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13 November 2008

ENG 122 Students,

In regard to the instructions you received in class today, please discuss Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" below in accordance with the question YOU were assigned.

Discussion Questions for Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”

 

1.)    What are the symbolic implications of the necklace?

2.)    What are anecdotes? Is this story an anecdote?  Why or why not?  Do we use tales like “The Necklace” to point out moral lessons today? Explain. What other examples of this kind of moral instruction can you think of in popular literature?

3.)    How did an evening at a ball offer Mathilde a chance to present herself in a new guise (if you don’t know the word “guise,” look it up)?

4.)    What do we learn from the story about the structure of French society at the time “The Necklace” was written?

5.)    What symbols for wealth and station could be used in a story like this written for today?

6.)    Compare and contrast the lives of Mathilde and her friend Mrs. Forrestier. How are they alike? How are they different?

7.)    Define irony. Is “The Necklace” ironic? Why or why not? Explain.

8.)    What kind of occupation do you think Mister Loisel (Mathilde’s husband) has? Why are they not able to easily repay Mrs. Forrestier?  Why is this important to the story?

9.)    Does Mathilde’s core character or personality change throughout the story? What kind of person would you say she was at the beginning? What kind was she at the end?

10.) Mr. and Mrs. Loisel are the most important characters in the story.  How important are the other characters? Look through the text and decide how much would we know about Mathilde if the other characters were absent from the story? What do the other characters “tell” us about Mathilde?

11.) Which “disaster” is the biggest for Mathilde? Losing the necklace or not telling the truth? Explain.

12.) Maupassant, the author, writes in the first paragraph that “women have no caste or class.” Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men: do they have caste or class?

 

*Don't forget to the second part of this assignment for Nathaniel Hawthorne HERE: ">http://www.english-blog.com/archives/2008/11/into_the_woods_with_hawthornes_young_goodman_brown_1.php

If you are going to the Southern Journeys event for extra credit, I'll see you there Friday.

ALSO!

Just a little reminder of how papers 1 and 2 will factor in to your final overall score for the course (in case you missed a class meeting where I discussed it):

In short, per our syllabus breakdown, the sum of all the small formal papers for this class (including the annotated biblio.) count for 50% of the total final grade for the course. This is on the syllabus

As stated clearly on the syllabus, for this to “add up” correctly, each paper must count for 10 points.

With that in mind, what might seem “odd” to you (at first) is that on papers #1 and #2, you were scored on a “20 point scale” (instead of a 10-point scale). I did this on purpose to help you learn your way around a research paper. It was always my intention to convert these back to a 10-point scale to make theme fit the model.

So, now I’m doing it. To make Papers 1 and 2 compatible with everything else that is scored on a 10-point scale, they must be now be “converted.” That means that an A (20-19 on the 20-point scale) now becomes a 10 in the 10-point scale. A “B” (18-17 on the 20 point scale) becomes a 9 in the 10-point scale, and so. Just so you know, this benefits you. If you made the low end of a "C" on the 20-point scale (16-15) points, you now have a solid C (8 points) in the 10-point scale. Zeros still covert to Zeros (only received for incomplete submissions). Just so you know, on the 10-point scale, a 10=A, 9=B, 8=C, 7=D, and 6 & Below=F.

Conversion Table

 

New Numerical Score

Letter Grade

Old Numerical Score

10

A

20-19

9

B

18-17

8

C

16-15

7

D

14-13

6 & below

F

12 & below

 

After today, when you look at turnitin.com, you will that I converted papers #1 and #2 to the proper 10 point scale. If you are doing the OPTIONAL (not required) extra credit for me at the Southern Journeys, I will raise them up a grade after I get all of the pieces you are required to submit (response on the blog and the photo evaluation form).

Note that the annotated biblio. and paper #3 will be evaluated on a 10-point scale right from the start—no conversion involved. Remember that the final longer research paper has its own category (see the syllabus for details).

If you are confused, see me in my office. Don’t worry—all this works out to your advantage, not your loss.

With kind regards,

Dr. Hobbs

-------------------------------

Dr. Hobbs,

(1.) What are the symbolic implications of the necklace?

I am in group 1 and there was a discrepancy about what the implication of the necklace actually was. So we conjoined the two meanings and concluded our answer.

To me, the symbolic implication of the necklace is something like the, "American dream". The American dream is something that no one actually knows what it is but they work hard to get it even if in actuality it does not exist.

The necklace is similar to me because she worked hard for 5 years for something that he thought was real and did not know was fake and its actually value did not exist.

Donetta
ENGL 121.003 Humanities Literature MWF 11:45-12:45

24 January 2007

Professor Hobbs,

Today in class the question I had to answer was whether or not Guy de Maupassant (1.) thought that trying to be someone you aren't was a "bad" thing and (2.) if this was part of his little anecdote's message. This was question #14.

Although, I don't personally believe that persons who try to be someone that they aren't are necessarily bad people (It seems that we all like to "try on" something new when we are younger to find out who we are/what we like), but it does seem to be that Mr. Maupassant was saying something like "it's just best if you try to be yourself." Or, maybe, stop trying to impress the world with what you have (by pretending you have it) and just go with the strengths and talents you already have! Otherwise, you might pay a big price later for this kind of superficiality.

We have to remember that not only was Mr. Maupassant a Frenchman, he was also from the 1800s so his culture and social values may have been different than ours are today. Women, in the U.S. at least, couldn't even vote at this time (they got that right in 1920). There was a definite "caste" built in between men and women in Western society in the 1800s and it would be good if we could try to remember that when we read a story such as this.

On the other hand, there were issues of class, economic class that is, that Mathilde had to deal with (not being as "well-off" as her friend Jeanne, for instance) that has not really "gone away" from today's world. We are not living in a "classless" society and there is a definite, ever-widening gap between the "haves" and the "have-nots." It appears to me that Mathilde felt she was a "have not" and would go to great length to pretend that she was. Ironically, her years of hard labor to repay her husband's debtors just rubbed in her fact all the more. She would have to work her fingers to the bone to have the things that Jeanne *seemed* to have. In that regard, things are the same today as they were then.

I look forward to reading and discussing "Young Goodman Brown" as our next assigment!

Sincerely,

Dudley D.
ENGL 121.003 Humanities Literature MWF 11:45-12:45

Shayne Schmidt

Question 11:

The other characters in the story really are not that important as Mathilde. The reason is because the story shows only her actions and dreams. Also the story shows how spoiled and ashamed she is of her social status. Even if the others characters where absent from the story you would know everything about Mathilde’s personality because of her actions and daydreams of a better life. The others characters such as her husband kind of tell us how unhappy she is because of her social status. He implies this when he offers to buy her a new dress to wear.

Q: What symbols for wealth and station could be used in a story written like this today?

Symbols of wealth today are much flashier than they were in the old days. In “The Necklace”, the woman was so excited about wearing a single diamond necklace. You can find woman wearing an assortment of diamonds and gems all over their body. A woman’s dress might even use diamonds as part of the design. I think the brand name would have been an important part of the dress too. There is not much chance a rich couple would be riding home in a carriage today either. A limo would be waiting out front for them. The described the house they lived in as being an attic flat in the end of the book. Today they might describe a less fortunate family’s home as an apartment. Also in the end of the book, the woman had to write to her friend about the lost necklace. Today everyone has a phone at hand in their home. There are many more things that may have been portrayed or described differently in a story written like this today.

Andy Hood
Group 6

(7.) Compare and contrast the lives of Mathilde and her friend Mrs. Forrestier. How are they alike? How are they different?

Though the main character, Mathilde, of Guy de Maupassant’s, “The Necklace,” seems a great deal different than her friend, Mrs. Forrestiere, there is actually a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to their similarities. For instance they both, as all hopefully already know, are women. Aside from stating the obvious, they also both enjoy lavish material possessions. This is seen throughout the story by Mathilde’s yearning for the life of a queen, and Mrs. Forrestiere’s seemingly owned life of a queen. Though this next similarity between the two of them changes as the story progresses, in the beginning they were both beautiful women. In a way it can be seen as similar that they both lied at one point or another during the story. Mrs. Forrestiere lied, although valid arguments could be made, about the necklace being fake to begin with, and Mathilde lied in telling Mrs. Forrestiere that the clasp broke on the necklace and it was getting fixed, when really it was nowhere to be found.
However, there are also very distinct differences between the two women. Right away one sees that they are clearly both on a different page when it comes to lifestyles. Mrs. Forrestiere, a very wealthy person, heavily contrasts Mathilde, who became depressed at the thought of never being able to live the life of her friendly counterpart. Inverse to what was said before, at the end of the story their appearances differ greatly, as Mathilde appears worn and old, and Mrs. Forrestiere appears clean and youthful. Mathilde appears throughout the story depressed about the life that she was leading, while Mrs. Forrestiere felt as though fully content with everything she had going in her life. Finally, and similar to the last point made, Mrs Forrestiere seemed kind and helpful when Mathilde was in need of jewelry, but Mathilde always seemed as though she only cared about herself and her situation.

