The Necklace - Illusion V Reality

The Necklace - Illusion V Reality

  • Submitted By: willredden
  • Date Submitted: 02/23/2009 8:53 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 561
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“Illusion v Reality”
“The Necklace,” by Guy De Maupassant, follows Madame Loisel as she struggles with her class. One evening her husband comes home with an invitation to a ball and Madame Loisel throws a fit because she would have nothing to wear. Her husband gives her four hundred francs that he had been saving so she could get a dress and suggested she borrow some jewelry from her wealthy friend. After borrowing a diamond necklace from her friend she was happy and went to the ball. At the ball she had a great time because everyone was paying attention to her and she felt rich only to discover when she got home early the next morning that she had lost the necklace. Monsieur and Madame Loisel searched everywhere for the necklace but could not find it so they began going from jewelry store to jewelry store till they found one that passed for its twin. In order to pay for the necklace her husband used money he had inherited and borrowed the rest putting them very deep in dept. For the next ten years, the couple lived in poverty and paid off the debts only to find out that the original necklace had been imitation diamonds. Maupassant shows how trying to create an illusion of what you think should be can alter the reality you must face.
The unhappy Madame Loisel has struggled with her social status for a very long time. She feels as though “fate had blundered” because she was born into a family of middle class (789). Madame Loisel’s deep feelings of being under privileged and deserving more intensified her desire to appear more than what she really is. She goes to great lengths to appear wealthy and distinguished at the ball. She manipulates her husband into giving her the four hundred francs he had been saving for a gun so that she can purchase a gown for the ball (791). Her manipulation of Monsieur Loisel to obtain this status symbol reinforces just how important it is to Madame Loisel to create the illusion of wealth. At the ball “Madame Loisel...

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