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Critical examination of a tale of two cities
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A Fierce Discontent McGerr, Michael E. A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 18701920. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2005. Print. In “A fierce Discontent”, the main thesis of the book is to give insight to the progressive movement during the 19th century.
Considered very significant to numerous people, happiness and external appearances plays a part in themes of various works. Therefore, these themes of people’s happiness and outward looks are usually ones that many people want to experience. Reading works with these themes can allow the reader to view the subject within the author’s point of view. Poems with these themes lets the readers understand the topic through new eyes, and they may even inspire the reader think about what is truly valuable in life. Two poems that share the themes of happiness and external appearances are Marge Percy’s “Barbie Doll” and Edwin Robinson’s “Richard Cory”.
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.
De Maupassant's “The Necklace” characterizes Mathilde Loisel, the main character, as a beautiful, egotistic woman who desires only wealthy apparel. He emphasizes the negative results of narcissism by blinding Mathilde with that trait
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.
Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, explores the themes of happiness and discontentment through the protagonist Guy Montag and his journey throughout the book. The novel is set in a dystopian society where books are banned, and the government controls the minds of the citizens through censorship and manipulation. The people, however, willingly submit themselves to superficial pleasures, such as virtual reality and hard drugs. The conflict between happiness and discontentment mostly is a recurring theme throughout the book, as the characters struggle to find fulfillment in their lives.
Throughout the pieces of literature that we have read this year such as The Great Gatsby, The Love Song Of J. Alfred Prufrock”, and “The Egg”, there has been one recurring theme in all of them. That theme is disillusionment, when a character realizes that everything that they want and dream for is not going to happen, or that nothing can be as good as you wished it to be. Without disillusionment, these stories would not have had a developing plot line or would not have had led up to anything merely important. In The Great Gatsby, for example, it is told that Gatsby wants to recreate the past.
In the short story “The Necklace” Madame Loisel was a rich women who thought she was poor. She valued having a nice appearance and looking elegant. Madame Loisel borrowed a necklace that she thought was gorgeous, she then lost the necklace but didn’t want to tell the lady she lost it so she went to look for
Change takes places everywhere, everyday. If we as humans experience change on a daily basis, it should be no surprise that even “The Land of the Free” must eventually evolve. A Fierce Discontent by Yale alumni Indiana University historian and Michael McGerr documents this change that spread throughout America, which is known as the Progressive Movement. Michael McGerr believed that “the people and struggles of that age of “fierce discontent” a century ago still command our attention” (McGerr, xiii), which sheds a little light as to why he chose to write about the Progressive Era. It was social and political reform and activism that made up the Progressive Era and
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 .
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.
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.
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.
“The Diamond Necklace” by Maupassant teaches how this clash defines society’s interactions with each other. Understanding the desire of the proletariat class to overcome the oppression caused by those who have control over them, will give more understanding to the relationship between the Loisels. Through the characteristic flaws shown by Matilda, Marxist theory is upheld. With Marx’s idea of how Capitalism works, class conflict, manipulation, and repression are exemplified through the characteristic conflicts that build and destroy the husband and wife’s relationship within the story, while helping them become one with each