“The Necklace”

7. Mathilde and her friend Mrs. Forrestier are very similar and different in many ways. They are similar in the fact that they are both women, in other words neither woman has a job or makes money in their society. However, Mrs. Forrestier is of a higher, richer social class than Mathilde. Due to this Mathilde is very unhappy and ashamed of her life, unlike Mrs. Forrestier, who is very happy with her life. Both women are also different in the way they act and think. Mathilde thinks only of herself, where as Mrs. Forrestier is a very kind and helping person. For example, Mathilde is very selfish in looking beautiful for the ball that she needs jewels, so she goes to Mrs. Forrestier who is very helpful to Mathilde by allowing her to borrow her jewels. At the start of the story Mathilde and Mrs. Forrestier are both very beautiful, but as time passes in the story Mathilde grows old and worn in her appearance and Mrs. Forrestier remains beautiful. Both women are also dishonest in the story when it comes to the necklace. Mathilde is dishonest because she lied to Mrs. Forrestier about losing the necklace and buying a new one, which led to her haggardness. Mrs. Forrestier is dishonest in the fact that she didn’t tell Mathilde that they were fake diamonds and not real ones, had Mathilde known this she would not have worried as much about losing them.

Katie Kovac
English 121 003

Group 6

Question 6: What symbols for wealth and station could be used in a story like this written for today?

Answer: In the story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, the necklace is the easily identifiable symbol of wealth and status. Mathilde yearned for the diamonds of the sparkling creation for what those shined orbs represented, not necessarily for what they were. In the same sense, symbols of wealth and prestige can still be found easily today. The rapper with the five Escalades and the two Hummers; he doesn’t need that many vehicles for his bachelor self by any means, but yet he has them—it shows how wealthy he is that he can afford luxuries he will never need or probably ever use. People do not need plasma screen televisions, extremely overdone and luxurious month upon month long vacations, or that extra baker’s dozen of maids and butlers to clean up the everyday little messes. Why then does a certain small percentage of the population undertake such pleasures for themselves? Simply because these material symbols represent a higher lifestyle with riches and status that some strive for. Not to say that a desire for luxuries is a bad one, but by having such things, one adopts a certain elevation of status through the owning. Mathilde of days gone by had her diamonds; today we have our BMW’s. Both represent the wealth Mathilde strove for, the symbols simply moved ahead a few generations.

Carlos R. Gonzalez

(4.) How did an evening at a ball offer Mathilde a chance to present herself in a new guise?
Mathilde was able to be something / someone she is not, like a fairy tale. Once she put on the dress and the necklace she was portraying an individual in a higher social and economic class. She enjoyed a night of activities that she usually does not have the chance to. She stood behind a mask as her dreams came true for one night.

An anecdote is defined in a dictionary as “a short narrative of an occurrence”. An anecdote could be in the form of a tale like The Boy Who Cried Wolf or used to reference something that has happened. Usually, when anecdotes are in stories or tales, they are there to extend the message of a certain moral. Other examples of these types of anecdotes in literature are; Tortoise and the Hare, Little Red Ridding Hood, Three Little Pigs. Anecdotes are popular in literature, and can be found in a lot of writings and spoken stories.

Jan. 24, 2007

Professor Lee Hobbs,

In my group #12, I had to answer the question that states, What is the biggest disaster for Mathidle? Not telling the truth or the losing the necklace. Explain.

I believe the biggest disaster that Mathidle did was not telling the truth. If she would have went up to Mrs. Forresier, after she had lost it, then it would have been a lot easier for Mathidle and her husband to pay the debt to get another necklace. I’m sure if Mrs. Forresier found out, she probably wouldn’t be the kind of person who would have someone slave their life, just to repay for a necklace. Mrs. Forresier seems like a caring person who is willing to understand the problem if something goes wrong.

Your Student from Humanities Literature,
Jenny T.

The word anecdote, according to Webster's Dictionary is defined as, "a short narrative of an occurance." After looking up this defination, our group came up with a few examples that would be considered anecdotes. Our examples were as follows, Tortous and the Hare, The Boy who Cried Wolf, and The Three Little Pigs. We thought these were considered anecdotes because they all had a moral in the end of the story.
Thank you,
Amber Dunmire

9) Mr. Loisel is a clerk for the Ministry of Education. I believe this job is something along the lines of a secretary, performing tasks such as keeping and organizing files and doing other minor tasks in the office. The reason they can’t easily repay Mrs. Forrestier is because a clerk isn’t a high paying job, and it also sounds like a competitive field when he says “I had a lot of trouble getting the invitation. Everyone wants one. The demand is high and not many clerks get invited.” So with a lot of people able to do this job there is probably a lot of people who will work for low pay. People would rather make a small amount of money than none at all. On this salary alone it would take a very long time to come up with the money for a diamond necklace.

24 January 2007

Professor Hobbs,

Today in class my group had question #13. Guy de Maupassant writes in the first paragraph that “women have no caste or class.” Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men: do they have caste or class?

Around the time the story took place, women probably didn’t have much of a class, whether it is social or economic class women tended to be looked down upon. Their class was almost determined for them, dictated by what type of class their husband was. So back then, I think women had a caste that was permanent and they could work to gain a higher class but it really didn’t matter because they still weren’t as “high” as the men. Today, women have more choices and I believe that they can establish their own class by working hard and accomplishing something in their life. Women are more successful today because they are given the chance to be, unlike Mathilde.

I feel men were some what born into a class and follow their family, job wise. If they were born into a wealthy family they obviously will be in a higher class and I don’t think there caste would change either. Today there is just more opportunity to establish your class early on in your life. Caste is permanent but class can change, I believe you can set your caste early in life and your class can change anytime whether you’re male or female.

10) In the beginning of the story Mathilde feels that material things are very important in life. Because she doesn't live a wealthy life, she is jealous of people who do. After her experience with the diamond necklace, she realizes that there are more important things in life. She works hard to pay off her debts and learns a lot from her experince. Mathilde's personality changes for the better by the end of the story.

Derek Hensley
Eng 121.003

(5.) What do we learn from the story about the structure of French society at the time “The Necklace” was written?

We learn that French society at that time did not appear to have a middle class. Either one was wealthy or one did not have much. Members of the lower class of society did not live the same type of lifestyle as the rich lived. The Higher class individuals seemed to have more opportunities, and obviously lived much more lavishly than lower class citizens. The Author made it seem like the lower class was looked at differently as apposed to people with money, as is the case in many cultures even today.

Lyndsay Krall

Group 7 question:

Compare and contrast the lives of Mathilde and her friend Mrs. Forrestier. How are they alike? How are they dead?

Similarities:
• They are both women
• Both women enjoy nice and expensive things
• In the beginning of the story both women are considered to be very beautiful
• Both women can be considered dishonest, seeing as how Mrs. Forrestier never told Mathilde in the beginning that the necklace was merely costume jewelry, and Mathilde wasn’t honest about losing the necklace

Differences:
• Social status
• By the end of the story, Mathilde has become very old and worn-out looking, while Mrs. Forrestier remained youthful and beautiful
• Mrs. Forrestier is proud of who she is, while Mathilde longs to be someone else
• Mrs. Forrestier is willing to share and help others, while Mathilde seems selfish and only worries about herself

Professor Hobbs,

Today in class my group had to answer What are anecdotes? Do we use anecdotes like “The Necklace” to point out moral lessons today? Explain, which was (question 2)

Anecdotes are short stories told about an interesting incident it is usually an anecdote is based on real life, an ancedote can be just like a fable for example little red riding hood. Yes, I beleive that we still do use ancedotes today to point out moral lessons. Examples of anecdotes would be stories that pertain to real life, in a sense to teach a lesson to the reader and readers.

Sincerely
B. Decker

9.) What kind of occupation do you think Mister Loisel (Mathilde’s husband) has? Why are they not able to easily repay Mrs. Forrestier?

In the beginning of “The Necklace”, the story explains that Mathilde grew up poor, with a family of clerk and copyists, and she settled for a marriage with Mister Loisel, a minor clerk. A minor clerk gives the impression that this is a low ranking occupation, and he is probably not paid well. It seems that Mathilde and Mister Loisel grew up in the same economic class. Mister Loisel may have a hard time finding a higher paying job due to his economic status or lack of higher education. It takes the Loisel’s ten years to repay Mrs. Forrestier because Mister Loisel is only able to find work in lower-class jobs.

Jen Naugle

#9 Mister Loisel’s occupation is a clerk, which further means that he is some kind of a sales person. At this time period there were an abundant number of clerks which lead to competitive pay, and not many hours to spread through all the clerks. The author referred to him as a “frugal clerk” stating that his pay makes him have to pinch pennies and live a thrifty life style. This is why it took the Loisel’s so long to pay off the debt from replacing the lost necklace.

Professor Hobbs,

I had to answer question 13.
13. Maupassant, the author, writes in the first paragraph that "women have no caste or class.“ Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men: do they have caste or class?

I believe, given the particular time period this was written, it's possible that women may have been thought of as having no caste or class. This may have also just been the author's opinion, but this story was also written in 1884...in France.

