The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Essay Example for Free

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant Essay I. iNTRODUCTION TO FRENCH LITERATURE French literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens of other nations such as Belgium, Switzerland, Canada, Senegal, Algeria, Morocco, etc. is referred to as Francophone literature. As of 2006, French writers have been awarded more Nobel Prizes in Literature than novelists, poets and essayists of any other country. France itself ranks first in the list of Nobel Prizes in literature by country. The French language is a romance dialect derived from Vulgar Latin (non-standard Latin) and heavily influenced principally by Celtic and Frankish. Beginning in the 11th century, literature written in medieval French was one of the oldest vernacular (non-Latin) literatures in western Europe and it became a key source of literary themes in the Middle Ages across the continent. Although the European prominence of French literature was eclipsed in part by vernacular literature in Italy in the 14th century, literature in France in the 16th century underwent a major creative evolution, and through the political and artistic programs of the Ancien Rà ©gime, French literature came to dominate European letters in the 17th century. In the 18th century, French became the literary lingua franca and diplomatic language of western Europe (and, to a certain degree, in America), and French letters have had a profound impact on all European and American literary traditions while at the same time being heavily influenced by these other national traditions (for example: British and German Romanticism in the nineteenth century). French literary developments of the 19th and 20th centuries have had a particularly strong effect on modern world literature, including: symbolism, naturalism, the roman-fleuves of Balzac, Zola and Proust, surrealism, existentialism, and the Theatre of the Absurd. French imperialism and colonialism in the Americas, Africa, and the far East have brought the French language to non-European cultures that are transforming and adding to the French literary experience today. II. aUthor’s biography Guy de Maupassant Henri-Renà ©-Albert-Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at the chà ¢teau de Miromesnil, near Dieppe in the Seine-Infà ©rieure (now Seine-Maritime) department in France. He was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de Maupassant, both from prosperous bourgeois families. When Maupassant was 37 and his brother Hervà © was five, his mother, an independent-minded woman, risked social disgrace to obtain a legal separation from her husband. After the separation, Le Poittevin kept her two sons, the elder Guy and younger Hervà ©. With the father’s absence, Maupassant’s mother became the most influential figure in the young boy’s life. She was an exceptionally well read woman and was very fond of classical literature, especially Shakespeare. Until the age of thirteen, Guy happily lived with his mother, to whom he was deeply devoted, at Étretat, in the Villa des Verguies, where, between the sea and the luxuriant countryside, he grew very fond of fishing and outdoor activities. III. Elements of a Short Story III. Elements of a Short Story A. Setting of the Story * Time: 19th Century, Second Half * Place: Paris, France B. Characters: * Mathilde Loisel-a pretty young woman born into a common, middle-class family. She yearns for wealth, privileges, and fashions of highborn young ladies * Monsieur Loisel-a government clerk in the Ministry of Education whom Mathilde marries * Madame Jeanne Forestier-a friend of Mathilde’s. She allows Mathilde to borrow a necklace to wear to a gala social event. * Loisel Housemaid-a girl from Brittany who does the Loisel’s housework. Her presence reminds Mathilde of her own status as a commoner * C. Plot C. Plot Monsieur and Madame Georges Rampounneau-Minister of Education, and his wife. They invite the Loisels to the party. C1. Exposition Mathilde is a pretty and charming woman, born of simple roots and humble beginnings, relished with both the love and warmth of a family though not well-off financially yet considerably contemporary to the families in the middle of the hierarchy. She was married to Monsieur Loisel, a government clerk who works round-the-clock at the Ministry of Education. She has always dreamt of a life of luxury and leisure, with attentive maidservants, a large home decorated with coveted linens, expensive jewels and fancy silverware. Mortified of the humiliating state she’s in, she no longer visits Madame Forestier, an old friend of hers. C2. Rising Action The Loisels receive an envelope with a letter inviting them to an affair at the Ministry of Education, as honored guests of Monsieur Georges Rampouneau, Head and Minister to Education. Monsiuer Loisel gets an expression completely opposite to what he was expecting for. Mathilde grows worried and tirelessly distraught for she has not a single dress to wear for the occasion. She needs something extravagant