Free Essays on The Necklace

In the short story, â€Å" The Necklace†, written by Guy de Maupassant and the poem, â€Å"Kindly Unhitch that Star, Buddy† written by Odgen Nash, both works deal with success. Everyone wants to achieve success in many ways, but success doesn’t come very easily. In each work the authors use language and structure to convey ideas about success. In â€Å"The Necklace†, Mathlid Loisel wants to look and be successful anyway she can. Mathlid Loisel borrows a necklace for one night and loses it; she is forced to pay for it for the next ten years. During the time she is paying off the cost of the necklace, Mathlid Loisel becomes old and looks run down looking. Mathlide Loisel realizes that she had been relativity successful after losing the necklace. The theme of the necklace is that sometimes you are more successful than you may think. In â€Å"Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy†, the Poet Ogden Nash describes success in his poem. Nash is telling us that people would rather be successes than failures. Nash feels that it’s best that we all can’t be successful because then there wouldn’t be anyone left to despair. In the poem Nash describes how people have to strive to become successful. The theme of this poem is that success doesn’t come easily and that you must work to become successful. In each work, the authors use language and structure to convey ideas about success. In the poem, â€Å"Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy†, there are many examples of irony. Odgen Nash says in his poem, â€Å" and if all the ones who say no said yes, and vice versa, such is the fate of humanity that ninety- nine percent of them still wouldn’t be any better off than they were before.† He also uses alliteration, assonance and rhyme in his poem. Odgen Nash is very wise by using language and structure to convey ideas about success. This makes the read... Free Essays on The Necklace Free Essays on The Necklace Guy de Maupassant was a French novelist and short-story writer. In his short story â€Å"The Necklace†, he focuses on a pretty but poor lady whose name is Mathilde. Her character is introduced as having the belief that she should have been born into a higher class. She was unhappy (â€Å"as she had gone through bankruptcy [5]†) because she did not have any connection to enter into high society and become well known, so she could marry a distinguished man. Mathilde finally got married with a clerk in the Ministry of Education and still depressed with her life. Unfortunately society insists that true happiness requires ownership of many expensive possessions. Mathilde is a victim of materialism. She is a middle class woman who wants to be part of the upper class. Her desire to live a life of luxury prevents her from finding satisfaction with other aspect of her life. Her husband goes through a great deal of trouble to get an invitation to a fancy party however, when he tells her the news, she replies coldly: â€Å"What do you want me to do with this?† (Maupassant 6). He makes every effort to convince her to go to the party and even sacrifices his savings for her to buy a new dress. As they were getting closer to the party, Mathilde seemed upset with something. Finally, her husband finds out that it is because she did not have any jewelry to dress up with therefore she did not want to go to the party. Her husband tried to convince her to wear a corsage of cut flowers, but it did not work, and he came up with an idea and told Mathilde to go to her friend Mrs. Forestier and see if she can borrow some jewelry. She treats her with kindness and lets her choose any piece of jewelry to borrow. After searching through Mrs. Forestier’s jewel collection, Mathilde chooses the one that she expects will draw the most attention. Without realizing, Mathilde loses the necklace at the party. Mr. And Mrs. Loisel sacrifice everything in order to buy a ... Free Essays on The Necklace Mrs. Mathilde Loisel In â€Å"The Necklace† by Guy De Maupassant the protagonist character is Mathilde Loisel. Mathilde is an attractive young woman that has an ambitious imagination of fanciful dining and expensive material things. Her husband, Mr. Loisel, is more of a passive, easily controlled, generous man. Despite his job as a clerk he gives whatever he has to please his dear wife. The couple is invited to a formal dinner with the Chancellor of Education, who is obviously one of the wealthy people in society. Instead of being delighted that they were invited Mathilde complains and cries because she does not own anything suitable enough for wear. Mr. Loisel gives up his summer savings in order to afford a new dress for Mathilde but when the night comes she is not completely pleased so Mathilde borrows a beautiful diamond necklace from a wealthy friend, Jeanne. After a wonderful night of beauty and admiration the necklace is lost. Without even thinking about telling the truth of the ne cklac! e the Loisel’s put themselves into debt for a ten-year period in order to afford a replacement. It was the hard work of paying off the debt that changed Mrs. Loisel. She did all the cleaning from washing clothes to moping the floor that frayed her used to be soft hands and long manicured nails. Mrs. Loisel might have learned her lesson but she still held resentment towards the so-called wealthy friend, Jeanne. When Mrs. Loisel finally was able to talk to Jeanne she found out the necklace she had lost was only costume jewelry. The symbol of wealth to Mrs. Loisel was just a fake one but it was one that taught her the real meaning of money and desire.... Free Essays on The Necklace In the short story, â€Å" The Necklace†, written by Guy de Maupassant and the poem, â€Å"Kindly Unhitch that Star, Buddy† written by Odgen Nash, both works deal with success. Everyone wants to achieve success in many ways, but success doesn’t come very easily. In each work the authors use language and structure to convey ideas about success. In â€Å"The Necklace†, Mathlid Loisel wants to look and be successful anyway she can. Mathlid Loisel borrows a necklace for one night and loses it; she is forced to pay for it for the next ten years. During the time she is paying off the cost of the necklace, Mathlid Loisel becomes old and looks run down looking. Mathlide Loisel realizes that she had been relativity successful after losing the necklace. The theme of the necklace is that sometimes you are more successful than you may think. In â€Å"Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy†, the Poet Ogden Nash describes success in his poem. Nash is telling us that people would rather be successes than failures. Nash feels that it’s best that we all can’t be successful because then there wouldn’t be anyone left to despair. In the poem Nash describes how people have to strive to become successful. The theme of this poem is that success doesn’t come easily and that you must work to become successful. In each work, the authors use language and structure to convey ideas about success. In the poem, â€Å"Kindly Unhitch That Star, Buddy†, there are many examples of irony. Odgen Nash says in his poem, â€Å" and if all the ones who say no said yes, and vice versa, such is the fate of humanity that ninety- nine percent of them still wouldn’t be any better off than they were before.