...The Necklace Summary How It All Goes Down At the beginning of the story, we meet Mathilde Loisel, a middle-class girl who desperately wishes she were wealthy. She's got looks and charm, but had the bad luck to be born into a family of clerks, who marry her to another clerk (M. Loisel) in the Department of Education. Mathilde is so convinced she's meant to be rich that she detests her real life and spends all day dreaming and despairing about the fabulous life she's not having. She envisions footmen, feasts, fancy furniture, and strings of rich young men to seduce. One day M. Loisel comes home with an invitation to a fancy ball thrown by his boss, the Minister of Education. M. Loisel has gone to a lot of trouble to get the invitation, but Mathilde's first reaction is to throw a fit. She doesn't have anything nice to wear, and can't possibly go! How dare her husband be so insensitive? M. Loisel doesn't know what to do, and offers to buy his wife a dress, so long as it's not too expensive. Mathilde asks for 400 francs, and he agrees. It's not too long before Mathilde throws another fit, though, this time because she has no jewels. So M. Loisel suggests she go see her friend Mme. Forestier, a rich woman who can probably lend her something. Mathilde goes to see Mme. Forestier, and she is in luck. Mathilde is able to borrow a gorgeous diamond necklace. With the necklace, she's sure to be a stunner. The night of the ball arrives, and Mathilde has the time of her life. Everyone...
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...Compare and Contrast Gift of the Magi and The Necklace Deanna Pennington Eng125 Journey into Literature Instructor Carter September 28, 2014 There are many differences in The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry and The Diamond Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant, there are also various similarities. Some of the similarities include being set around the same time of year, winter, both set at the turn of century, both couples have the same economic situation, both couples love each other, both couples made sacrifices and the pride shown in both stories. The differences are what stands out the most, Mathilde is selfish and only thinks of herself, Della and instead of just bemoaning their lack of funds figure out a ways to get each other a gift for Christmas, Mathilde lies to her friend about the necklace. Although there are many similarities and differences, these are just a few. Both stories are set in the winter, this is made obvious in both stories by certain passages. In The Gift of the Magi we know that Della is trying to by a Christmas gift for Jim. “One dollar and eighty seven cent. And the next day would be Christmas” (Henry, 1906). In The Diamond Necklace, we are left to draw the conclusion that it is winter with the date of the ball being January 18th. “The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame Ramponneau request the honor of M. and Madame Loisel at the palace of the Ministry on Monday evening January 18th” (de Maupassant, 1884). The time of year in The Gift...
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...The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant the social satire. Mathilde Loisel was a pretty woman born to be marrying a man of wealth. Mathilde in time married a little clerk who worked in the Ministry Of Education, sometimes things don’t go as planned or expected. The author does a very good job in describing the good and bad physical, moral, and emotional conflicts brought by Mathilda when she barrow the necklace from Madame Forestier. The only thing that Mathilde didn't knew was that the gorgeous necklace was an imitation. Madame Loisel receive the necklace and she felt younger and beautiful as described in the story, she already had this characteristics but never realize that beauty is something that the eyes cant see , that the hands cant touch....
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...*** 04/01/2014 A Hard Lesson Learned Upon reading The Necklace written in 1884 by Guy de Maupassant, you certainly encounter surprise and anguish. This short story, The Necklace, is one that causes the reader to shake their head and embrace honesty over pride. Mme. Mathilde Loisel is a lovely woman that, forced by fate, “The idea that what people did and what happened to them were determined by natural forces external to themselves” (Corrie, 2013), to learn a hard life lesson in modesty. The narrator uses the setting of 19th century Paris, France, as an underlying way to narrow the idea of beauty and elegance. It is the need of obtaining this elegant lifestyle that causes the Loisels to meet with their dooming debt. The plot is essential in the world of fiction. It is a sequence of interrelated, conflicting action and events that typically build to a climax and bring about a resolution. Mme. Loisel's night of wonder ends when she returns home with her husband. “She took off the wraps with which she had covered her shoulders, before the mirror, so as to see herself once more in her glory.” Here we see the vanity in her character. “But suddenly she gave a cry. She no longer had the necklace around her throat!” Now our plot is unveiled. The climactic moment that will change the next ten years of her life, and her husband's too. “She turned to him, terror–stricken:—"I—I—I have not Mme. Forester's diamond necklace!” He jumped up, frightened—.”(Clugston 2010) The Guy de...
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