the necklace and is getting it fixed. If she had told the truth that she had lost the necklace, she wouldn’t have had to suffer and pay the money for a cheap plastic piece of jewelry. Roger plans to steal in the beginning of the book. Roger thought that stealing was the only way to live. His morals were low, and so were his actions when he tried to take Mrs. Jones’ purse.
The difference in their morals, is that Roger tried to steal for a better reason than why Mathilde lied. Roger stole for his well-being; to acquire money for blue suede shoes. Mathilde lied to her friend because she didn’t want to face the consequences of her actions. When Roger tried his hand at theft, it wasn’t as terrible and action as lying to protect

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286 Words | 2 Pages

Mathilde is a low-class lady so we understand that this was very hard for her. When she finishes paying off the diamond she decides to tell Madame Forestier that she lost the necklace. Her response was that the necklace was fake and and was only worth fifty hundred francs. One way this story does a good job establishing irony is by using foreshadowing. When Mathilde

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687 Words | 3 Pages

At the end of the story, irony makes its appearance. Mathilde borrowed and lost a necklace from a friend. Her and her husband bought a new one as a replacement, furthermore, dedicated the next ten years to pay for

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539 Words | 3 Pages

There are many similarities and differences in these pieces of work; such as similar tone, theme, but both have different meanings of hope in each story. Langston’s stories: “Thank-You M’am,” and, “Mother to Son,” both address the same tone. The tones of each story are about: The mothers being and having a firmness to the boys. “Thank-You M’am,” states, “Um-hum!

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1153 Words | 5 Pages

Student Name: Dhriti Patel Teacher Name: Stephanie Cardoso Course Name: Accelerated English 8 Date: December 12th, 2022 Essay Choice: A In, “Thank You, Ma'm” by Langston Hughes, Roger is shown as a complex character due to his reactions, and thoughts shown throughout the text. Roger is a young boy who one day attempts to snatch a lady’s pocketbook. After meeting the lady Roger goes through change, and as a dynamic character, his thoughts are shown to be complex as he develops. His incident leads to a conversation between the two; they converse and a bond forms between them.

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673 Words | 3 Pages

The reader gets a feeling of satisfaction and justice when her arrogant mentality is brought to a sudden halt. Situational irony also is used when Mathilde and her husband work so hard to return a fake diamond necklace. Mathilde has her night of extravagance with high class officials wearing her friend Madame Forestier’s necklace. When she loses it, her and her husband find another just like it, but since they cannot afford it, they must take out loans from whomever they can. After ten years of paying off their severe debt, Mathilde runs into Madame Forestier again and comes clean about losing the necklace.

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680 Words | 3 Pages

She had become like all other strong, hard coarse women of poor households. Her hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red” (7). In this quote the narrator explains the changes that Mathilde faces over the years. He explains how her appearance and demeanor change. Another example of situational irony in “The Necklace” is when Mathilde found out the real value of the necklace.

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809 Words | 4 Pages

"Thank You, Ma'am" by Langston Hughes and "The Power of Forgiveness" by Maya Angelou are two works of literature that explore the theme of redemption and second chances. While "Thank You, Ma'am" is a short story that portrays a chance encounter between a teenage boy and a kind-hearted woman who shows him the power of compassion and forgiveness, "The Power of Forgiveness" is a personal essay in which Angelou reflects on the transformative power of forgiveness and how it can free individuals from the weight of their past mistakes. Despite their differences in genre and style, both works share a common message: forgiveness is a powerful force that can heal wounds, restore dignity, and pave the way for a brighter future. "Thank you, ma'am" is a story about a young boy named Roger who tries to steal a woman's purse. The woman, Mr's Luella Bates Washington Jones, catches him and takes him to her home.

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1043 Words | 5 Pages

Mathilde’s greed ultimately leads to her family’s downfall and she causes them a lifetime of pain and struggle. In the story, The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant uses irony, symbolism, and themes, such as greed and class differences to describe the personalities of the character. Mathilde was born into a family of clerks, with no dowry, meaning she did not bring any property, money or goods to her husband/marriage. There were no

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343 Words | 2 Pages

In his story, ‘’Thank You, Ma'am’’, Langston Hughes tells the story of two characters who face poverty, and tough times. Roger is a boy who simply wanted shoes, but just couldn’t afford them. The only thing Roger can do is steal from an innocent lady name Ms. Washington. In an unexpected twist Ms. Washington doesn’t turn Roger into the police, but she has him over for dinner, and gives him ten dollars. Langston Hughes celebrates humanity by showing that even the poorest of us can display generosity, and make a change in the world.

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962 Words | 4 Pages

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.

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759 Words | 4 Pages

Meanwhile, Mathilde suffers because she cannot buy fancy clothing, diamonds and live in a palace (De Maupassant). In addition to that, both of them have husbands that deeply care for them. Della’s husband, Jim, in order to please her wife, sold his only watch to buy her a Christmas present (Henry). In the meantime, Mathilde’s husband used all his father heritage to help pay for the necklace replacement (De Maupassant). It is possible to see through characterization that even though they are characters from different stories Della and Mathilde have a number of

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785 Words | 4 Pages

The narrator illustrates Mathilde’s quality of selfishness after her husband asks her how much money she would like for a dress by remarking, “She thought over it… going over her allowance... thinking also of the amount she could ask for without bringing immediate refusal” (222). This portrays Mathilde's greed because she knows she is asking for more money than she needs for a suitable dress. Later, readers discover Mathilde is careless. When she first finds out the necklace is missing, she and her husband have a conversation. Monsieur Loisel asks, “Are you sure you had it when leaving the dance…if you had lost it on the street, we'd have heard it drop.

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592 Words | 3 Pages

In the Necklace, Mathilde faces three important decisions, what to wear to the ball, how to deal with losing her friends necklace, and how to repay her friend for losing the necklace. In all three of these scenarios, Mathilde’s husband makes the decisions. Mathilde does not have her own opinion nor does she question his ideas. This demonstrates that she does not have any say or attempts to have any say in the decisions involving herself. This

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277 Words | 2 Pages

A central theme in the short story “Thank you Ma 'am” by Langston Hughes is a little kindness goes a long way. One act of kindness can change a person’s life forever. Her unnecessary kindness made a major impact on Roger and changes him. As the story progresses, we see that Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones shows empathy and kindness for Roger. That kindness appears to pass onto Roger near the end of the story.

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901 Words | 4 Pages

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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