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Gender roles in Literature
Gender issues in literature
Gender issues in literature
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The use of Irony is seen in both short stories representing the constriction in marriage. In “The Necklace” Madame Losiel receives a spectacular invitation to a prestigious gala which her husband went to great ends to get. Loisel had this desire to live a lifestyle that was way beyond her means. After purchasing a beautiful gown worth 400 franks Mathilde Loisel came to the realization that she had no jewelry to go along with the dress. Her husband suggested “You will wear some natural flowers” and she replied “ No; there is nothing more humiliating than to look poor among a lot of rich women” (Maupassant 2). Mathilde Loisel than went to her wealthy friend Mme.Forester to borrow a diamond necklace that was not affordable to replace if anything …show more content…
He borrowed “asking a thousand franc from one , five hundred from another” (Maupassant 3) to spend the next ten years of his and Mathilde Loisel life to repay the thirty thousand to everyone they have had borrowed from. After completing the long and dreadful ten years of hard labor Mathilde Loisel quiensidently ran into Mme.Forester to only find out that the necklace she had worn that night was fake and worthless. Being a female that has absolutely no authority over her assets and has no say what so ever in where the are placed thus meaning that she is practically worthless. Realizing all of this it is no longer astonishing that Mr.Loisel went out of his way to borrow 36 thousand francs in loans without the permission from his wife Mrs.Losiel. She understand the fact that they would have to repay these outstanding loans and had spent the next ten years of her youthfull life paying back all the money that was owed. In efforts to pay of this debt Mrs. Losiel works around the house and does her daily duties with no intensions of having control over her finances and accepts that the debt of her husbands is a debt of …show more content…
The men treated their women as if they were an object. After marriage the husbands had full control over any finances or property that the women had once owned. Women didn’t have to many rights if any and were expected to stay at home and be the stereotypical house wife doing the daily house duties, looking after the children and making the meal. Even if women didn’t like it it was almost as if they were forced to be the stay at home mother. Mathilde Loisel suffering from this middle class life style just wanted to live a glamorous and luxuries life. “She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be seductive and sought after."(Maupassant 1). Loisel felt trapped in this life of almost poverty and just wants to escape. She wants to live this glamorous life of having things done for her and being able to have the luxuries that the upper class have and is clearly jealous of her wealthy friend Mme. Frostier and would like to be in her shoes. But at the end of the day she is confined in this middle class lifestyle and can only wish for a better
There are so many examples of situational irony that is clear throughout these stories Mr. Mallard being dead, Mama finally realizes that Maggie deserves the quilts because she understands her heritage better than Dee, Mathilde finding out she worked her whole life for nothing, and when Mr. Graves tells Tessie that Eva draws with her husband's family, Tessie is angry. Dramatic irony is everywhere as well. Louise dies from the shock of seeing her husband who is supposed to be dead and when Dee never wanted anything to do with her heritage until somebody was impressed by it.
If you have something already should be proud of what you have and not think of all the things you think you deserve because you can't get what you don't have without giving effort and the final result will be worse. Guy de Maupassant's parents got divorced when he was 11 and his mother was raising him alone. He always looked differently at the rich, so he decided to write a short story on how people should treat everything they have with care and not ask for more than you can afford because the final result may be worse. In "The Necklace" he develops his theme of how objects can change people through the literary terms situational irony and foreshadowing.
Situational irony occurs throughout most of The Necklace; it appears when Madame Forestier lends Madame Loisel a diamond necklace since “[she’s] upset because [she] haven’t a single piece of jewelry or a gemstone or anything to wear with [her] dress.[She’ll] look like a pauper. [She] almost think[s] it would be better if [she] didn’t go” and lets her borrow it for a ball one night so Madame Loisel can fit in; however, she ends up losing the necklace(174).Madame Loisel was not informed of the fact that the diamond necklace was actually fake. In a panic, Madame Loisel and her husband work hard and pay the loans off for many years trying to replace the necklace only to find out it wasn’t real; they gave up their decent lifestyle and had to save up for ten years. The situational irony is the fact that Madame Loisel thought that if she borrowed the diamond necklace it would help her become closer to the life she wanted, but the necklace ended up putting her and her husband into poverty and without the life that she longed for, instead. The ten years of poverty that Madame Loisel and
The main character tells us that she has a nice family that consists of her husband John and a little baby, but John does unusual things that someone would not expect in a normal marriage. She says, “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage.” (Gilman 647). Men back then did not treat or think highly of women due to men being more superior than them. John also seems to complain
The Irony in the Necklace is that Mme Losueil spent so much time and effort to be extravagant and look good and it was futile because she lost the necklace her friend gave her and she had to work even more for the replacement of the Necklace . The proof and evidence that proves this is that they had no choice but to let their maid go because they could not afford to pay her anymore because of the debts the got into replacing the Necklace . The irony is that Mme Loisel and her husband have been well off all their whole lives and because of the fact that they had to pay of the debts by the end of the short story they became poor and they experienced the hardship of the common man . Another irony in the Necklace is that throughout the whole story Mme Loisel even thought she owed the rich woman money it turned out the Necklace was only worth five hundred dollars . This story shows that there is a disconnection between the different social classes because poor people unlike Mme Loisel are not worrying about how extravagant they look but instead they are worried about buying basic clothes and food for their kids and the dissociation is that Mme Loisel is worried and obsessed with how extravagant she looks . This short story is saying that as individuals we should stop obsessing about our looks and focus
Women were thought of as property, owned first by their fathers, and then their husbands. This is only true, however, for the upperclass. Commoners during this time were not affected by the new social reforms. Lower class women still could own properties and shared many responsibilities with their husbands. They helped on the fields and in business matters. The upperclass dealt with the bourgeous double standard. This idea was formed from the novel The Courtier, written by Castiglione.
