The Role of Social Class in The Necklace and Recitatif
Often in a piece of literature, a story will appear to be about one issue when, in actuality, the author intended it to be about another. In the short stories "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant and "Recitatif" by Toni Morrison, the issues of class separation and struggle, though they may appear at first glance to be unimportant, are in fact the central points around which these two stories revolve.
In "The Necklace" and "Recitatif," class differences affect the ways in which the characters interact with one another. Nowhere in the story "Recitatif" is this more apparent than in the meeting between Roberta and Twyla's mothers at the orphanage. Twyla describes Roberta's mother as tall, prim, and proper. She adds, "on her chest was the biggest cross I'd ever seen..." (page 213). In direct contrast to this is the image of Twyla's mother, a woman who wears revealing pants and a ragged old jacket and curses in church. Roberta's mother clearly looks down upon Twyla's because she is of a lower class, as illustrated by her refusal to shake her hand. In "The Necklace," class differences between Mathilde and Mme. Forestier put an obvious restriction upon their relationship. By the end of the story, Mathilde becomes a member of the lower class - "the woman of impoverished households - strong and hard and rough..." (page 71). When the two ladies meet again in the last lines of the story, Mme. Forestier is "astonished to be addressed by this plain goodwife" (page 72). In a parallel event from "Recitatif," Roberta looks down upon Twyla when they meet in a Howard Johnson's. She sees Twyla in her "blue-and-white triangle" uniform, "[her] hair shapeless in a net," and "[her] ankle...
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... between the characters play the central role in the action of the story. These differences affect the ways in which these characters interact, they create the conflict in the story, and they affect the way the reader feels about and reacts to each of the characters. In making the issue of social class the focus of these two works, the authors successfully communicate to the readers their belief that, no matter how hard we might try to avoid it, class is indeed a major factor in today's society.
Works Cited
de Maupassant, Guy. "The Necklace." Understanding Fiction . third ed. Eds. Cleanth Brooks and
Robeert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1979. 66-72.
Morrison, Toni. "Recitatif." New Worlds of Literature: Writings from America's Many Cultures.
second ed. Eds. Jerome Beaty and J. Paul Hunter. New York: Norton, 1994. 209-225.
In this analysis includes a summary of the characters and the issues they are dealing with, as well as concepts that are seen that we have discussed in class. Such as stereotyping and the lack of discrimination and prejudice, then finally I suggest a few actions that can be taken to help solve the issues at hand, allowing the involved parties to explain their positions and give them a few immersion opportunities to experience their individual cultures.
... was no middle ground only the very poor and the very rich and having no experience with one another's the classes perceptions on each other seem warped in both of these stories. Both of these characters would have averted tragedy had they only stayed within their own social circles but is this the message we want to walk away from these stories with?
But I think this book is more for those people who aren’t that aware of social class, or for the ones who feel that we live in a society that is classless, rather than the actual people who have realized the consequences that class really has on someone’s life. Many people can relate to what stories are told in the book; if not, they know of a person that can relate to these stories. As a person that grew up in the lower class, I can definitely relate to most of the stories told in this book. From experience, there is a big difference in this country between the rich, middle class, and the poorest that we see daily. Even those in the so-called working class have to make continuous sacrifices and live very differently from those positioned firmly in the middle class.
...he class barriers that exist in society and the differences between these different groups. She comes to see the differences and the similarities between her life and that of the two boys.
With all the different types of literature we have in our world we also have a similar amount of interpretations of those pieces of literature. Each interpretation is as valid as another. Literature not only allows the writer to create a wonderful world and a story, it allows the reader to fully embrace the story and find meaning out of it. There are also many different types of literary criticisms. These criticisms are vehicles or guidelines for us to use to understand the reading in a very specific matter and really pinpoint the issues and overall theme of the story. This brings us to the Toni Morrison short story “Recitatif”. This short story encourages an African American or ethic criticism style of understanding it. The driving
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de Maupassant, Guy. "The Necklace." Understanding Fiction. 3rd ed. Eds. Clanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hill, 1979. 66-72
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