and fancy, but a piece of clothing of such delicate formality would cost Monsieur Loisel a sum of four hundred Francs-the exact amount he’s been saving for to buy himself a rifle. The day of the fete draws nearer, and Mathilde becomes increasingly downcast and hopeless. Loisel begins to ask Mathilde the cause of her misery, and is later greeted with an answer of coveted jewelry. Monsieur Loisel suggests that she borrows jewels from her friend, Madame Jeanne Forestier. Mathilde wastes no time and visits her the following morning. Madame Forestier, agreeable and willing to coope rate, opens a box and tells her to choose one. Glittering jewels and sought-after handcrafted gems later, Mathilde cherry-picks a necklace, one encrusted with diamonds of genuine value. C3. Climax The day of the party comes and Mathilde becomes the center of everybody’s attention. Highly-acquainted men of noble stature all ask who she is and start to line-up to dance with her. The Loisels revel in joy and merriment and left no longer than four in the morning. On their way out, Monsiuer Loisel puts a wrap around Mathilde’s shoulders-a piece of clothing from her daily wardrobe. She hurries out hastily to prevent herself from being seen in it. Subject to the frigid coldness of the early morning, they look for means of transportation. They later find a cab and are took back home to the Rues de Martyrs. In her bedroom, Mathilde stands before the mirror and gazes intently at the woman who has beguiled so many men. Then out of sheer horror, she untimely realizes that the necklace is gone. Mathilde begins to search through their things while Monsiuer Loisel retraces their steps, hopeful that he might stumble across the necklace they’ve lost. With bitter hopes and foul resentment, they find nothing and return empty-handed. C4. Falling Action Mathilde decides to write to Madame Forestier, informing her that the necklace’s clasp has been broken and is being repaired. They conclude that their only recourse is to replace it all in due time. They traverse Paris and go from jeweler to jeweler, hoping to know how a necklace of such appraisal could cost them. The Loisels find one at the Palais Royal, with a staggering value of thirty-six thousand Francs. To raise enough money, Monsiuer Loisel spends all of his savings and decides to borrow the rest, writing promissory notes and placing signature after signature on numerous contracts. The Loisels manage to buy it, and Mathilde takes it to Madame Forestier, who is considerably aggravated at how late it was given. The couple, thereafter, struggles to pay their debt. Mathilde dismisses their housemaid and does the housework herself-washing dishes, taking out garbage, and fulfilling other lowly pains. Monsieur Loisel, on the other hand, shifts to a bookkeeper and copyist. C5. Denouement A decade later, they manage to free themselves from debt. By this time, Mathilde is a full-on unmistakable commoner. She staggers with rough hands, unornamented clothes, and disheveled hair. Occasionally, she reminisces back to the day when she still had the necklace and when so many men admired her. What, then, would have happened if she never lost the necklace in the first place? On one Sunday morning at the Champs Elysees, she encounters Madame Forestier. Mathilde addresses her yet Madame Forestier vaguely remembers anything at the spark of insight. After Mathilde identifies herself, she decides to tell her the truth. There would be no consequence or harm in fessing up since the necklace has already been paid full-on in Francs now-through all those painstaking nights of menial tasks and humble labors, working tirelessly to measure up to her obligation. But Mathilde never knew the other side of the story when she borrowed the necklace on that fateful day in France. It was fake, a non-discrete imitation with counterfeit diamonds and phony encrusted jewels. At most, it was worth five-hundred Francs, a sum evidently not worth wasting ten long years on staggering debt. C6. Theme * Appearances are Deceiving * Appearances are Deceiving Mathilde Loisel believed the necklace genuine the moment she saw it. Likewise, she believed that all the people at the party were real, genuine human beings because of their social standing and their possessions. The necklace, of course, was a fake. And, Maupassant implies, so were the people at the party who judged her on her outward appearance. v. creative presentation Appearances are Appearances are deceiving. not everything deceiving. not everything is always as it seems. is always as it seems. Appearances are deceiving. Things are not always as they seem. Things, even people, are not solely judged on the surface. The things you do, the words you speak, and the silence of your thoughts say a lot about who you are and where you’ve come from. A piece of fruit may prove fresh and clean on the outside, but may turn out rotten and uncannily unkempt on the inside. A piece of jewelry may seem pretty and coveted on the surface, but may soon prove fabricated and fake. To simply judge a book by its cover or to impulsively classify people by the color of their skin never does you any good. If you are too quick to judge and too hasty to comprehend, then judgment will toil and get the best of you. Resentment comes later, and we learn from our mistakes. Yet it is also better and pointedly wiser to practice prudence in thoughts, and patience in both scrutiny and human criticism. Our perspective towards ordinary people who are often subdued by irrational discrimination and stereotypical violence tells a lot about ourselves. The human mind is as subtle as a piece of paper; it is easily swerved and effortlessly influenced, either by moral thoughts or unethical standpoints and failures. Einstein once said, â€Å"Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.