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Social identity theory
Social identity theory
Identity as a social construct
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In the story, “The Necklace”, Madame Loisel is very childish. She is the main character for this story. In the beginning of the story she thinks about all of the things she wants to have in order to fit in with the other wealthy people she lives around with. She is not poor nor is she filthy rich, but she seems very ungrateful for almost everything she does have. Her husband was in charge of keeping her happy and keeping each other on track. Then towards the middle of the story, there was a time when her husband had bought tickets to a ball or dance and he had also mentioned that most people wait for the tickets. But he had them in his palm right then and there all ready for them to go. After he proudly showed her the tickets, she threw them on the floor not at all that satisfied with them. She then tells him that he needs a dress that is pretty and will make her fit in with the rest of the wealthy people. Her husband had suggested that he could give her the money that he saving for himself to buy a new rifle. So she went out and bought a beautiful dress for four hundred francs. After she was satisfied with the new dress, she cried out and said that she had no fine jewelry or any pearls to go with the dress. So her husband suggested that she go and borrow one from a friend. She cried out excitedly and decided to pick through a bunch of jewelry. She then finally finds a blue encrusted diamond necklace that she thought matched her dress. …show more content…
If she would have been grateful for everything her husband had done for her and settled for the dress, she would have not put herself nor her husband in this situation. She says she wasn’t responsible and told her friend she was getting it repaired. The debt was put on herself and her husband. At the beginning saying she had nothing, yet she had all she
5. (CP) Madame Loisel borrows seemingly expensive necklace to satisfy her arrogance and attend a party that was way above her social class, only to lose it. She has been blessed with physical beauty, but not with the lifestyle she desires. She may not be the ideal protagonist, but she went through a tough time after she lost the necklace and had to make money to replace it.
which explains well how she had a finite amount of money and thought material wealth was more important than happiness. If she only knew before that she would spend the next decade working off her debt, she would have never asked for the necklace and she would have had a happy life. Furthermore, wealth isn’t the only thing that brings happiness to life. With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable.
In "The Necklace", the couple was not wealthy; the husband was a store clerk. When it came to going to a ball, she did not want to attend not just because she did not have anything to wear but she did not have any jewelry. The couple just could not afford it. Since her husband would do anything to make her happy, he had given her the money that he was saving up so she could buy herself a dress. After buying a dress and borrowing a necklace from her rich friend, they were off to the ball. After having a wonderful time and returning back home, she realized the necklace that she had borrowed was not on her neck anymore. After going to the jeweler to get it replaced, they knew that they would be in debt for a long time. "Loisel possessed 18 thousand fiancés which his father left him and he had to borrow the rest" (Maupassant, 2004, p. 349). For the necklace cost 44 thousand fiancés. Ten years they spent repaying back the money that they borrowed.
Instead she married a simple middle class man and lived a middle class life. All the while she dreamed of living the life of the rich. With beautiful gowns and glittering jewelry. Oh how happy she thought she would be. Then one day it happened that she and her husband where invited to a dinner ball. Her husband, Mr. Loisel thought this would make his wife so very happy since this is what she spent all of her time day dreaming of. Here it was, the thing that consumed her finally at her door step, but she was not happy. In fact, Mathilde was even more distraught because it brought to her attention that she had nothing proper to wear. Mr. Loisel sympathized with his wife and knowing he had money set aside for a new shot gun, he gave her 400 francs. This was enough money for a pretty dress, not too fancy, but pretty because he knew this would be a rare occasion.
She comes from a good family that works for what they have. She marries a good hard workingman. But, Mathilde is not happy the way she is living and she daydreams about having the glamorous life. From having fancy tapestries, grand banquets to tall footmen. One day her husband, M. Loisel, comes homes extremely excited to show his wife an invitation that he has received to go to a fancy ball. She is not happy because she has nothing to wear and she doesn’t want to show up looking ugly with house full of rich people. She got the dress she wanted but then was not happy because she needed jewelry to go with this dress. Mathilde went to her rich friend to borrow jewels from. Of course she went with the most extravagant piece of jewelry, a diamond necklace. Showing up to the fancy ball with everybody adoring what a beauty she is, Mathilde was finally satisfied. When she got home after the fancy ball, she noticed that the necklace she borrowed was missing. Looking franticly for weeks, Mathilde then decided she had to replace the necklace. Replacing the necklace took everything they had and more. Mr. and Mrs. Loisel then became extremely poor with no money to there name. They then had to sell everything had and both now had to work. This went on for about ten years. Mathilde had no beauty to her anymore, she had to work, and do the house keeping. The
Guess I confused the roles I play.” This line in the song also relates because the people she wants to be like act as if the world is a stage and just see who can be better and more wealthy. She said, “Guess I confused the roles I play,” which relates to the story because she played a different role that night by getting a very nice dress and borrowing a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend. She realizes that being wealthy is not her role when she loses the necklace and has to work for 10 years to pay it back unlike the wealthy people who do not have to do hard work in order to pay something back.
In the story, “The Necklace,” Mme. Loisel is envious of the wealthy people in society and wishes she could have what they have, their foods, clothes,
In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.
Her husband had asked her "What's the matter with you? You've been very odd for the last three days." She replied with "I'm utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear." Her husband had told her to wear flowers but she wasn’t convinced. She told him "No... there's nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women."
With this necklace, Mathilde got a glance at the life she fit into best, but both herself and her husband paid for it densely for countless years to come. The necklace she borrowed and lost provided an entrance into that world, as well an ill-advised exit out of it. It had taken Mathilde and her husband ten years to pay off the debt for a new replacement necklace. The ten years she experienced were not spent with enjoyment and delight as she had at the ball, nor were they owned with plain things she had and despised. She "now knew the horrible life of necessity.
One day her husband came home from work and handed her an invitation to attend a ball. She wanted to attend; yet she had no dress to wear. After digging in to money they had been trying to save, Mathilde purchased a dress for the ball. Mathilde decided she needed jewels to wear with the dress, so she went and visited her only friend to borrow some jewels for the evening of the ball. Mathilde picked out a stunning diamond necklace.
Her fantasy of going to the party comes true when her husband hands her two invitations. Nevertheless Madame Loisel declines on grounds that she has nothing to wear. After much negotiating with her husband, she purchases a dress and borrows a necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, and goes to the party. She returns home to discover a horrifying truth: “‘The…the…necklace - it’s gone’” (Maupassant 377).
First, she needs a new dress when she has a perfectly fine dress. Her husband, trying to please her, gets tickets to a fancy event. She complains that she has nothing to wear and that he should just give the tickets away. He complies, and gives her for hundred Frances for a dress. Secondly, she complains she has no jewelry and will look ugly and plain, knowing that she is beautiful without the extravaganza.
She instance to be happy with the new. She is angry with her husband for does not have an expensive clothes and jewelry to go to the glamorous party. She made cried her husband for does not have enough money to buy jewelry and he gave to her and idea. She were with her rich friend Mme. Forestier to borrow a gold necklace for the party.
It took ten years for Mathilde and her husband to pay off the debt of buying a new necklace. Those ten years were not spent with the luxuries she experienced so many years ago at the party, nor were they filled with the simple things she once owned and despised. She came to know “the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism.” When passing her rich friend again in the street, she was barely recognizable. Who she was the day she ran into her friend was not who she was the night she wore that necklace.