I on the other hand, believe that as a part of society, women do have a determined caste and/or class based on:
1.) the family she comes from, and
2.)who she marries.

Regardless of time period, these two factors will almost always contribute to where a lady stands in society.

Men on the other hand carry a class and caste based on different factors. Like women, men will still be partially determined by the family into which they are born. After that, if the man's family is capable of schooling him, he may go on to pursue a career that would further determine his caste and class. The more money that can be fronted for education, the better the job, the higher the place in society.

Joe T
ENGL 121 sec 003
group 13

Question 13: Maupasant, the author wrote in the first paragraph that “women have no caste or class”. Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men? Do they have a caste or class?
The term “caste” can be defined as a social class. The term “class” has to do with your income such as the working class. Every man and woman is born into a specific caste that they cannot change. Therefore, I do not agree with the statement “women have no caste or class”. Now whether or not she is in a specific class varies. Usually women back then were placed into whatever class their husband was in. He was the one who was allowed to work, putting the food on the table, while the woman didn’t have such freedoms. If the man she married were rich, they would have been in a higher class. That doesn’t mean class cant change. People can become either richer or poorer in time.

(4.) How did an evening at a ball offer Mathilde a chance to present herself in a new guise?

Mathilde was able to use her evening at the ball as a chance to present herself in a new guise. In other words, she was able to take on a new appearance or image while at the ball. Mathilde had dreamt of living the life of the upper class with expensive clothing and fancy belongings. However, on the contrast, she lived a very simple life with plain foods, a standard house, and plain clothing/belongings. During her evening at the ball, Mathilde was able to put on a fancy dress and an expensive diamond necklace to fit in with the economic class of citizens that were also in attendance. As she mingled and enjoyed herself, she felt that she fit in with the upper class wealthy people and was fulfilling her fantasy of being one of them. Although she knew she was not truly rich, her outward appearance and ensemble created an image that she was in fact a rich respectable woman. Such an opportunity to pretend allowed Mathilde to escape her life and almost go undercover in the disguise of someone she wished to be. As the people accepted her, she shined more brightly as she felt that this appearance would give her the happiness she dreamed of day in and day out in her real lifestyle.

The symbolic representation of the necklace has great implications regarding Mathidle’s feelings and wants. The necklace represents wealth and the luxurious that she can not afford in real life. Having the necklace on makes her into some whom she is not both physically and mentally. She is much happier when she appears to come from a wealthier status. Thus the necklace almost symbolizes a second life, which is the life she wants to achieve and have.

Justin Bleggi Group 2

Q. What is an anecdote? Do we use anecdotes like “The Necklace” to point out moral lessons today? Explain.

An anecdote is a short story that recounts an event in order to convey an idea, moral, or information. Short stories such as “The Necklace” by de Maupassant, Aesop’s Fables, parables from the Bible, and fairy tales are all examples of anecdotes. Modern anecdotes can take form in speeches or sermons, newspaper articles, and magazine articles (e.g. Reader’s Digest, Time) to name a few. The anecdote, when used as a public speaking device is an excellent way of imparting an idea to an audience that might not be able to grasp an abstract of the idea.

5.What did we learn from the story about the structure of French society at the time “The Necklace” was written?

The structure of France was set up in a way that you were either rich or poor and the poor had no connections to the upper class. In most cases, the poor seemed to be jealous of the rich. Money was very important to the French society. Everyone wanted to be rich and material things were of utmost importance.

6.) What symbols for wealth and station could be used in a story like this written for today?

In Guy de Maupassant’s the Necklace, Mathilde wishes to live a life of luxury. She dreams of a fine-looking home, rich meals, beautiful clothes, and breathtaking jewelry. During 1800s, when this story takes place, she could not possibly ask for anything more. Today however, symbols of wealth have grown exponentially. They include all of the above mentioned items, and also include everything brought by new technology.

Instead of worrying about a carriage a person of wealth would travel in the latest model car, boat or plane. The rich have the luxury of traveling in style with expensive label names and lavishness features in there cars. They may choose to live elaborate lifestyles by traveling to exclusive places all over the world, or by having extraordinary parties. Their mansions at home would be filled with the most expensive furniture, plasma screen televisions, and the most up to date computers available. The rich can sport the latest fashions and chat on a phone with every possible feature. They, like Mathilde wanted, would have the best that they could dream up. Social status is determined by ones ability to own or experience the finer things in life. Basically, the better your “stuff” the higher your social status.

Erika Knox
Humanities Literature
M/W/F 11:45-12:45

11. How important are the other characters? What would we know about Mathilde if the other characters weren't present? What do the other characters "tell" us about her?

It's evident even without other characters that Mathilde is spoiled, yet ashamed of her social status. Her actions, as the narrator describes them, speak louder than any words or dialogue. When she scurries away, this is shown. We would still know this without other characters, except maybe her husband. He "tells" us that Mathilde is very selfish, and despite his hard work, she still wants more. She's unhappy due to her lack of material wealth and is ashamed of it.

Today i was an SA!

Brooke DECKER

13) Maupassant, the author, writes in the first paragraph that "Women have no caste or class.“ Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men: do they have caste or class?

I do not agree with Maupassant with this issue. In order for a person to be included in a society they must have a caste or a class. When a woman is born, she becomes a member of the caste and class that her family is in. In the time period this story was written, 1884, there was a certain permanence given to the caste or class a family possessed. People were seen to marry within the economic or social class they were born. While this may have been so a century ago, today this caste system does not exist in every country. In America, there is no such caste system. There is, however, a breakdown of class. If a man or a woman strives to elevate their economic status, they have the resources and opportunities to do so. Men, as well did belong to a class and caste when this story was written. The job that a man would have in the future was predetermined by their social class, giving him is permanent caste and class.

Stephanie Vrabel

(10.) Does Mathilde’s core character or personality change throughout the story? What kind of person would you say she was at the beginning? What kind was she at the end?

Yes, I do think Mathilde’s core character changes throughout the story. In the beginning of the story Mathilde is concerned about how much money she has and she wants more expensive clothes and more material things. She is really unhappy with the way her life is in the beginning of the story. By the end of the story, Mathilde definitely changes because she had to learn to work for the things she owned and therefore she appreciated them more. She is happier at the end of the story because she learned to appreciate her life for what it is now and stopped longing after a life that she couldn’t have.

Melisa Parsons
Group #11

11.) How important are the other characters in the story? Look through the text and decide how much would we know about Mathilde if the other characters were absent from the story? What do the other characters “tell” us about Mathilde?

In “The Necklace “the other characters are not significant but since the author gives the readers background on how women were looked upon at this time it explains Mathilde’s insecurities. Women were judge by their beauty and the things they possessed ,although her husband wanted to please her by inviting her to this special event , Mathilde did not want to feel like everyone was looking down on her because she was not wealthy like the other wives. Mathilde’s husband actions shows that although his wife’s feelings were probably superficial to him he knew it would make her happy to have something knew to wear so he gave up money that he have saved for a special event for himself. Mathilde buys a new dress and she still was unsatisfied which tells us that no matter how much she has she will always want more.

Mr. Hobbs,

Irony is the use of words to convey a meaning that is opposite of its literal meaning.
An example of irony in this story called, “The Necklace” is when Mathildes feels her friend is respected because she wears and owns beautiful clothing and jewelry. Mathilde is asked to go out and she does not want to because she does not have anything nice to wear and she does not think she will get respect from other people. She ends up borrowing her friends’ piece of jewelry, which is a diamond necklace. She ends up losing the necklace and her and her husband work hard for ten years to get the money back to repay her friend. When she finally repays her friend, she realizes that the necklace was actually costume jewelry, or fake. So, Mathilde thought the whole time that her friend is only respected because of her “nice things”, and that is not true. The meaning of this story is you do not have to have to have expensive jewelry to get and have respect.

Deidra K.

Professor Hobbs,

Question 5: What do we learn from the story about the structure of French society at the time “The Necklace” was written?

From the story “The Necklace,” we can get a general understanding of the French society. The story is based on two separate classes of people; the rich and poor. From reading this story we can learn how the two classes compare to one another. It seems that there is a great amount of friction between the two classes over the power of money. Money seems to be the most important factor in living a great life. Because of this issue the two classes began to create a jealous personality between one another. Instead of living life with love and compassion, the structure of the French society seems to focus more on materialistic things. For example in “The Necklace,” the necklace symbolizes to Mathilde happiness and power. However, after the necklace is taken off she goes back to being an unhappy woman. Between these two points in the story there is a dramatic change in her personality, because of her unrealistic dream of being rich. Overall we can learn that money and materialistic objects have created a impact of the structure of the French society.

April H.

Steve Petrone

10. Yes Mathilde’s personality changes throughout the story. In the beginning of the story she is very unhappy and frustrated with her cheap lifestyle. She longs for wealth and expensive luxuries but she cannot have them. By the end of the story she is accustomed to her poverty stricken lifestyle and takes some matters into her own hands like housework. She is no longer jealous of her friends. She no longer dreams about the rich and wealthy life and accepts her new way of life for what it is.

Prof. Hobbs,

Group Activity Question 3. Anecdote- A short narrative of an occurrence.

