Social rank is a position or status that a person plays in society that also can affect a person's personality, values, and behaviors. Not everyone can be born into a wealthy family, and the life they’re given might not be what they desire. The short story, “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant is about social rank and how you should be happy with what you have. Mathilde and her husband have been invited to a party, but Mathilde is not delighted because she does not have fancy clothes to wear. It’s not just superior clothes that she wants, but a wealthy life. The literary devices of simile, imagery, and symbolism reveal the theme you should be grateful for what you have. Simile will reveal the theme you should be happy with what you have. However, …show more content…
Imagery will array the theme when Mathilde is exiting the party. It will display Mathilde’s jealousy when she does not have expensive fur but an everyday garment on her shoulders. One evening, M. Loisel came home with an invitation to a party. Mathilde surprisingly isn’t delighted with the invitation because she does not have a worthy dress or any expensive jewelry to wear. Then, with 400 francs, they managed to purchase a simple dress, and a borrowed a diamond necklace from a friend. As the day of the party arrived, Mathilde was joyful and madly drunk while dancing. Before long, it was four o’clock in the morning and time to leave. The narrator states, “He threw over her shoulders the wraps he had brought for going home, modest garments of everyday life whose shabbiness clashed with other stylishness of her evening clothes. She felt this and longed to escape, unseen by the other women who were draped in expensive furs”(70). In this quote, imagery is describing her “everyday garments versus other women’s expensive furs”.The quote reveals the theme again because Mathilde is embarrassed of wearing her everyday garment. She already has a nice dress that her husband spent 400 francs for, and a borrowed necklace from her friend. In addition, Mathilde also wants an expensive fur like those other women leaving the party. To put it another way, Mathilde feels like her life isn’t satisfied until she has …show more content…
Symbolism will present the theme towards the end of the story when Mathilde and her friend, Mme. Forestier, speak about a lost diamond necklace. After the party, M. and Mme. Loisel went home, but only to find the diamond necklace missing. They both looked everywhere and could not find it. Instead of informing Mme. Forestier the truth, they both decided to replace it. The Loisels figure out the cost to replace it was 36,000, however, they still managed to pay it off. Mathilde payed the price and experienced the worst kind of labor of her life doing heavy housework for the next ten years. Later one evening, Mathilde saw Mme. Forestier strolling at a park and decided to confront her. They had a conversation and shockingly, Mme. Forestier told Mathilde the diamond necklace was fake only being worth at 500 francs. Madame Forestier shouts, “Oh, my poor Mathilde! Mine was an imitation! It was worth five hundred francs at most!”(73). The symbolism is the diamond necklace, and it represents status and pride. Pride and status represent what a diamond necklace means to Mathilde. Symbolism was presented when Mathilde told Mme. Forestier the truth, however, only to find out the necklace was fake. Mathilde did not inform Mme. Forestier the truth when they first lost it because she was afraid of the money, lost pride, and lost in status. Mathilde would have not lost her social status if she told the truth or
Deceptiveness of appearances is highlighted in, “The Necklace,” by the necklace of Mathilde’s wealthy best friend, Madame Forestier. She allows, Mathilde to borrow it for the party. The fact that it comes from Madame Forestier’s jewelry box gives it the illusion of high value, when actually it is just costume jewelry. Mathilde would not have worn the necklace if she knew the diamonds were fake, because she believes she is deserving of more. Fake jewels suggest that even the wealthiest pretend to have more than they actually claim. Unfortunately, Mathilde loses the necklace, not realizing the necklace is fake. The fact that Madame Forestier, does not notice Mathilde has replaced the fake gems with real diamonds, suggests that true value is ultimately dependent on perception. In the movie Slumd...
To start off with, Mathilde had many conflicts she had to face during the story. First, she was poor and low in the social class. In the textbook it says, “she dressed plainly because she could not afford fine clothes.” She does not have money to buy new clothes because she is poor. Secondly, she got invited to the ball but had no evening clothes. “Only I don’t have an evening dress and therefore I can’t go to the affair.” Mathilde is poor and does not own an evening dress and can’t afford a dress she thinks she can’t go to the ball. Next, she has no jewelry to wear. . “It’s embarrassing not to have a jewel or gem-nothing to wear on my dress. I’ll look pauper.” She has no jewels or gems to go with her dress. Finally, she overcame many conflicts
In “The Necklace”, Mathilde feels she has been born into a family of unfavorable economic status. She’s so focused on what she doesn’t have. She forgets about her husband who treats her good. She gets too carried away being someone someone
and Mme. Loisel cooperate to find what seems to be an exact replica of the lost necklace, which they must purchase and return to Mme. Forestier. Mathilde attempts to find a replacement for the necklace to prevent Mme. Forestier from realizing the original had been lost. The couple travelled “from one jeweler to another hunting for a similar necklace” (175). They went together to look for the necklace, which proves that they are exerting mutual effort. M. Loisel uses all means necessary to pay for the necklace. He “made ruinous deals” (187) and “risked his signature” (188) in order to pay for the expensive diamond necklace. Though Mme. Loisel lost the necklace, her husband uses his savings and takes out loans to help her pay for the replacement. The couple acquires the necklace and must return it to Mme. Forestier. M. Loisel brings the necklace home, and “Mme. Loisel took the necklace back” (199) to the owner. The couple collaborates to get the necklace into the hands of its owner. Mathilde and M. Loisel work together to replace Mme. Forestier’s necklace, and she is none the
The story begins with a middle class girl who dreams of being rich, and cannot achieve this so she lives in a utopian world she creates. Then in an attempt to please his wife, M. Loisel comes home with an invitation to a party, which Mathilde does not want to attend, only because she does not have a dress. When she is given money to buy a dress, she then lusts for fancy jewelry. She also does not have a necklace to show off to the guests at the party. Her husband suggest her theater dress and she does not want to wear that one, her husband also suggest a few roses but again she insists on a necklace. It is her greed that fuels the entire story plot, and it is her greed that causes the decline in social status in the
Other details in the story also have a similar bearing on Mathilde’s character. For example, the story presents little detail about the party scene beyond the statement that Mathilde is a great “success” (7)—a judgment that shows her ability to shine if given the chance. After she and Loisel accept the fact that the necklace cannot be found, Maupassant includes details about the Parisian streets, about the visits to loan sharks, and about the jewelry shop in order to bring out Mathilde’s sense of honesty and pride as she “heroically” prepares to live her new life of poverty. Thus, in “The Necklace,” Maupassant uses setting to highlight Mathilde’s maladjustment, her needless misfortune, her loss of youth and beauty, and finally her growth as a responsible human being.
