THE NECKLACE

                                    

                                     

                                           THE NECKLACE

                                           Guy de Maupassant  

Biography

Real name: Henry René Albert Guy de Maupassant (August 5, 1850 Chateau de Miromesnil, France - July 6, 1893 Paris, France)

Remembered as a master of the short story form, and representative of the naturalist school of writers.

His stories are characterized by economy style. Many of his stories are set during the Franco-Prussian War of the 1870's, in which he describes the futility of war and the innocent civilians sufferings. 

Guy de Maupassant wrote  some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His fist published story was Boule de Suif, 1880 (Ball of fat) is often considered his masterpiece.

In 1881 he published his frist volume of short stories under the title of La Maison Tellier. 

Historical Background                                  

He was the first son of Laure Le Poittevin and Gustave de aupassant. When he was eleven and his brother Hervé was five, his mother obtain a legar separation from her husband. After that, her mother kept her two sons. Without the presence of the father, her mother became the most influential figure in the young boy's life.

Laure Le Poittevin was a well-read woman and was very fond of classical literature. When Guy de Maupassant was thirteen, her mother sent him and his brother to a private school, the institution Leroy-Petit, in Rouen, for clasical studies. From his early education he retained a marked hostility to religion.

In 1867 he entered to junior high school. Next year in autumn, was sent to the Lycée Pierre-Cornellie in Rouen where he proved a good scholar indulging in poetry and taking a prominent part in theatricals. 

The Franco-Prussian War broke out soon after his graduation from college in 1870, he enlisted as a volunteer in 1871. He spent ten years in Paris as a Clerk in the Navy Department. 

Gustave Flaubert took him under his protection, guiding his debut in Journalism and literature, But in 1878, was transferred to the Ministry of Public Instruction and became a contributing editor to several leading newspapers. He spares his time writing novels and short stories.

Expectation/Prediction about the text

For being Guy the Maupassant a French writer, I related this story with the novel of Alexander Dumas "The Necklace of the Queen" and the time where it was written. I imagined a different way to tell the story of the Queen of France, spending the money and the people of France suffering from hunger and poverty. How people tired of so much poverty rose up in arms to overthrow royalty.

Summary

Mathilde Loisel was charming. She was a middle-class girl who was born in a family of clerks, who married to another clerk of the department of Education. She dreamed to be rich and she detested her real life and spended all day dreaming about the fabulous life she hadn't. She wanted footmen, feasts, fancy furniture, etc.

One day her husband received and invitation to a fancy ball thrown by his boss, the Minister of Education. He got a lot of trouble to get the invitation, but Matilda's first reaction was to throw a fit, She didn't have anything nice to wear, and couldn't go. M. Loisel didn't know what to do, and offered to buy his wife a dress, so long as it was not too expensive. Mathilde asked for 400 francs, and he agreed. But the problem then was that she hadn't jewels. So M. Loisel Suggested she could go to see her friend Mme. Forestier, a rich woman who probably could lend her something. Mathilde went and Mme. Forestier gave her a diamond necklace. 

The night of the ball arrived, and Mathilde had the time of her life. Everyone loved her, and she was absolutely thrilled. She and her husband caught a cab and headed home, but once came back at home, Mathilde maked a horrifying discovery. The diamond necklace was gone.

M. Loisel spended all of the next day, and even the next week, searching the necklace, but found nothing. He and his wife decided they had no choice, they had to buy Mme. Forestier a new necklace. They visited one jewelry store after another until at last they found a necklace, that looked just the same as the one they lost. Unfortunately, it cost 36 thousand francs, which was exactly twice the amount of all the money M. Loisel had to his name. So M. Loisel went into debt and bought the necklace. and Mathilde returned it to Mme. Forestier, who didn't notice the substitution. Buying the necklace catapults the Loisels into poverty for the next ten years. They lost their house, their maid, their comfortable lifestyle and on top of it all, Mathilde lost her good look.

After ten years, all the debts were finally paid, and Mathilde was out for a jaunt on the Champs Elysées. There she came to Mme Forestier, rich and beautiful as ever. Now that all the debts were paid off, Mathilde decided she wanted to finally tell Mme. Forestier the sad story of the necklace and her ten years of poverty, and she did. At that point, Mme. Forestier, revealed to Mathilde that the necklace she lost was just a fake. It was worth only five hundred francs.

                                     

Analysis or conection between literary work and historical background

For Mathilde the necklace was a symbol of social status. When she wore it, she felt she was the prettiest woman in the room and felt as part of the upper-class. But at the end, the necklace became a symbol of Mathilde's downfall, causing her to fall deeply into debt. 

Maybe the autor wanted to demonstrate that money and luxury does not equal happines.

Literary Movement

Realism and Naturalism.

Genre

Short Story

Did you confirm your predictions?

No, my predictions were totally different from the story. Is not the same time and less the theme of the story. 

References

Guy de Maupassant / French writer /Britannica.com  Recovered from:  https://www.britannica.com/biography/guy-de-Maupassant

Guy de Maupassant-Author-Biography.com  April 1, 2014   Recovered from: https://www.biographgy.com/people/guy-de-maupassant-37772.