Three examples of moral instruction in popular literature are Tortoise and the Hare, The Boy who Cried Wolf, and Three Little Pigs.

Lauren W.
ENGL 121

Hello Class,

Today, we discussed Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" in our class meeting. All of you who had a chance to speak had wonderful things to contribute. Let's keep this spirit of participation going for all of our future meetings .

I feel I need to say thanks to all the groups who discussed today but didn't get to speak due to restraints on time. For two meetings now we've begun with group 1 and closed up shop before we had a chance to get down to group 13. Our next meeting will change that (someone please remind if I am the one who forgets). Next time, we'll begin with group 13.

By now, you should be getting a pretty good idea of what “literature” is all about from the course readings you’ve done since the beginning of the course. Now, we will be shifting gears into some ways to “write” about literature. Hopefully you have gained something useful from the first half of the “Preliminary” chapter in WAL about how to take notes on your readings (underline/highlight & write copiously in the margins!) and how to think about writing about literature. So, for the next class meeting (Friday):

1. Read WAL 27.5 to 52 (&) WAL 222-230 “Young Goodman Brown”
2. Type up your answer to today’s group activity question in a word document, spell check it, grammar check it, proofread it and have someone you trust proofread it for mistakes. Your answer should sound thoughtful and cogent.
3. Copy-and-paste your polished answer (should be at least a good paragraph) into the comment box of this blog entry. You may have to scroll down to find it. After you click “submit” you won’t see your answer right away. I have to go back into the blog later and “approve” it. So don’t worry, it's there!

If you need to look at the story again, and you still haven't purchased the textbook, you can find a copy of the story online by clicking HERE.

In case you've forgotten the questions, here they are. Each group member must do this for himself or herself. Even though you have the same question, you might have different answers, which is okay. In fact, I DON'T want to see the same answer duplicated three times.

Here are the questions*:

(1.) What are the symbolic implications of the necklace?
(2.) What are anecdotes? Do we use anecdotes like “The Necklace” to point out moral lessons today? Explain.
(3.) Define “anecdote.” What other examples of this kind of moral instruction can you think of in popular literature?
(4.) How did an evening at a ball offer Mathilde a chance to present herself in a new guise?
(5.) What do we learn from the story about the structure of French society at the time “The Necklace” was written?
(6.) What symbols for wealth and station could be used in a story like this written for today?
(7.) Compare and contrast the lives of Mathilde and her friend Mrs. Forrestier. How are they alike? How are they different?
(8.) What is irony? How is this story ironic?
(9.) What kind of occupation do you think Mister Loisel (Mathilde’s husband) has? Why are they not able to easily repay Mrs. Forrestier?
(10.) Does Mathilde’s core character or personality change throughout the story? What kind of person would you say she was at the beginning? What kind was she at the end?
(11.) How important are the other characters in the story? Look through the text and decide how much would we know about Mathilde if the other characters were absent from the story? What to the other characters “tell” us about Mathilde?
(12.) Which is the biggest disaster for Mathilde? Losing the necklace or not telling the truth? Explain.
(13.) Maupassant, the author, writes in the first paragraph that "women have no caste or class.“ Do you agree with this? Why or why not? What about men: do they have caste or class?

Just in case you were absent today for some reason and forget your group #, here is the (hopefully) groups list:

Group 1: Sherrie, Donnetta, and Pat
Group 2: Justin, Kristin, and Brooke
Group 3: Greg, Amber, and Lauren
Group 4: Erika G., Bettina, and Carlos
Group 5: Jaime, Derek, and April
Group 6: Erin K., Erika K., and Andy
Group 7: Lyndsay, Katie, and Colin
Group 8: Tatiana, Kyle, and Deidra
Group 9: Jeffrey, Jen N., and Nicole
Group 10: Steve, Erin R., and Rebecca
Group 11: Kendra, Shayne, and Melisa
Group 12: Jenny T., Thomas, and Ashley
Group 13: Joe, Lorin, Tina, and Steph

By the way, today's SAs are exempt from this exercise since they were not in the groups today to discuss the answers to their group's questions. Today's SAs should respond simply with "Today I was an SA" and leave their name so I'll remember when I pull out the gradesheets.

Also, a few of you've asked if you can see the results of the survey you took. Absolutely! If you are interested to see what the class has (or hasn't) read and seen, click on the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/Report.asp?U=316934562730

There are only 39 responses (one was from me, as a test) so it looks like one or two people didn't participate. I was hoping to get some higher percentages on at least one or two examples from each genre, but, alas, it seems we'll have to deal with about an 86% commonality tops.

A few parting words. We are beginning to use some concepts in our discussions that you may or may have had practice using before. I want to be sure that you have a clear understanding of the words we use in class (no more blank stares!) so be sure you are looking up words you don't feel you yet "own" (means, making it a part of your personal vocabulary) by utilizing your dictionaries to the fullest.

In your journals, please write down the following words that have come up in class on several occasions: (1.) elite (2.) canon (3.) class (4.) caste (5.) irony (6.) anecdote (7.) guise

Source: Some ideas for study questions gleaned from Jane Quest's wonderful resources HERE.

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*NOTE* The deadline for this assignment has now passed. Comments are no longer being accepted for this exercise

~Lee

5.What symbols of wealth and station could be used in a story like this written today?
Symbols of wealth and station that could be used in a story like this written today includes homes; the area you live in, clothes, cars, bags, and shoes.

6. Mathilde and Mrs. Forrestier are both uppity and insolent in manner. In other words, they both act like they have a lot of money. However, the difference is that Mrs. Forrestier is wealthy and Mathilde is just faking it.

Question #7

The Necklace is very ironic because it puts a woman who thought that she was getting a diamond necklace but in reality she got a necklace made of costume jewelry. The ironic part of the of the whole story is that she drove herself and her family down to misery for just a piece of "fake" jewelry.

#2. An anecdote is a short account of a story. This story could be considered am anecdote because it is based around one event, the ball. I do believe that we still use them for lessons even today because as children we have all those songs that tell us our lessons and now as a young adult, when I watch televison or a movie, there is always a story and a lesson that can be learned from that story.

discussion question number 10
the other characters in the story are important because they set up the stage for the story. with out other characters mathilde would seem like a normal person with out any thing wrong with her but since we see the other characters she becomes self concsience about her money. the other characters tell us that mathilde is all about keeping up with the joneses, when she does not have the means to do so. she wants to apear to be rich and have all these material possesions but in reality she cant afford them.

1.) What are the symbolic implications of the necklace?

The symbolic implications of the necklace are that Ms. Loisel should not try to be something that she’s not. When she lost Mrs. Forrestier’s necklace she should have spoken up. If Ms. Loisel would have spoken up and told the truth, then she would have found out that the necklace Mrs. Forrestier gave her was only costume jewelry and she probably only had to pay about 500 francs instead 34,000 francs. A problem with our society today is that when a person gets into trouble they try to cover it up before standing up for their actions. In a way the necklace represents “cover ups.”The reason people feel the need to stop being truthful and try to be someone they are not.

discussion question number 10
the other characters in the story are important because they set up the stage for the story. with out other characters mathilde would seem like a normal person with out any thing wrong with her but since we see the other characters she becomes self concsience about her money. the other characters tell us that mathilde is all about keeping up with the joneses, when she does not have the means to do so. she wants to apear to be rich and have all these material possesions but in reality she cant afford them.

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*NOTE* The deadline for this particular assignment has now passed. Any comments listed below are *ONLY* for the reposting of comments that I specifically asked to be revised or are ones from non-student posters. Any 'student' posts below that missed the assignment deadline will not get credit for the assignment.

~Dr. Hobbs

Brittany Thunberg
Dr. Hobbs
Academic Writing II CA16
January 21, 2009

(Maupassant, Guy de.“The Necklace.” Writing about Literature by Edgar V. Roberts. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson 2006. 5-13.)