† If you constantly judge failure after failure and jump hastily into conclusions, people are bound to stagger and take fault after fault as wounds that scar and never heal. They are eventually lead to wallow in depression and self-pity; to wander aimlessly in the void of anxiety and thoughtless failure. You never know how a person does things if you never give them the chance to prove themselves. Everybody is different. We stand out in different ways-at different things. If you fail to give yourself the opportunity to grasp the beauty in their flaws, you need to change yourself. The only factor troubling the equation, the only error that blocks common thought is you and your petty way of thinking. In all honesty, there is nothing wrong with people with defects or disabilities. If negativity arrives and consumes you, then the problem is not them, it’s you-inside you. The sheer lack of comprehension devours anything that’s left. And once it does, reasons are left unnoticed and haplessly ignored. Guy de Maupassant’s â€Å"The Necklace† introduced me to a whole new chapter towards the true meaning of Acceptance. I realized that we can never fully understand what real happiness feels like if we can’t find it within ourselves to let go of our immeasurably high standards in life and accept ourselves for who we are, and what we’ve gone through. Acceptance is about reeling in optimism to forego negativity; it’s about giving up on false hopes and ending broken promises. Life is almost always unfair. We fall down and wallow at depression. We spend too much time focusing on closed doors that we fail to notice the one that’s newly been opened for us. We waste our time meddling with toilsome thoughts on depravity and failure-blinded by both our errors and resentments-that we lose track of what it is that truly matters: the truth. We overshadow the truthiness of our thoughts by allowing self-doubt and conceit to smother us mercilessly. We lose the capacity to think rationally and suffocate in total despair and agony-almost to the point of self-infliction and hate. But Hatred is vindictive. It is spiteful. It is pitiless, and hostile. We lose our chances the moment we lose ourselves. And when we lose our chances-the countless opportunities that have been shed to veer us towards acceptance-we lose at life. It is awfully bitter end, for an awfully bitter life. People are people, and we can never change that. We are subtly driven to maddening influence and suffer relentlessly under the vetoes of hindsight. The human society possesses traits of opposing sides. Half refer to people who have fallen bitterly from grace and think ill of the other half-those who relish in the context of ecstasy and juvenile jubilation; of wonders at liberty of both haste and lustful agitation. Jealousy is unwarranted. It is the birthplace of dysfunctional delusion; the root of hapless paranoia. The human mind easily surrenders to maddening oppression. Obstinate intolerance toils with the frailty of innocence and insensibility. A person is blessed with a myriad of chances and opportunities. A chance to live, a chance to love, a chance to learn, and a chance to grow. But when push comes to shove, oftentimes there’s little we can rummage through; chances are left tainted and severed, and hopes grow unwarranted and shattered. We are fragile little things. When we give up, we break. And when we lose, we fall. To grow a tiny little seedling, it needs to be nurtured and shown affection. To grow an innocent human being, it needs to be loved and shown undivided attention. When we care, it shows. It materializes as words of driven thought-as actions of wholly profound meaning. People who grow dissatisfied and tainted with hatred are people who need guidance and love; an atmosphere that reverberates the echoes of paradise and glory; an area isolated from fear, a place sequestered from sorrow. Dreams come true, and nothing is impossible. Reality might be cruel, but optimism is endless. We fall from grace and deliciate in vainglory-traits unmistakable of derivative human nature yet never inescapable. Happy endings are real, nightmares are short. Life is a bittersweet fantasy-we have our ups, and we have our downs. We fail and we succeed. We fall but strive to stand up. The important thing is to try, and to never stop trying.

