The Necklace, Barn Burning And Paul's Case

Nineteenth century literature is full of allusions and examples of idealism and romantic subjectivism. Society at the time is quite preoccupied with the bourgeois lifestyle and seems to neglect reality. Stories like "The Necklace", "Barn Burning", and "Paul's Case" exemplify a Nietzschean rebellion against the constraints of social standards. Nietzsche wrote that "we [are] like shop windows in which we are continually arranging, concealing or illuminating the supposed qualities other ascribe to us - in order to deceive ourselves" (Curry). By this is meant that people in society portray a variety of false facades in order to fit in and feel a part of popular culture.

In Maupassant's, "The Necklace" readers find many examples of the nineteenth
century culture's idealism clashing with nineteenth century materialistic obsessions and bourgeoisie expectations. The story's main character, Mathilde, becomes disgusted with her social status and poor living conditions. "She suffers ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries" (Maupassant 161). The fact that she is pretty and charming, combined with her poverty creates somewhat of a Cinderella situation. Nietzsche would have been upset with her decision to borrow an expensive necklace merely to feel a part of bourgeois society. Nietzsche felt that, to admit a belief merely because it is custom was to be dishonest and cowardly (Curry). Following the grand evening, the necklace Mathilde had borrowed was lost. After lying about the whereabouts of the necklace to its owner, Mathilde and her husband searched the city until a close match was found. The couple finds themselves in great debt after purchasing the expensive matching necklace. Faced with this difficult situation, Mathilde and her husband display their character, integrity, and bourgeois backgrounds. They dismissed their servant, changed their lodgings, and rented a garret under the roof in order to pay their debts (Maupassant 165). Her romantic illusions seem to be only a part of bourgeois materialism. They were willing to give up their familiar, comfortable lifestyle to pay what they owed and hold on to their honor and pride. Mathilde felt that honesty and social expectations were crucial in maintaining her image and name. After ten years of hard living, the debts were paid, but Mathilde's once beautiful appearance had been compromised: "She had become a woman of impoverished households-strong and hard and rough" (Maupassant 165). She often wondered what her life could have been like had she not lost that necklace. "When her husband was at the office, she sat near the window, and thought of that gay evening of long ago, of the ball where she had been so beautiful" (Maupassant 167). In the end she learns that the necklace she borrowed had been fake, and that the ten years of hard living had been spent repaying an illusion. Maupassant employs irony to highlight the artificiality of bourgeois society by having Mathilde work her entire life for a false sense of Mathilde had given up her life to reach for something that ended up being false and fake. This represents the artificiality of bourseosie society and the pain people are willing to go through to achieve it.

In William Faulkner's "Barn Burning" we see a young boy's conflict between loyalty to his family and loyalty to what is socially acceptable.
This conflict emerges from a life of poverty and high-class surroundings. The boy's father is a poor sharecropper who is ejected from the county after burning down a barn. But when new work is found, the father is soon on ill term with the farm's owner. Amidst his fantasy surroundings, and his father's poor standard the boy's conflict develops. His father had told him, "you got to learn to stick to your own blood or you ain't going to have any blood to stick to you" (Faulkner 148). This represents the idealistic theme of supporting and standing by your family first. However, in reality, the boy's father is a poor example to follow or mimic. The boy's view of the big plantation house exemplifies his ambitions as well as the other side of his inner battle. To the boy, the home that is as "big as a courthouse" urges him to stay loyal to what is right according to a bourgeois society. His inner conflict reaches it climax when his father burns down another barn and is about to be shot by the farms owner. Nietzsche felt that, "every specific body strives to become master over all space and to extend its force (--its will to power:) and to thrust back all that resists its extension" (Curry). The boy is experiencing this and is forced to choose between his family and what society feels is right and true. After the death of his father, the boy makes his decision. He chooses to replace his father, with the father ideal. That is, he will be fathered by social standards and expectations from then
on.

In "Paul's Case", by Willa Cather, we meet a young man who is confused about the direction of his life and who he is. His mind thrives in a fantasy world of artificial people and ideals. He is kicked out of school and employed at a local theatre: "It was at the theatre and at Carnegie Hall that Paul really lived" (Cather 413). At the theatre, Paul is able to slip into his dream world and leave his miserable life behind. His constant dreaming and carefree attitude provoked his father to force Paul to quit his job at the theatre. Paul soon finds new work at a business in town. Paul's mind is left alone to lust for his ideal life. In reality, Paul felt alienated by the world and an outcast. He "wondered whether he were destined always to shiver in the black night outside" (Cather 410). A picture of John Calvin in his bedroom alludes to his belief that events are predetermined. Paul knows that according to Calvinism, his salvation is predetermined and his actions have no effect on his life after death. His beliefs spur him to steal money from his employers and journey to the big city. He craved the idealism, flash, and glitter of the city life. To Paul, "A certain element of artificiality seemed to him necessary in beauty" (Cather 413). He was comfortable in the city, but had no desire to become or participate in any of its activities. "He felt no necessity to do any of these things; what he wanted was to see, to be in the atmosphere" (Cather 414). This represents a Nietzschean rebellion against his social class in an effort to experience a higher one. Paul's suicide reflects his inability to overcome the obstacles that prevent him from realizing his idealistic view of how his life should be.

Rebellion against the idealistic and constraining standards of the bourgeoisie in the nineteenth century is prevalent in the literature of the era. Nietzschean principles attack the falseness of social standards and the trials people went through to achieve them. In "The Necklace", "Paul's Case", and "Barn Burning", evidence of these principles can be found. In each of these stories, the main characters encountered a conflict between idealism and realism, and as a result were changed by their experience.