Guy de Maupassant begins his short story “The Necklace”, by introducing readers to main character Mathilde Loisel. Maupassant describes Mathilde as, “one of those pretty charming women, born, as if by an error of destiny, into a family of clerks and copyists.” (pg 5) Maupassant portrays Mrs. Loisel as an unfortunate woman who has everything going for her except the fact that she was born into a poor family with no title in society. Maupassant really digs deep into Mathilde’s unhappiness, he intensely describes to readers how miserable and unhappy Mrs. Loisel is. Mrs. Loisel’s greed and selfish ways are displayed throughout the work and enable her to appreciate the simple things in life.
When Mr. Loisel comes home one day, he has an invitation to an upscale ball. He expects his wife to be nothing but happy, however, he is mistaken. Mathilde is not only disappointed with the invitation, but outraged that he would even expect her to attend this lavish ball. This contradicts everything that Maupassant has described Mathilde to be. “She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries.” (pg 5) If her obsession with expensive things and having a deluxe lifestyle is enough to make her completely miserable then why would she be angered with the idea of attending a ball where she would be in the company of everything she desires?
Mathilde explains to her husband that she could not bear to be in the company of such luxury while she looked like a commoner. After Mathilde manipulates her husband into buying her a new gown for the ball, she refuses to attend the ball without jewelry; she feels that she will not fit in without being draped in expensive jewelry of some kind. “I’ll look like a beggar. I’d almost rather not go to the party.” (Maupassant 7) After suggesting several solutions to the problem Mathilde finally agrees with her husband’s suggestion to borrow some jewelry from her wealthy friend Mrs. Forrestier.
Mrs. Loisel has everything she desires the night of the ball. “She danced joyfully, passionately, intoxicated with pleasure, thinking of nothing but the moment, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success.” (Maupassant 8) After the ball instead of being grateful and appreciative for the night, she is once again overcome with envy and bitterness and is disgusted with the buggy her and her husband have to take home. When Mathilde realizes that she has lost the necklace that Mrs. Forrestier lent her, this is the turning point in this short story. The Loisel’s are forced to take out loans and spend their life savings on buying a replica of the lost diamond necklace.
After the years of hard-work and desperation Mathilde has aged and now truly understands the hardships of the needy. The narrarator refers to Mathilde now as Mrs. Loisel to convey to the reader that she is no longer young and beautiful but aged and haggard. When Mathilde sees Mrs. Forrestier ten years later on the streets she tells her of her hardships and miserable life that she had to spend working to recover from the debt she and her husband put themselves in paying to replace her necklace. The moral of the story is understood when Mrs. Forrestier explains to Mrs. Loisel that the necklace she lost so long ago was merely costume jewelry.

Sasha-Ann Jarrett
Dr. Hobbs
English 122-CA17
January 26, 2009
Maupassant, Guy de. “The Necklace” A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader. Pearson Education Inc., 2005
Greed Comes Home To Roost
The title plays an important part in this short story, as “the necklace” is what makes up the entire plot of the story. Without this exquisite piece of jewelry, the story would not have had the same effect on the reader. The main character of “The Necklace” is Mathilde Loisel, and the story is based on her accompanied by the necklace. Mathilde is a middle class woman who was never satisfied with being at her societal level. One evening her husband decides to cheer her up by bringing home an invitation to a ball, but instead of being happy, Mathilde turns down the offer because she claims she has nothing to wear. Her husband then makes a suggestion that she should go and borrow jewelry from a wealthy friend of hers to wear with the dress that he has given her the money to buy. Mathilde decides to borrow a diamond necklace or so she thought. Just as fate would have it, Mathilde losses the necklace. Mathilde’s fantasies about being wealthy, then come in, as they are so strong that they to translate into jealousy causing her to be ungrateful.
According to Edgar V. Roberts “a trait is a quality of mind or habitual mode of behavior that is evident in active and passive ways,”…page 64, jealousy can be identified as one. Jealousy is a trait as it is repetitive throughout the story and is perfectly portrayed by Mathilde. She is constantly jealous of those who she perceives to be above her class, and measures this by what people acquire. Her jealousy is so intense that it dampens her relationships both with her husband and a friend. Mathilde is jealous of the only friend she has, who is wealthy. She cannot bear to observe the lifestyle of her friend.
She seems to be materialistic at the beginning of the story as all she does is dream about the finer things in life rather than appreciating what she has. The relationship between her husband and her is strenuous, however he constantly tries to make her happy and says endearing things to her like “Ah, good old boiled beef’…page 53. He says this to point out to his wife that he is happy with the life he is living and she should be too. Pointing out to the reader that Mathilde is ungrateful of what she possesses and the husband thinks so too.
This jealousy led to Mathilde’s ungratefulness, because if she was satisfied with her status in life she would not have found it necessary to borrow the diamond necklace from her friend. She strongly believes that the necklace would have added value to her being and would better identify her with a higher social class. The author illustrates Mathilde’s ungratefulness through her actions and allows us to get a better understanding of her. Her husband suggests buying flowers and making a corsage out of them, because he knows that they are financially incapable. But, Mathilde gets upset with him for even suggesting that. By getting upset is an action the author uses to show the reader how ungrateful she is, especially to her husband, as she knows that he is making a wise decision.
Mathilde had to adjust to certain circumstances causing her to recognize the value of things she possessed; she now has to put away her pride. She had to adjust to being poor and pondered on life without the necklace and wondered if she would have been the same or a changed person. This shows us that she is a round character as she displays a dynamic personality. If the necklace was not there, would Mathilde have been the same as she was? Eventually her jealousy and greed would still cause negativity within her life.

Josh Green
Dr. Hobbs
Eng 122 CA17
2/25/09
Theme of Maupassant’s “The Necklace”: Just Costume Jewelry
The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant, is a tale of heartbreaking irony that leads a simple couple in France to the rock bottom of debt. In my opinion, an important driving theme of the story is Mathilde’s obvious class conflict. Mathilde always wants more, she’s unhappy with the mediocrity of her life and her aspirations of a wealthier lifestyle are anything but unattainable in her position. She’s married to a common clerk who is fully content with his life, but she has no desire to settle into this mentality with him.
The narrator begins by explaining Mathilde’s feelings of despair in her low social class, “She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries. She suffered because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly curtains” (Maupassant 5). This simple living killed her daily. She was a prisoner inside her ordinary life.
Mathilde’s character strives to live a lavished life whenever possible which leads her to bad decisions. She manipulates her husband for personal gain and as Roberts says, “characters and their actions can often be equated with certain ideas and values.” (Roberts 123). “She thought for a few moments, adding things up and thinking also of an amount that she could ask without getting an immediate refusal and a frightened outcry from the frugal clerk.” (Maupassant 7). I believe she represents a sense of unhappiness through greed. This also goes well to explain “interlocking ideas” when she obtains the necklace then looses it while be carless during the dinner party. (Roberts 123). Thus her experiences in debt and lower class living change her personality completely, “she had become the strong, hard, and rude woman of poor households.” (Maupassant 11).
Turns out Mathilde’s lost necklace was of no value and all her toils were in vein. If only Mathilde could have owned up to her mistake, she could have saved her and her husband years and years of anguish and labor. In the end it was her selfish dreaming and her greed that proved to be her downfall. I believe there’s a lesson to be learned from Mathilde’s misfortunes and that lesson is to just live life and be thankful for what you have.

Works Cited

Maupassant, Guy de . “The Necklace.” Writing about Literature by Edgar V. Roberts. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. 5-12.
Roberts, Edgar V. “Writing about Literature” Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006.
 

Josh Green
Dr. Hobbs
Eng 122 CA17
2/25/09
Theme of Maupassant’s “The Necklace”: Just Costume Jewelry
The Necklace, by Guy de Maupassant, is a tale of heartbreaking irony that leads a simple couple in France to the rock bottom of debt. In my opinion, an important driving theme of the story is Mathilde’s obvious class conflict. Mathilde always wants more, she’s unhappy with the mediocrity of her life and her aspirations of a wealthier lifestyle are anything but unattainable in her position. She’s married to a common clerk who is fully content with his life, but she has no desire to settle into this mentality with him.
The narrator begins by explaining Mathilde’s feelings of despair in her low social class, “She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries. She suffered because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly curtains” (Maupassant 5). This simple living killed her daily. She was a prisoner inside her ordinary life.
Mathilde’s character strives to live a lavished life whenever possible which leads her to bad decisions. She manipulates her husband for personal gain and as Roberts says, “characters and their actions can often be equated with certain ideas and values.” (Roberts 123). “She thought for a few moments, adding things up and thinking also of an amount that she could ask without getting an immediate refusal and a frightened outcry from the frugal clerk.” (Maupassant 7). I believe she represents a sense of unhappiness through greed. This also goes well to explain “interlocking ideas” when she obtains the necklace then looses it while be carless during the dinner party. (Roberts 123). Thus her experiences in debt and lower class living change her personality completely, “she had become the strong, hard, and rude woman of poor households.” (Maupassant 11).
Turns out Mathilde’s lost necklace was of no value and all her toils were in vein. If only Mathilde could have owned up to her mistake, she could have saved her and her husband years and years of anguish and labor. In the end it was her selfish dreaming and her greed that proved to be her downfall. I believe there’s a lesson to be learned from Mathilde’s misfortunes and that lesson is to just live life and be thankful for what you have.

Works Cited

Maupassant, Guy de . “The Necklace.” Writing about Literature by Edgar V. Roberts. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. 5-12.
Roberts, Edgar V. “Writing about Literature” Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006.
 