A Critical Evaluation of Charles De Gaulles Handling of the Algerian Insurrection :: European Europe History

A Critical Evaluation of Charles De Gaulle's Handling of the Algerian Insurrection The 1950s was not a particularly good decade for France. The Fourth Republic, which had been established in the aftermath of the Second World War, remained unstable and lurched from crisis to crisis. Between 1946 and 1954, there had been a war in French Indo-China, between a nationalist force under Ho Chi Minh and the French. The war was long and bitter and towards the end, the French suffered the ignominy of losing the major fortress of Dien Bien Phu to the guerrillas on 7 May 1954. An armistice was sought with Ho Chi Minh, and the nations of North and South Vietnam emerged from the ashes of the colony. It is entirely likely that the success of the guerrillas influenced the Algerian insurrectionists, the National Liberation Front(FLN), in tactics and in the idea that the time was ripe to strike. It is clear that the FLN employed similar methods to those developed by the nationalists under Ho Chi Minh.1 For several months, France was at peace. The insurrection began on 1 November 1954. The insurrection precipitated the fall of the Fourth Republic. Charles de Gaulle, hero of the Second World War, became President of France in 1958, and was intent on securing a political solution to the insurrection, rather than one based on force. His efforts were largely successful in avoiding a civil war in France, and ending the insurgency - although it took four years to do so. It has been estimated that more than a million Algerians died in the insurrection.2 Before 1954, Algeria was not considered to be a French colony - rather it was seen as an integral part of France. The region was composed of departments, like those of the mainland. There were over a million white French nationals living in Algeria at the time and around eight million Muslims.3 This was a greater proportion of French nationals than in the other major North African colonies of France - Morocco, and Tunisia.4 Although there were benefits to remaining with France, the colonial administration was heavily weighed against the Muslims - particularly with regards to voting rights. In 1936, for instance, the Popular Front Government of Blum introduced legislation to the Assembly proposing to extend French citizenship to over twenty thousand Algerian Muslims.5 The initiative failed when all the European mayors of Algerian towns resigned in protest.

Poetry comparison essay- ‘Poem’ and ‘Sonnet 19’ Essay

For my assignment I am going to compare two sonnets, written in early-mid 1590 and the second in 1990s, by popular poets William Shakespeare and Simon Armitage. I will be writing about their content, meaning, structure, style, rhyme pattern, persona, imagery, language and the tone set in each piece of writing and comparing how each characteristic is similar and different. In the early-mid 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote a sonnet, in his own style – Shakespearean – in the traditional context: love. It was vaguely called ‘Sonnet 19’, which suggests he is displaying that perhaps he was not completely connected, emotionally, with the sonnet. However, this fact could be contradicted in the way that all his sonnets were simply identified with a number, this particular one not being different. The sonnet itself is written as a persona; it is meant to be perceived as coming from a character, possibly from one of his plays? It is about the loved one of the persona, aging with time, and the narrator pleading to ‘devouring’ Time (time, in this case, being classed as a noun) that He shouldn’t age his loved one. In this sense, it is a traditional sonnet; it is about love. Consisting of fourteen lines, and a structure of an octane, followed by a quatrane and then a couplet; it is a typical Shakespearean sonnet. This poem has a rhyme scheme of ABAB, CDCD, EFEF for the first twelve lines of it, however for the final couplet; a simple GG is used instead. This rhyme scheme gives a rhythm to the sonnet, and creates a less drastic and eerie atmosphere when reading; because the rhythm is more bouncy that that of a poem without the use of direct, full rhyme. Also, the iambic pentameter present in the sonnet gives out a more flowing beat when reading the poem. It also makes the sonnet seem a little less dark and tense, as it releases ease for the readers. The ten syllables on each line are important to the poem, to increase flow and to possibly give the audience a little humor; whether or not this was purposeful we don’t know. But we do know Shakespeare mean to include ten syllables in each and every line of ‘Sonnet 