MARXIST PAPEREEREEREERERERERERERWEWWWWE
Gabriel Ayeni
Professor Marshall
Methods of Literary Analysis
8 October 2014
Commodification (Marxism) The word commodification in a Marxist’s eyes is defined as an attitude of valuing things not for their utility, but for their power to impress others or for their resale possibilities. In Guy de Maupassant’s, “The Diamond Necklace,” you can see how commodification is expressed throughout the storyline. In “The Diamond Necklace,” Madame Loisel’s husband is described as a “petty clerk”. He was invited to a party with his bosses, even though he sought after it. As they prepare to get ready for the event, they make their social class very evident. The Loisel family is classified as proletarians, and the bosses of the husband were the bourgeoisies. Maupassant’s story was a great example of “Keeping Up with the Joneses”, as the proletarians’ displayed a dying hunger to impress the bourgeoisies, which results in their ten years of debt and labor. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is an old saying which basically means, “strive to match one's neighbors in spending and social standing”. In Maupassant’s story each character expresses the characteristics of the phrase. For example, “He turned a little pale, for he had saved just this sum to buy a gun that he might be able to join some hunting parties the next summer, on the plains at Nanterre, with some friends who went to shoot larks up there on Sunday.” In the story Mr. Loisel (husband of Madame Loisel) wants to be able to fit in with his peers. In addition, he manages to get tickets to a party that includes people that are in a higher economical class than him.
Throughout the story “The Diamond Necklace”, we are given an idea of the society that they live in does not have a fair distribution of goods or even a path to achieve them. Leaving many with no hope to aspire higher economically. In the case of Madame Loisel, she is described as an unfortunate beautiful woman, whose destiny fell into a family of clerks. With
Professor Marshall
Methods of Literary Analysis
8 October 2014
Commodification (Marxism) The word commodification in a Marxist’s eyes is defined as an attitude of valuing things not for their utility, but for their power to impress others or for their resale possibilities. In Guy de Maupassant’s, “The Diamond Necklace,” you can see how commodification is expressed throughout the storyline. In “The Diamond Necklace,” Madame Loisel’s husband is described as a “petty clerk”. He was invited to a party with his bosses, even though he sought after it. As they prepare to get ready for the event, they make their social class very evident. The Loisel family is classified as proletarians, and the bosses of the husband were the bourgeoisies. Maupassant’s story was a great example of “Keeping Up with the Joneses”, as the proletarians’ displayed a dying hunger to impress the bourgeoisies, which results in their ten years of debt and labor. “Keeping up with the Joneses” is an old saying which basically means, “strive to match one's neighbors in spending and social standing”. In Maupassant’s story each character expresses the characteristics of the phrase. For example, “He turned a little pale, for he had saved just this sum to buy a gun that he might be able to join some hunting parties the next summer, on the plains at Nanterre, with some friends who went to shoot larks up there on Sunday.” In the story Mr. Loisel (husband of Madame Loisel) wants to be able to fit in with his peers. In addition, he manages to get tickets to a party that includes people that are in a higher economical class than him.
Throughout the story “The Diamond Necklace”, we are given an idea of the society that they live in does not have a fair distribution of goods or even a path to achieve them. Leaving many with no hope to aspire higher economically. In the case of Madame Loisel, she is described as an unfortunate beautiful woman, whose destiny fell into a family of clerks. With