John Winans
Eng 122
Dr. Hobbs
04March2009
Was it Worth it? The Price of a Dream
In the story of “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant the use of a necklace as a symbol of wealth turns into lesson on honesty when left in the hands of a careless friend. It can be frustrating as a woman of the 19th century due to her place in society, but may also be rewarding if seen in the wealthiest of company. In order to impress onlookers, sometimes jewelry can persuade them into thinking one human is of more stature than another, but how far is a woman willing to go and at what cost will she impart? When caught in such a situation we see that the character of Mathilde would be better off honest of her mistake.
Mathilde is one woman whom has always dreamed of being wealthier than she was, not content with what she has she seeks to at least portray herself as being better off. The opportunity arises for her to attend a party of the elite, in order for her to misguide others into believing she belongs she talks her husband into spending money they do not have on luxurious dressings.
“Suddenly she found a superb diamond necklace in a black satin box, and her heart throbbed with desire for it. Her hands shook as she picked it up. She fastened it around her neck, watched it gleam at her throat, and looked at herself ecstatically.”(Maupassant, 7)
. Enter the necklace, borrowed from a friend without knowledge of worth Mathilde agrees to return it soon after the party only to lose it and having to replace it without being caught. If only she were honest about losing it she would have saved herself a lifetime of toil.
The allegory here is that the necklace was an item that was out of reach for her status. The desire for it like her desires for the finer things in life would lead to her demise. If she did not allow herself to let temptation overrule moral judgment she would have not been put into the position of jeopardizing her honesty when she lost it and lied about it. This cost her several times more hours, money and years than what the necklace was worth since it was just fake diamonds after all. This allegory finally leads to morals learned like: not to desire more, not to allow temptation to overcome judgment and integrity, and above all else be honest of your mistakes. The symbol of the necklace ultimately being fake shows that living a fake life, one that is not what it appears, can literally cost you your life. Was it worth it?

Works Cited

De Maupassant, Guy. “The Necklace”. Edgar V. Roberts. Writing About Literature. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005. 5-12
Roberts, Edgar V. Writing About Literature. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2005.

Joshua Brinson Brinson 01
Dr. Hobbs
English 122 CA17
05 march 2009

The use of symbolism in The Necklace

In the story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, there were many ways he incorporated symbolism throughout the story. The most symbolic aspects of the story to me were the way that Maupassant separated the poor and rich class by things such as jewelry, clothing, and appearance.
As stated in my first paragraph Maupassant uses symbolic references of clothing and jewelry to separate the classes. He does this by saying how richer women had a great since of style and taste and how they had more “finesse and elegant taste.” (pg 53) Also in the story he described, using symbolism, how Mathilde looked at the servant as a simple country girl that only did housework just because of the way she dressed and looked. (pg 53) jewelry also played a big role in the story as far as symbolism because even after Mathilde’s husband paid for her to get a new dress for the party, she still didn’t believe she looked good enough because she didn’t have any jewelry to wear, which symbolizes that if you wore jewelry you would fit in more with the rich class. (pg 55)

Brinson 02
Appearance also played a huge role as symbolism for The Necklace because that was another way that Maupassant seemed to separate the classes. In the story, when Mathilde was at the party, she was the most beautiful women there. This symbolizes that if you wear expensive looking jewelry and a nice dress you where looked at as a high class women even though Mathilde was really not. (pg 56) Another way that Maupassant uses appearance to symbolize the different social classes was when he described Mathilde at the end of the story. He said that Mrs. Loisel became “the strong, hardworking, and rude woman of poor households.” (pg 59) This symbolizes that the women that were in poor families all looked an acting the way that Mathilde did after hard work for ten years. He also used symbolism to show that the richer friend, Mrs. Forrestier, still looked “youthful, beautiful, and attractive.” (pg 60)

So that’s how Maupassant uses symbolism to separate the two social classes of rich and poor in the short story The Necklace. The way that he uses things such clothing, appearance, and jewelry to symbolize different classes is in my opinion correct because that is the way that most of us characterize people in world now. So I think that his use of symbolism was great.

Brinson 03
Works Cited
Maupassant, Guy de- The Necklace, A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, 2005

Josh Green
Dr. Hobbs
Eng 122 CA17
6, April 2009
Research Proposal: Maupassant’s Archetypal Approach
I have chosen to focus my research paper on the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. The paper will break down the importance of the archetypal approach in the story, or rather the opposite archetypal method. I found that Maupassant puts a cynical twist on the age old fairytale Cinderella. Instead of the uplifting rise to wealth from the position of servitude, Maupassant’s character Mathilde faces the decent from middle class to the slums thanks to her irresponsibility and dishonesty.
My research topics will include different examples of classic archetypes, focusing mainly on the fairytale Cinderella, the psychological nature of archetypes and The Necklace’s unusual take on the archetypal method. The Cinderella research will involve finding similarities and differences between the characters Cinderella and Mathilde from beginning to end of both stories. The bulk of my researching will come from Carl Jung and his psychological theories on archetypes and his studies on the conscious and unconscious state of mind. Since Jung’s studies are the base for any archetypes, I will be referencing them quite often in my paper. Then of course I will explain my overall reason for choosing the archetype method because of its presence in the short story the Necklace.
I plan on picking up more research material as the paper progresses and using the key archetype and Jung research should make my paper a quality one with many details as well as connections between all the researches and the short story.
 
Works Cited
Brown, Marcia. Cinderella. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 1954. The tale of a young woman who goes from servant to princess because
of the curiosity of a prince. This timeless fairytale displays good fortune for only the most deserving of people and will be my main comparison and contrast to the necklace.
Campbell, Joseph, and Carl Jung. The Portable Jung. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1974. The Portable Jung focuses on the collected compilation of all Jung’s most well known works including his theories of unconscious thought and archetypes. These theories will help with psychologically analyzing my characters.
Dowling, Colette. The Cinderella Complex. New York, NY: SummitBooks, 1981. Dowling attempts to pinpoint the very identity of females and the typical situation women face with their independence and internal struggle. The book sheds a little light on what the female characters go through in the stories and how they feel about the role they play.
Maupassant, Guy de . “The Necklace.” Writing about Literature by Edgar V. Roberts. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. 5-12. This classic tells the story of a French woman and her husband struggling out of debt in order to pay for a fake necklace that was worth little to no value in the end. This will be my focus with the archetypal method and Jung’s many studies of the human psyche.
O'Connor, Peter, and Carl Jung. Understanding Jung, Understanding Yourself. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985. Yet another collection of classic studies by Carl Jung that will shed light on his theories and give better understanding as to why the characters play certain roles on the short story The Necklace. Psychological understanding will be the key to my research paper.
Roberts, Edgar V. “Writing about Literature” Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. The many works of writing styles and methods by Roberts that will help my define the topic of the archetypal method. Then show me how to use it as effectively as possible in my paper.

Allyn Tuff
Dr. Hobbs
Academic Writing II
14 April 2009
How The Necklace is a Display of What Marxism Believes
This informative paper will be proving that the Short Story The Necklace, by Guy De Maupassant, is a display of Marxist Theory and it’s claim that inequality between economic classes causes social cause malaise to people living in a country. This will be brought out by giving a brief summary of the story so that the audience has an understanding of what happened in the story. Then I will give the history of the author Guy De Maupassant and how his time period and his social and economic status could explain why he would write a story about the problems with social and economic inequalities. After that I will on tell you about Karl Marx and what he believed Marxist to be. To add on to the list, I will lastly use the book Writing About Literature by Edger V. Roberts. This text will give additional information about Karl Marx himself, and Marxism.
The recourses I will be using in this paper is an article titled “Marxism” from the Encyclopedia Of Philosophy, which will explain the basic information about Marxism such as where it derived from, and what it means. I will also be using the book The Art of Fiction by Henry James, which gives information about Guy De Maupassant’s past and where he grew up. The last resource I will be using is an Essay from the book Literature and Society by George J. Worth. This will explain what social and economic situations were going on during the time that Guy De Maupassant was living.

Works Cited
Donald M. Borchert. “Encyclopedia Of Philosophy.” Marxism. Farmington Hills, Michigan. Thompson Gale, 2006. 735-741. This is an article from an encyclopedia of philosophy. It will be used to explain what Marxist Theorists believe about social and economic inequalities.
Guy De Maupassant. “The Necklace.” Mary McAleer Balkun. A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader: Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, 2005. 53-60. This is the primary text of the paper and will be used to display how Marxist theory is shown within it’s wording.
George J. Worth. “Maupassant In Victorian England.” Bernice Slote. Literature and Society. Omaha, Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, 1964. 30-37. This is a newspaper article that explains what kind of social and economic status that Maupassant had which might have lead to him writing a story about social and economic class inequalities.
Henry James. “Guy De Maupassant.” The Art of Fiction. New York, New York. Oxford University Press, 1948. 70-96. This is an article from the Oxford University Press. It will explain where Maupassant is from, and his background information of where he grew up, how he started writing, etc.
Edger V. Roberts. “Economic Determinism/Marxist.” Writing About Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, 2006. 188-189. This is an article that helps give additional information about Karl Marx himself, such as what he believed.