For instance, throughout the story, Monsieur Loisel is invariably trying to provide Madame Loisel with as much luxury as he can. Monsieur Loisel supports the idea of providing luxury when he sacrifices money out of their cramped bank account for Madame Loisel to purchase a new, extravagant ball gown. “He turned a bit pale, for he had set aside just that amount to but a rifle so that, the following summer he could join some friends who were getting up a group to shoots larks on the plain near Nanterre.” (Maupassant 228). Another example of the love and compassion Monsieur Loisel has for his wife is introduced when he works extra to pay off the debt of the necklace Madame Loisel barrows and loses from Madame Forestier. Monsieur Loisel uses his inherited riches from his father along with other loans to pay for the diamond necklace. In this case, Monsieur Loisel decides that his wife’s friendship with Madame Forestier is more important than not having the hefty debt to pay. In these cases, readers can conclude that Monsieur Loisel has a deep love and consideration for his wife’s needs, making him a realistic
As for the women they were stay at home wives, leaving them to be “inferior”. Society has always played a role implying that women are always inferior and considered the stay at home wives to do everything around the house, care for the kids, and care for their husbands. In an article by
In The History of The Franks and The Lais, both Gregory and Marie de France focus a lot on the stories that are related to women. Also, according to them women’s status in the 12th centuries seems to elevate compared with the previous centuries. On one hand, women tend to have power, either regarding to economic or family, in their hands. Women in The History of The Franks own their own control over economic power in the family, and they can even become an inheritor or a superviosr on the behalves of their husbands. In Le Fresne, the rich men’s wife decideds everyting by herself without even telling her husband-- to abandon one of her twin daughters and to arrange her daughter’s marriage. On the other hand, they are free to love, which means
“The Necklace” ends up to be a very ironic story as it explains why valuing the more important things in life can be very effective towards a person’s happiness. One example of the story’s irony is when she is at the party dressed as a beautiful and fancy woman. ‘She danced madly, wildly, drunk with pleasure, giving no thought to anything in the triumph of her beauty, the pride of her success…’ (pg 193). This is a form of dramatic irony because Guy explains earlier that Mme. Loisel is just a middle class woman who dreams of a wealthy life, but she is just alluding herself as a luxurious woman. Another example of irony in the story is when Madame found out that the necklace was paste. On page 196, Mme. Forestier, Ma...
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
“The Necklace”, narrated by Guy de Maupassant in 3rd person omniscient, focuses the story around Mathilde Loisel who is middle class, and her dreams of fame and fortune. The story is set in 19th century France. One day, Mathilde’s husband brings home an invitation to a fancy ball for Mathilde; to his surprise Mathilde throws a fit because she doesn’t have a dress or jewelry to wear to the ball. M. Loisel gets her the beautifully expensive dress she desires and Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from Mme. Forestier, a rich acquaintance of Mathilde. Mathilde goes to the ball and has a night she’s dreamed of, until she gets home from the ball at 4 A.M. to find
This money was given by people who set up loans with her husband. Madame and her husband spent ten years trying to pay back a large debt. “Madame Loisel appeared an old woman, now. She became heavy, rough, harsh, like one of the poor.” In the painting, she looks so overly tired as if she is an insomniac.
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.
In the story “The Necklace’s”, by Guy de Maupassant, there are some dramatic and situational ironies through out the story. The first irony is that Monsieur came home with a large envelope to surprise his wife, in the envelope it wrote “The Minister of Education and Madame Ramponneau request the pleasure of the company of Monsieur and Madame Loisel at the Ministry on the of Monday, January the 18th.” (Maupassant, G. d. 1952); this invitation caused his wife to a physical distress because she did not have any luxury jewelry or fancy dress for the party. Another irony in the story is that Madame Loisel dissatisfied with her position in society and discomforted in life, “She suffered endlessly.” (Maupassant, G, d.); and there were the two reasons