19’. The first octane introducing the problem the persona is faced with: in this case the fear that the one he loves will be negatively affected by time. This tells the reader what the person the poem is directed from, is possibly quite shallow- due to the fact he pleads with ‘Devouring Time’ not to ‘carve with thy hours [his] love’s fair brow’. This means that he doesn’t want time to have an effect on his loved one’s appearance, which brings out a hint of arrogance from the ‘writer’. However, this point can be disregarded by the time the reader gets to the couplet at the conclusion of the text. The persona comes to the compromise that, even if time does eat away at his loved one, the beauty and youth will exist forever in his writing; ‘[his] love shall in [his] verse ever live young’. Referring back to the first eight lines of the sonnet, lots of imagery is used in the introduction. At first, the imagery creates slightly more stubborn and fierce images; as if the persona is ordering Time to not touch his loved one. However, on the ninth line, ‘O carve not with thy hours my love’s fair brow’ gives the reader the impression that the persona is suddenly changing his attitude, and possibly realising the harder sense that was given off in the first octane. It paints an image of him almost begging, given the ‘O’ put as the opening to the line softens his tone sufficiently to create an imagery that puts the persona in a much less dominant place. Imagery in the first octane includes more angry phases, as he is almost demanding an answer for Time’s cruelty to the Earth, and to people and animals. This is shown through lines such as, ‘[Time] plucks the keen teeth from the tiger’s jaws’. This is saying that Time makes a tiger age, and therefore be drawn to less youthful features; loss of teeth, sufficiently less strength etc. But instead of saying this, a harsh image of somebody ferociously pulling the set of a tiger’s teeth out is created to add the effect of anger which has overcome the persona. The text itself is about love- along with the majority of other traditional sonnets. However, the poem is believed to be addressed to a man, however this doesn’t indicate a homosexual relationship between the persona and the subject. It is believed that Shakespeare may have been gay, but it will never be known for sure and this is just one interpretation of his writing. The second sonnet I am going to compare is one of which by Simon Armitage and is called, yet again- vaguely, ‘Poem’. Already, a similarity is appearing between the two sonnets with just the name and the appearance of a poor connection between the poet and the actual piece of writing. The sonnet was written in the 1990’s and so will be much newer than that of Shakespeare’s, but there are in fact many similarities between the two, despite the time difference. Once again, the same structure has been used; first an octane, then a quatrane and a couplet to end with. The eight lines and the last two serve the same purpose as the ‘Sonnet 19’ does; to introduce, and the couplet to conclude. However, the quatrane between the two simply continues the first octane in more detail- introducing the situation. Within this structure, yet another pattern was used; speaking in three lines about a positive part of the situation then including one negative fact, before returning to a lighter tone for three more lines. Also, the iambic pentameter is also used in this sonnet- and was likely to be purposeful to lighten the mood slightly, maybe to enhance the slight use of humour in some parts of the poem. However, the rhyme scheme; ABAB CCCC DDDD and EE, also makes the text more rhythmic and upbeat. Although, because the rhymes are mainly just half-rhymes (not full ones) we can’t be sure that the rhyme scheme was purposeful, and if they were, whether they were purposefully just half. Half rhymes generally, if used in deliberate format, dampen any humour included in a piece. This is because rhymes usually make it easier to read and more happy, or upbeat, but when reading ‘Poem’, you get a sense that a deliberate darkening to the mood was put into the text. The actual poem itself is not about love, unlike ‘Sonnet 19’ and many other traditional poems; it is thought to be an obituary. It speaks about somebody’s life, and also as if this person has passed away, or been removed from society. This also adds to the eerie feel, yet speaks of his life with a slightly humorous side. The imagery created in the positive lines of the poem develops a happier phase in this person’s life in each stanza. Phrases such as, ‘he praised his wife for every meal she made’ give off an impression he was a very kind man, and that he was also