Dr. Hobbs
ENG 225
27 February 2009
Symbolism in Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace
Maupassant’s The Necklace is a short story of a woman who dreams of living the elegant lifestyle. The main character Matilda was born into the caste of middleclass clerks, but she dreams of being able to talk and walk with the wealthy upper class. One day her husband brings her home an invitation to a very exclusive ball, Matilda complains because she doesn’t have anything to wear. She borrows a diamond necklace and loses is that night, forever working in poverty to replace the necklace. The story is told to show how much Matilda wanted to be seen as upper class, but now she will live in real poverty forever working off the debt of a piece of jewelry. The Necklace symbolizes Matilda’s attempt to break out of 19th century French caste system. It’s show her will, to try and change the class systems, but it reminds us of what can happen when we try to be something we are not.
The Necklace which is the major symbol of the story is a contextual symbol. The reason it is contextual is because it is private to the text. It’s just like Edgar said “Objects and descriptions that are not universal symbols can be symbols only if they are made so in the work.”(Edgar 130). The necklace usually stands for jewelry in everyday life, but in this piece of literature it stands for progression to the upper class, right back to poverty. Matilda spends the rest of her life working off a piece of jewelry, when she could have easily just lost her friend by never returning it. This showed that Matilda was a strong willed woman. A strong willed woman could have changed her social class with out a piece of jewelry; Matilda just hadn’t seen that yet.
I believe the whole story can stand for the allegory, don’t pretend to be something your not. I believe this because this exactly what Matilda did. She paid a big price; her consequence was to spend the rest of her life in poverty and debt. This all stemmed from that one night. If she had been contempt with who she was, she would have never gone to the ball and lost the necklace. She was just to hell bent on hanging out with the wealthy. “I have been deprived the riches of most women” (Maupassant 54). The allegories moral is be your own person and you will succeed in life.

Work Cited

Roberts, Edgar. Writing About Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. 126-143.
Balkun, Mary. A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader Literature. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. (19-23 )

Allyn Tuff
Dr. Hobbs
Academic Writing II CA 16
21 April 2009
The Necklace’s Display of Marxist Theory
Marxist Theory has been around since the mid 1800s. In the midst of the theory being born and maturing there was an artist whose name was Guy De Maupassant. Maupassant wrote the short story The Necklace, which is where I bring in my thesis that the story The Necklace was written to display Marxist theory’s claim that inequality in social class causes malaise to the people living in a country.
The Necklace is about a woman named Mathilde Loisel, who wants desperately to be envied and looked up to. The problem was she was “born, as if by destiny, into a family of clerks and copyists” (Maupassant 53). The story introduces a struggle with Mathilde’s desire to be in a higher social class, but her current economic class quashes her dreams of being in it. The story later goes on to tell of how she borrowed her higher classed friend named Mrs.Forrestier’s necklace for a social banquet. When she returns to her house she finds that she has lost the necklace. After searching almost everywhere, she ends up having buy a replica of the necklace for 36,000 Francs so her friend wouldn’t know that she lost it. After paying the jeweler half of the price that she owes, she works her entire life to pay the jeweler back, while struggling to survive in a class that was now even lower then she started in. In the end she comes across Mrs. Forrestier (who is the friend that she borrowed the necklace from), and found out that the necklace was made of fake diamonds and easily could have been replaced with a modicum of money. The story’s plot contains elements of a term called “historical materialism” (Borchert 735). Historical materialism or the materialistic conception theory (as Karl Marx wished to say) is “the search for causes among human societies that creates the necessities of life” (Borchert 735). To relate this to the story, Mathilde was given an image that a higher economic status is what is expected of people in order to be part of a higher social class. This caused Mathilde to crave that diamond necklace that she thought was a necessity because it had an expensive look to it, which would make people believe she was a wealthy person. What actually happened was Mathilde was manipulated into thinking that the necklace gave her a higher economic status. According to Donald M. Borchert, “manipulation is primarily economic activity, or [it is] affected by it” (737). What Borchert means is that whenever manipulation takes place, it usually deals with economics and people’s desire to be higher up on the economic ladder. Many things add up in The Necklace that can prove that it contains Marxist elements such as class struggle, historical materialism, and economic manipulation. With that in mind, why would Maupassant want to write a story about Marxism?
Henry James, the author the book The Art of Fiction once said “Maupassant does not write with his best pen; the philosopher in his composition is perceptibly inferior to the story-teller” (71). Later in the text, he goes on to say “In short, as a commentator M. De Maupassant is slightly common, while as an artist he is wonderfully rare” (James 71). When dissecting these phrases, I understood that James felt when Maupassant tried to write about philosophy, he had difficulty being persuasive about his philosophical theory. What he could do extremely well was write amazing stories that would explain his philosophical opinion through their plots. I found this to be genuine evidence that The Necklace had a Marxist based plot. Maupassant was “Born Aug. 5, 1850 [and died] July 6, 1893” (Webster introductory). He was thought to have been born in “Chateau de Miromesnil,” (Webster paragraph 1) but later lived with his mom in Villa des Verguies, which was extremely stable economically. Being in a luxurious situation gave Maupassant a lot of opportunities to meet various authors and poets like “Gustave Flaubert” (Webster paragraph 3). Flaubert was “a friend of Maupassant's mother, and when Maupassant returned to Paris [from war] in 1871 Flaubert was asked to keep an eye on him” (Webster paragraph 3). Flaubert also helped in introducing the young Maupassaunt “to some of the leading writers of the time, including Émile Zola, Ivan Turgenev, Édmond de Goncourt, and Henry James” (Webster Paragraph 3). This is most likely where Maupassant was able to hear of the philosophical ideas that those writers spoke of. According to George J. Worth, who wrote a newspaper article for the University of Kansas, “Maupassant was bound to exert an influence on the new patterns” (Worth 30). This means Maupassant had an influence for writing about new patterns of European society. This is where Karl Marx fits into the ideas expressed by Maupassant.
During Maupassant’s lifetime, European culture was experiencing influence from a philosopher and political theorist named Karl Marx, of which Marxist theory is named. Karl Marx was born in “1818 [and died in] 1883” (Roberts 188). According to Edger V. Roberts, author of Writing About Literature, Marx had a theory that “the primary source of life was economic, and he saw society as an opposition between capitalist and working classes” (188). Marx was also credited the founder of Communism by many people. Roberts also wrote that “The concept of cultural and economic determinism is one of the major political ideas of the nineteenth century” (188). He later wrote “The Literature that emerged from this kind of analysis features individuals in the grips of the class struggle” (188). The individual that Guy De Maupassant (who published literature during the 19th century and during Marx’s time of lecture) features in his short story is Mathilde who, like Roberts said is experiencing a struggle between the capitalist class and the working class. In The Necklace, Maupassant used the literature style that was a result of Marxism called Proletarian Literature. Roberts also defined Proletarian Literature, saying that it “emphasizes persons of the lower class; the poor and oppressed who spend their lives in an endless drudgery and misery, and whose attempts to rise above their disadvantages usually result in renewed suppression” (188). Proletarian Literature (derived from Marxism) according to Robert’s explanation, is a perfect example of how Maupassant displays Marxism in The Necklace because it is exactly what happens to Mathilde.
The Necklace and many other stories written by Maupassant expressed opinions and emotions that Maupassant had experienced and comprehended throughout his life. According to the Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature, Maupassant “volunteered to serve in the army [in the Franco-Prussian War], and his firsthand experience of war was to provide him with the material for some of his finest stories” (Webster paragraph 1). With this experience of war, Maupassant could have seen many disturbing things and killed many men. This would most likely cause Maupassant to grow angry towards the European philosophy and desire a change so that war would come to an end. With this thought in mind, Marxism could have easily been a desire for Maupassant to express through The Necklace because of it’s new and efficient beliefs. This brings me to my conclusion.
Maupassant was living in a time where Marxism was fully alive and very closely scrutinized to see if it was possible, and if it would work. Being that this philosophy was so popular in the European culture, Maupassant definitely could have wrote his story The Necklace with the elements of Marxism. Nobody will ever know what Maupassant’s real opinion of the European culture was, or that The Necklace really was based on Marxism. Nevertheless, the reason that I, and hopefully my audience believes my thesis that Maupassant’s The Necklace is based on Marxist theory’s claim that inequality in social class causes malaise to the people living in a country is right is because of the hard facts that were displayed in infra. These were facts such as where Maupassant grew up and who he was associated with. Other statements that prove my thesis are the ones about Proletarian Literature that suggested that The Necklace was about a person who is struggling between the capitalist and working classes. All of the Facts that were given throughout this informative paper should give plenty of reason to believe the The Necklace contained Marxist elements, and that the Marxist theory’s claim about economy and social classes causing Malaise to countries. In the end, it is up to the audience to decide what they think after reading this paper.

Works Cited
Donald M. Borchert. “Encyclopedia Of Philosophy.” Marxism. Farmington Hills, Michigan. Thompson Gale, 2006. 735-741. This is an article that tells about Marxist beliefs. It will be used to explain what Marxist Theorists believe about social and economic inequalities.
Guy De Maupassant. “The Necklace.” Mary McAleer Balkun. A Prentice Hall Pocket Reader: Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, 2005. 53-60. This is the primary text of the paper and will be used to display how Marxist theory is shown within it’s wording.
George J. Worth. “Maupassant In Victorian England.” Bernice Slote. Literature and Society. Omaha, Nebraska. University of Nebraska Press, 1964. 30-37. This is a newspaper article that explains what kind of social and economic status that Maupassant had which might have lead to him writing a story about social and economic class inequalities.
Henry James. “Guy De Maupassant.” The Art of Fiction. New York, New York. Oxford University Press, 1948. 70-96. This is an article that gives biographical information about maupassant. It will explain where Maupassant is from, and his background information of where he grew up, how he started writing, etc.
Edger V. Roberts. “Economic Determinism/Marxist.” Writing About Literature. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Pearson, 2006. 188-189. This is an article that helps give additional information about Karl Marx himself, such as what he believed. It will be used to further the information given for this paper
“Maupassant, Guy de.” Merriam Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature. Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1995. Literature Resource Center. Gale. ICUF. 19 Apr. 2009 . This is an article that gives information of Maupassant’s life. It will be used to tell about how he was introduced to other philosophers.

Josh Green
Dr. Hobbs
Eng 122 CA17
16, April 2009
Maupassant’s Anti-Archetypal Approach in The Necklace
I have chosen to focus my research paper on the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and the archetypal method. This paper will break down the importance of the archetypal approach in the story, or rather the opposite archetypal method used to twist the common perception of popular fiction. I found that Maupassant puts a cynical twist on the age old fairytale Cinderella. The story of Cinderella is the tale of a young girl forced to serve but able to win the heart of a Prince and become the princess of all the land. She rose from rags to riches because of her good faith and perseverance but instead of the uplifting rise to wealth from the position of servitude, Maupassant’s character Mathilde faces the decent from middle class to the slums due to her irresponsibility and dishonesty.
My research topics include different examples of classic archetypes and folklore, focusing mainly on the fairytale Cinderella, the psychological nature of archetypes and The Necklace’s unusual take on the archetypal twist. The Cinderella comparison will involve finding similarities and differences between the characters Cinderella and Mathilde from beginning to end of both stories. The bulk of my researching will come from Carl Jung and his psychological theories on archetypes and his studies on the conscious and unconscious state of mind compiled by Joseph Campbell. Since Jung’s studies are the base for any archetypes, I will be referencing them quite often in this paper. The Necklace is a unique story with a twisted ending that contradicts all previous archetypes in the history of literature.
Carl Jung is renowned for his psychological studies of archetypes and the human psyche. Jung states that there are as many archetypes as there are typical situations in life, (O’Connor 17) but unlike the typical situation in most literature, Maupassant’s character Mathilde faces a much grimmer fate. In the Robert’s text, archetypes are defined as certain patterns in human life that are similar or symbolic in throughout various cultures and historical times (Roberts 190). In Cinderella’s case there’s the helpless, underappreciated young woman who, by magical circumstances, makes it to a ball where she meets a most handsome prince. They fall in love after their brief meeting showing that love can truly come from first sight then he searches for her hoping to make her his queen. In the end her evil step-mother and step sisters get what they deserve and she marries the man of her dreams. That kind of happy fairytale ending is typical for our culture and really everyone’s culture. It takes a brave author to write a story whose ending is one of regret and irony.
Mathilde doesn’t necessarily suffer from the same troubles as the normal women do in most folklore but she does still suffer greatly from the Cinderella complex. Colette Dowling attempts to define women as being motivated by an unconscious desire to be taken care of as a fear of independence and Mathilde certainly wishes she could break that barrier. Maupassant opens The Necklace by expressing Mathilde’s feelings of despair in her low social class, “She suffered constantly, feeling herself destined for all delicacies and luxuries. She suffered because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly curtains” (Maupassant 5). This simple living killed her daily. She was a prisoner inside her ordinary life. She served no one but she still longed for more out of life. Mathilde married a common man because of love and then she felt she could no longer be independent or happy without wealth in her current class. This again ties into her conscious train of thought and her collective unconscious. Jung concluded that there was a myth-creating level of mind, common to both psychotics and normals and common also to people of different times and different cultures. This level of the mind he came to call the collective unconscious. (O’Connor 14)
The character Mathilde embodies is one whose life is completely normal but she is still stuck in the common role of the house wife. Denied independence and the life she truly wants for herself. So she goes to the extremes and manipulates like an example of an evil archetype would do to get what she wants. Also playing off the thought that all women are manipulative and deceiving behind the backs of others. The Necklace finds some common grouds with the typical archetypal approach but it’s truly the twisted ending that sets Maupassant apart from other authors.
When Mathilde is invited to the dinner at the Ministry of Education she immediately gets the notion that this is her chance to shine and it’s her chance for a night of independence. She immerses herself fully into the wealthy lifestyle with a new dress and a beautiful necklace borrowed from her friend. This situation is similar to Cinderella’s invitation to the kingdom for the ball, but instead of a necklace, Cinderella receives a beautiful pair of glass slippers. So far Maupassant sets the story up in a classic fashion with all the correct components that would follow in the footsteps of the most timeless fairytales but this is where his evil genius comes in. Mathilde makes her way to the ball feeling prettier than ever. She receives a great deal of attention and all in attendance admire her for both her beauty and wits. By the end of the night, Mathilde and her husband are in for the evening when she realizes that the beautiful and seemingly expensive necklace she borrowed was now nowhere to be found. There was no noble prince in this story to back her up. The story now takes a turn towards the harsh reality, showing us that fairytale ending don’t always come true and that happiness is no certainty in us human beings. After losing the necklace, Mathilde finds herself in a personal dilemma between telling her friend about her lost necklace and owning up to her irresponsibility or find a way to replace it. Unfortunately she chooses the hard way that would only cause her more trouble in the years to come.
The question is why did she decide that going out of her way to replace the necklace was the best option? Maybe she thought that trying to fix the situation without her friend’s knowledge would make her feel less guilty and maybe even cover up the fact that there was ever a disturbance in the first place. After all what a person doesn’t know won’t hurt them. So Mathilde and her husband let their unconscious need to fix the problem get the best of them and instead of making the rational decision they began to shop for other necklaces similar to the one that was lost. When they finally found the necklace they needed they began to take out a series of loans that would drive them deep into debt. The couple took several jobs and personal loans to pay for this expensive piece of jewelry, never saying a word to Mathilde’s friend for fear of scrutiny. They lost their comfortable home and gained a deal of hardship. Mathilde’s experiences in debt and lower class living change her personality completely, “she had become the strong, hard, and rude woman of poor households.” (Maupassant 11). She becomes the very opposite of what she always wanted and the opposite of what we are accustomed to in our literature. Years and years later Mathilde find her friend on the street but her friend barely recognized her because she was no longer a gently pretty woman of the middle class, the lifestyle and hard labor made her older and gray. Mathilde tells her about the whole necklace ordeal and how she and her husband had been working for years to pay it off. It turns out that the necklace was nowhere near the value Mathilde originally thought, it was worth about as much as Mathilde’s dress she wore to the dinner that night years ago. Mathilde’s lost necklace wasn’t worth the precious time put into redeeming it and all her toils were in vein. If only Mathilde could have owned up to her mistake, she could have saved her and her husband years and years of anguish and labor.
That type of ending is unusual among many works of literature and in a way it brings a sense of realism to this fairytale fiction genre. It promotes despair and regret rather than that typical “everyone lives happily ever after” garbage. This work teaches more valuable lessons of responsibility and not taking your life for granted because you could always be worse off. I must agree that the warm feeling you get after reading about a character’s triumphs is great but the archetypes aren’t always followed piece by piece and The Necklace is a prime example of one of those unique piece of literature. “Archetypal images hold out the great possibility of making conscious certainly deeply held and felt unconscious forces. In this way, they further the psychological evolution of mankind. In the image form some contact can be made with archetypal forces, and man can take one small step toward self-realization” (O’Connor 23)
 
Works Cited
Brown, Marcia. Cinderella. New York, New York: Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing Division, 1954. The tale of a young woman who goes from servant to princess because
of the curiosity of a prince. This timeless fairytale displays good fortune for only the most deserving of people and will be my main comparison and contrast to the necklace.
Campbell, Joseph, and Carl Jung. The Portable Jung. 7th ed. New York, N.Y.: The Viking Press, 1974. The Portable Jung focuses on the collected compilation of all Jung’s most well known works including his theories of unconscious thought and archetypes. These theories will help with psychologically analyzing my characters.
Dowling, Colette. The Cinderella Complex. New York, NY: SummitBooks, 1981. Dowling attempts to pinpoint the very identity of females and the typical situation women face with their independence and internal struggle. The book sheds a little light on what the female characters go through in the stories and how they feel about the role they play.
Maupassant, Guy de . “The Necklace.” Writing about Literature by Edgar V. Roberts. Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. 5-12. This classic tells the story of a French woman and her husband struggling out of debt in order to pay for a fake necklace that was worth little to no value in the end. This will be my focus with the archetypal method and Jung’s many studies of the human psyche.
O'Connor, Peter, and Carl Jung. Understanding Jung, Understanding Yourself. Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1985. Yet another collection of classic studies by Carl Jung that will shed light on his theories and give better understanding as to why the characters play certain roles on the short story The Necklace. Psychological understanding will be the key to my research paper.
Roberts, Edgar V. “Writing about Literature” Brief 11th ed. Upper Saddle River. NJ: Pearson, 2006. The many works of writing styles and methods by Roberts that will help my define the topic of the archetypal method. Then show me how to use it as effectively as possible in my paper.