Theme of Reality vs. Appearances in “the Necklace”
Theme of Reality vs. Appearances in “The Necklace”
Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 in the chateau de Miromesnil near Dieppe, Normandy. He lived in Fecamp, France until age twelve (when his parents separated) then moved with his mother to a villa in Etretat, France. Home-schooled, except for a brief stay at a boarding school when he was thirteen, Maupassant ran free for most of his school years. Maupassant attended university in Paris, where he began to study law, and then served in the army in the Franco-Prussian war. Guy de Maupassant’s stories were realistic portrayals of everyday life, based on what he knew best: peasants, the war of 1870, and the lives of government employees and of Parisian high society (Donaldson-Evans 1). Maupassant excels in the way he portrays low-ranking civil servants since he served as a clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction from 1878-82 (Adamson 1, Donaldson-Evans 3). In fact, he knew better than any other writer how such men struggle to keep up appearances while “living on the breadline.” (Adamson 1) Maupassant’s theme of reality versus appearance and its effects on the characters in his story “The Necklace” takes the reader through what can happen when someone tries to appear wealthier or better off than he/she is in reality. In Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” an omniscient narrator describes the events of how a very unhappy clerk’s wife, while trying to appear wealthier than she is at a ball given by the Minister of Public Instruction, loses a “diamond” necklace she borrowed from her wealthier friend. The story takes place in 19th century Paris, France where the reader meets the clerk’s wife, who is a pretty young woman, who has always yearned for the finer things in life. Being a clerk’s wife did not allow her to have as many of the finer things in life that she would like to have. When she was finally invited to a ball at the minister’s palace, she gets a taste of the
Henri Rene Albert Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 in the chateau de Miromesnil near Dieppe, Normandy. He lived in Fecamp, France until age twelve (when his parents separated) then moved with his mother to a villa in Etretat, France. Home-schooled, except for a brief stay at a boarding school when he was thirteen, Maupassant ran free for most of his school years. Maupassant attended university in Paris, where he began to study law, and then served in the army in the Franco-Prussian war. Guy de Maupassant’s stories were realistic portrayals of everyday life, based on what he knew best: peasants, the war of 1870, and the lives of government employees and of Parisian high society (Donaldson-Evans 1). Maupassant excels in the way he portrays low-ranking civil servants since he served as a clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction from 1878-82 (Adamson 1, Donaldson-Evans 3). In fact, he knew better than any other writer how such men struggle to keep up appearances while “living on the breadline.” (Adamson 1) Maupassant’s theme of reality versus appearance and its effects on the characters in his story “The Necklace” takes the reader through what can happen when someone tries to appear wealthier or better off than he/she is in reality. In Guy de Maupassant’s story “The Necklace” an omniscient narrator describes the events of how a very unhappy clerk’s wife, while trying to appear wealthier than she is at a ball given by the Minister of Public Instruction, loses a “diamond” necklace she borrowed from her wealthier friend. The story takes place in 19th century Paris, France where the reader meets the clerk’s wife, who is a pretty young woman, who has always yearned for the finer things in life. Being a clerk’s wife did not allow her to have as many of the finer things in life that she would like to have. When she was finally invited to a ball at the minister’s palace, she gets a taste of the
Cited: Adamson, Donald. “The Necklace: Overview.” Reference Guide to World Literature 2nd Edition. Ed. Lesley Henderson. St. James Press, 1995. Literature Resource Center. St. Phillips College Library, San Antonio, TX. 21 June 2006. http://tiger.spc.accd.edu/ Donaldson-Evans, Mary. “Guy de Maupassant.” Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 123: Nineteenth-Century French Fiction Writers: Naturalism and Beyond, 1860-1900. Ed. Catharine Savage Brosman. Bruccoli Clark Layman, 1992. 1-22. Literature Resource Center. Gale Group. St. Phillips College Library, San Antonio, TX. 20 June 2006. http://tiger.spc.accd.edu “Guy de Maupassant: ‘The Necklace.’” Literature and Its Times: Profiles of 300 Notable Literary Works and the Historical Events that Influenced Them Volume 2: Civil Wars to Frontier Societies, 1800-1880’s. Eds. Joyce Moss and George Wilson. Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. St. Phillips College Library, San Antonio, TX. 26 June 2006. http://tiger.spc.accd.edu “Historical Context: ‘The Necklace.’” Exploring Short Stories. Online ed. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Thomson Gale. St. Phillips College Library, San Antonio, TX. 17 June 2006. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC Maupassant, Guy de. “The Necklace.” An Introduction to Literature. 14th ed. Eds. Sylvan Barnet, William Burto, and William E. Cain. San Francisco, California. Longman, 2006. 413-419. “Themes and Construction: ‘The Necklace.’” Exploring Short Stories. Online ed. Gale, 2003. Student Resource Center. Gale Group. St. Phillips College Library, San Antonio, TX. 17 June 2006. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC