ENGLISH 9A NOVEMBER 2013

GUY DE MAUPASSANT

“THE NECKLACE”

b. 1850 in Normandy, France into a wealthy bourgeois (middle-class) family

Met the writer Gustave Flaubert, a friend of his mom’s, as a teen. Flaubert would become a major influence on his writing

Worked as a clerk for the Navy dept., keeping records and accounts

Wrote the majority of his 300 short stories in his thirties. “The Necklace” (“La Parure” was published in the newspaper Le Gaulois in 1884).

Never married; became more reclusive as he grew older and was institutionalized after attempting suicide in 1891

Contracted syphilis in his youth; died in 1893 and was buried in Cimetiere du Montparnasse, Paris

REALISM IN LITERATURE

Began in mid-nineteenth century France

Centered on middle class characters—how they lived, what they valued

Portrayed actions and consequences with very little or no commentary/judgment

Everyday events hold deeper meaning

SETTING: An apartment on the Rue des Martyrs, circa 1884

SETTING: A high society ball held by the Minister of Education

An embankment along the River SeineEmbankment= a stone wall built to prevent a river from flooding an area

The Champs-Élysées is a highly fashionable tree-lined street in Paris where people go to see and be seen

The carriages in this photo are called broughams.

THE BOURGEOISIE • Members focus

on acquiring wealth and moving up in society

• Consumerism/materialism: everything can be bought, including status

• Members use material objects to announce their class/wealth and to separate themselves from the working classes (the proletariat)

CHARACTERS + P.O.V. (THIRD PERSON)

MATHILDE LOISEL= pretty but poor protagonist; lives a life she thinks is beneath her and is mostly miserable.

MONSIEUR LOISEL= Mathilde’s devoted husband; works as a civil servant (government employee)

MME. JEANNE FORESTIER= Mathilde’s rich friend from school; lets Mathilde borrow one of her diamond necklaces

PREVIEW OF CONFLICTShe was born one of those pretty, charming young

women who are born, as if by an error of Fate, into a petty official’s family. She had no dowry, no hopes, not the slightest chance of being appreciated, understood, loved, and married by a rich and distinguished man; so she slipped into marriage with a minor civil servant at the Ministry of Education.

Mme. Loisel’s happiness is tied to her social status.

How do the underlined words hint at problems to come in the story?

How much control do we have over our social status? How much control do we have over our own happiness?

This is what Mme. Loisel’s life is like …

This is what Mme. Loisel wishes her life was like …

PREVIEW OF THEME

Mathilde’s hunger for a better life will lead to consequences for both her and her husband.

As you read, think about: • What does she have to

lose? • What is she willing to

give up for what she wants?

• What would you be willing to give up for what you want?

SYMBOLS

The Diamond Necklace Martyrs (people who suffer/die for their beliefs

SITUATIONAL IRONY:

An event occurs that directly contradicts expectations of characters and readers; the outcome of some story action isn’t what is expected Situational irony in “The

Story of an Hour”: we, like the characters, don’t expect Brently Mallard to still be alive at the end

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

1. What does the diamond necklace of the title symbolize to Mme. Loisel? What does the necklace symbolize to its owner?

2. Who do you think is responsible for the way the story turns out? How does this relate to the theme of the story?

3. Why do authors use irony in their fiction? Why does Maupassant use situational irony in this story?