She suffered all those ten years just for a necklace that she absolutely had to have. It’s ironic because she suffered and worked for a necklace that was not worth all of that at all. The author didn’t reveal this until the very end of the story. “Oh, my poor Mathilde? Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at moat five hundred francs” (Maupassant 558). This is situational irony in the short story The
... Together the two look at the the high class and luxury lifestyle with beliefs that they deserve to be apart of it. Taking advantage and looking past the hard working families that they come from, they force themselves to live miserable lives that others dream of. Both authors use a specific detail that the characters live through to find happiness in their illusive lifestyles; For Mathilde is the diamond necklace, and for Paul is the escape to the theatre arts. Mathilde and Paul were both ashamed of their belongings and where they come from, but both collected joy from society's mistaken vision of the wealth that they portrayed.
The author of "The Necklace", Guy de Maupassant, relates the setting to Mathilde throughout the story. The central character in "The Necklace" is Mathilde. She dreams many dreams of rich living and high society. Her dwellings throughout "The Necklace" show her mood towards the way she is forced to live.
A common literary device, symbolism is used in this story. Symbolism is when something has a greater meaning within itself. The example of this in the story is the necklace. When looking at necklaces at Madame Forestier she finds one that just jumps out at her. She believes it is everything she wants in life. This is symbolic because it was only a necklace it could not fulfill all of her dreams of a rich high-class life. “She wasn’t at all convinced “No… There’s nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich woman”. This quote is said before borrowing the necklace, but it is the reason she borrows it from Madame. The necklace is not really going to change who she is in reality. The necklace ...
The Necklace also displays distinctive realism in the use of socioeconomic influences which are essential to the plot. The major conflict in the story would be absent and the theme would not be obtainable without Mathilde Loisel’s insecurity about her own socioeconomic reputation. An example of Loisel’s self-deprivation nature is presented when she realizes she does not have a necklace, she says “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party” (Maupassant, sec. 3). Another example of the self-conflict caused by social pressure is Loisel’s immediate attempt to replace the necklace and her reluctance to speak to her friend Madame Forestier about the necklace for ten whole years. If she were not conflicted by societal pressures she might have avoided the whole situation altogether. The Necklace establishes a realistic difference in value between the necklaces and proposed clothing. Her husband proposes flowers which were valued 10 franks so in any case if she had chosen the flowers there would have been an insignificant economic loss. Her decision not to tell her friend about the necklace ends up costing her seven times the worth of the original. The roses symbolize the simpler things in life to the theme of the story. Mathilde Loisel’s withered appearance at the end
There comes a time in a woman’s life where she tends to become bitter and ungrateful. It is natural to feel that way in any time period for young women coming to age as they do not realize what they have to do stay beautiful. Some women can even get so caught up in their life, that no one, not even their husband really matter to them. In “The Necklace”, by Guy de Maupassant it reveals Mathilde’s selfish and conceited ways, as she is not thankful for an invitation Mr. Loisel gives to her to attend the ball. Although Mathilde may not be the most grateful wife, she learns the hard way of what struggle really is later on in the story. It is clear on a psychological note that Mathilde generates materialistic, unappreciative, and egotistical tendencies.
As I did research on how others interpreted the story, the same conclusion would pop up. The necklace was used as a symbol of higher class of wealth. We use symbolic items to try and fit into societies belief of “fancy”. The deeper meaning is within the true value of the necklace. It is a fake just as she is! She is trying to be something she is not and ends up losing the necklace which holds a false value as well. This is why a person should not take everything as it
One day Mathilde was walking in a park and stumbled across a lady walking with a child, it was her rich friend.
In “The Necklace,” Mathilde’s internal struggle is with herself. She mentally battled with the physical and financial limitations placed on her, but more with her own soul. She was unhappy with her place in life and could not accept the simplicity of her station, believing it to be truly beneath her. “All those things… tortured her and made her angry. “ Her husband’s blatant acceptance of their place only fueled her frustrations further.