† He also uses alliteration, assonance and rhyme in his poem. Odgen Nash is very wise by using language and structure to convey ideas about success. This makes the read... Free Essays on The Necklace The Necklace At the beginning of the story the â€Å"The Necklace† the author De Maupassant illustrates that the main character Mathilde is poor and discontent with her life. She married a clerk who works for the Ministry of Education. He is hard working and loves Mathlide very much. He tries to please her in every way possible but she still is not satisfied or happy with the lifestyle she has. She sits around pondering most of the days thinking of how she would one day enjoy being wealthy and having the clothes, jewels, and delicacies the rich acquire. Although it might seem as if these things are just a dream to her she finally gets the opportunity to experience the chance of fitting in with the rich. Mr. Loisel and Mathilde get invited to go to a party held by Mr. Loisel’s company. The party is intended for only the most important people of the company to come. This story explains how Mathilde’s life is before and after the tragedy of the necklace and how ironic h er character is. From the beginning of the story it shows how Mathilde is very selfish in the way she lives and foresees her life. It seems as if Mathilde is so depressed with her stature in life that she would rather daydream all day of being rich and gorgeous. She thinks about wearing beautiful dresses, extravagant jewelry, and living in a big house with maids. She wonders around her apartment contemplating what she would do with her life if she had money and what she would do with it. Mathilde shows no regard for anyone but herself. She cannot stand to see other people with money because she just gets jealous and angry looking at what she could someday be. She has a friend, a former schoolmate at the convent, who was rich, and whom she did not like to go see because of her wealth. Mathilde acts very selfish towards her husband. He sacrifices his whole life earnings for her and Mathilde shows no appreciation for anything. All she wants is a different... Free Essays on The Necklace Irony Isolates Character In â€Å"The Necklace,† Guy de Maupassant deliberately attempts not to show the significance of the diamond necklace to express irony through out the story. He uses irony to isolate the main character, Mathilde Loisel. By isolating the main character from the other characters, Maupassant will illustrate certain flaws in Mathilde life. Maupassant ironic twist of fate demonstrates a life lesson for Mathilde. The lesson in the story puts Mathilde on the right path of understanding her true identity. Maupassant uses various situations through the story to reflect the changes of what Mathilde Loisel goes through concerning her attitudes, desires, and self-acceptance related towards her formal and new life. Mathilde Loisel attitude towards her social ranking makes her feel cheated in life. Mathilde wants to be equal to the highest rank of women. She feels her beauty should put her in that ranking. Details about the apartment show Mathilde frustrations of her home. The apartment seems to be finely kept considering the fact she has a peasant who does all her tedious housework, but Mathilde looks beyond the acceptable apartment. Instead she dreads the look of her old furniture, the plain curtains and the wretchard look of the walls. The husband also encounters Mathilde attitude by the fact that she throws the joyous news her husband brings her on the three day old cloth covering the table. Ironically, her actions, overlooked how good she had it in life and her husbands intentions by bring home the invitation. Mathilde attitude is fueled by her desires in life. These desires takes Mathilde out of the real world into her own world. Mathilde desire of a luxurious life sets the tone of the story. Mathilde inability to face the real w... Free Essays on The Necklace The Metamorphosis of Mathilde Loisel In de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace,† Mathilde Loisel is somewhat like a butterfly. She starts as a cocoon in the beginning of the story, hoping one day she will become a butterfly. In human words, Mathilde dreams about living in a higher society. These unrealistic ideas cause dissatisfaction in her life. But as fate comes to us all, it finds Mathilde at a high-class society party, which is where she loses a necklace she has borrowed from a very wealthy friend, crushing any hope of becoming a butterfly. It is then that Mathilde begins to appreciate her present situation. Mathilde’s cocoon state starts with her daily life with her husband. The transformation goes in reverse, cocoon to a caterpillar, as she moves from her home to the attic flat apartment. The last transformation, caterpillar to a pulp, occurs when Mathilde hits bottom, which is the final stage of the metamorphosis. Living in high-class society is the fantasy of Mathilde Loisel. Mathilde is a very pretty but unfortunate woman. Her husband, Mr. Loisel, is a poor clerk. Dreams of living in high-class society and wealth fill her daydreams: â€Å"feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries† (paragraph 3). The luxuries are unrealistic and unattainable to her. Her husband has normal tastes and is satisfied with what he has. Seeing that he is so content while she wants so much more frustrates her. Some of the frustration goes away when the two of them are invited to dinner at the Ministry of Education. Although she is still frustrated because she has nothing to wear, he gives up the money he has saved to buy a shotgun to buy her a dress. Still wanting, she asks to borrow a necklace from a rich friend, Mrs. Forrestier: â€Å"Could you lend me this, nothing but this â€Å" (paragraph 46)? It would complete her attire and make her happy for the moment. Mathilde and her husband attend the dinner. Mathilde feels like a real succe...