family-orientated. It tells us he was appreciative of others- showing a kinder, softer side to him. However, the fourth line of each phase cuts out the happier tone and surprises the reader with the fact that he one punched his wife ‘in the face’ for laughing. This immediately develops a cold image of this man and the reader recognises that he had a dark side as well as a good one. It also makes him out to be a violent and possibly incontrollable man. The use of slang is present in this poem, joined by many other of Armitage’s pieces, in the way he uses the word ‘slippered’ when describing the way he punished his daughter for lying. This is not proper English and perhaps was deliberate to create a picture of this man being very common, down-to-earth and possibly just your everyday person. This constantly switching of imagery soon develops a balanced view in the reader’s mind; that perhaps this man represents any normal person- for having both good and bad inside us is in everybody’s mannerisms. In the final couplet of this sonnet- which also includes a half-rhyme, instead of full- Armitage concludes the poem, saying the man the first twelve lines painted of was considered to be normal, and when people ‘looked back’ at his time, their thoughts were ‘sometimes he did this, sometimes he did that’. This tells us that his moods changed, along with his attitude and that he did both good and bad in his time. The way the final couplet concludes is the same as Shakespeare’s finale; and they both end the poem in a generally lighter tone. I believe that the two sonnets compared in my coursework are very similar, despite the change in times. Poetry clearly will not differ over time, and the similarities between the two indicate that sonnets- if kept traditional- will always be very similar.

5 Useful Exercises to Challenge Yourself in Academic Writing

Academic writing can be tough, and even tougher for those who are not naturally predisposed to it. However, if you are not talented at it doesn’t mean you cannot be good at it – practice can solve any problem. And while the advice to write as much as possible is good enough, there are exercises that can maximize your returns. 1.  Setting a Time Limit Very often you have to write an essay in a very limited amount of time, and some people tend to be paralyzed in such situations. Solution is simple: pick a topic for your essay and give yourself very little time to complete it. Exactly how little may vary depending on your skills: at first it may be a couple of hours, but the exercise wouldn’t be exercise if you don’t make progress. Give yourself less time whenever you repeat the exercise. This will teach you to think on your feet and do away with wordiness. 2.  Setting a Word Limit It can be combined with the previous exercise or used separately. Academic assignments are usually limited in size, although this limit is generally reasonable. So, in order to improve your writing skills you can make it unreasonable. What about exploring a complex topic in a hundred words? When each word counts, you have to put as much thought behind them as possible. 3.  Freewriting We are usually taught to concentrate more on planning than actual writing, and in most cases it is correct. However, sometimes it leads to your being simply afraid of starting: everything is planned, you know which part fits where, but cannot make yourself write the first word. Freewriting is aimed at, well, freeing your writing abilities. The exercise is as follows: you simply write down everything that enters your head, either for a certain period of time or within a word limit. No other limitations, no plans, just writing. 4.  Use an Arbitrary Limitation Limitation leads to creativity, and you may explore and exploit this tendency of human nature. For example, write an essay using only one-syllable words, or only present-tense verbs, or 2nd person, or open a dictionary ten times, select ten words at random and write a meaningful text featuring all of them. Or something else entirely – once you start practicing this exercise you will be surprised at your own bursts of creativity. 5.  Write Down Plans Freewriting is good to free yourself from limitations of planning, but a lot of us don’t know how to plan properly in the first place. And a good plan may save you in a tight spot. That is why it is a good idea to write plans without actually writing anything based on them. Thus you train your abilities to organize thoughts, make logical conclusions and use supporting evidence. When all is said and done, writing as much as possible is still the best way to improve your skills – using proper exercises can accelerate the process, but effort is always the basis of everything.