Maupassant’s The Necklace Essay - 1606 Words

Mathilde Loisel lived the life of a painfully distressed woman, who always believed herself worthy of living in the upper class. Although Mathilde was born into the average middle class family, she spent her time daydreaming of her destiny for more in life... especially when it came to her financial status. Guy de Maupassant’s short story, â€Å"The Necklace†, tells a tale of a vain, narcissistic housewife who longed for the aristocratic lifestyle that she believed she was creditable for. In describing Mathilde’s self-serving, unappreciative, broken and fake human behaviors, de Maupassant incorporates the tragic irony that ultimately concludes in ruining her. Mathilde lives in an illusive world where her desires do not meet up to the reality†¦show more content†¦She receives admiration and attention from not only the men, but also from the women of the party. In just these few hours she feels as if her life is finally as it should be, although she knows deep down that appearance was more of a scheme than it was truth. Her wealth and class was simply a hoax, and she had many people (including herself) deceived. Throughout â€Å"The Necklace†, Mathilde proves her cheated personality by looking down on the average life she has, and only looking up to the luxurious lifestyle of the wealthy. She collects a pleasure from being acknowledged by others for the character that she has untruthfully put on. As we learn that the borrowed diamond necklace is fake, we also begin to infer that Mathilde is not any more authentic than the imitation jewelry that she cannot even call her own. Like herself, the necklace is beautiful but worthle ss. In contrast to Mathilde’s greediness, she is forced to learn that the power of these material items may be her desired interest, but she cannot afford to let her craving for wealth take control of her life. After the purchase of the replacement necklace, her and her husband are put into ten years of debt forcing Mathilde to learn the ethics of being a lower-class housewife. Heavy duties in the kitchen, cleaning dirty linens and clothing, and fetching water was the result of dismissing the servant they could no longer pay for. Ironically, she did not only lose sight of the luxurious life that sheShow MoreRelatedExposition of Plot in Maupassants The Necklace1354 Words   |  6 Pagesbrutal, inconsequential, and disconnected, full of inexplicable, illogical catastrophes† (â€Å"The Writer’s Goal 897). Utterly to the point with his words, Guy de Maupassant’s fame as a writer stemmed from his â€Å"direct and simple way† of telling readers what he obse rved (Chopin 861). His short story, â€Å"The Necklace,† is no exception. â€Å"The Necklace† is evidence of the literary realism that dominated literature during the 19th century. Cora Agatucci, a professor of Humanities, states that the subjects ofRead More Theme Analysis of Maupassants The Necklace Essay722 Words   |  3 Pages Guy De Maupassants short story The Necklace remarkably demonstrates how misfortune can lead to self improvement through the character Mathilde Loisel. Madame Mathilde was one of those beautiful and delightful young ladies with not very many high expectations, achievements, and no way to be accepted into the elaborate society and lifestyle in which she finds herself daydreaming about day and night. In Guy De Mauspassants `The Necklace, the author examines the theme of how learning a difficultRead More The Character of Mademoiselle Loisel in Maupassants The Necklace 728 Words   |  3 PagesThe Character of Mademoiselle Loisel in Maupassants The Necklace      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Opportunity presents itself in various ways.   Sometimes, it accompanies adversity; sometimes, it occurs amid lifes brightest moments.   Although working through adversity may be difficult, doing so may provide an individual with chances to grow, to gain responsibility, and to improve self-esteem.   Guy de Maupassants The Necklace remarkably demonstrates how misfortune can lead to the improvement of a human beingRead MoreThe Theme of Pride in Guy Maupassants The Necklace Essay1147 Words   |  5 Pagesin Guy de Maupassant’s short story, â€Å"The Necklace†. Set in Paris in the late 1800s, Maupassant’s story shows the costs of pride. The main character, Madame Loisel, borrows a diamond necklace from her rich friend, Madame Forestier, to wear at a ball hosted by the Minister of Public Instruction at the Palace of the Ministry. To her dismay, Madame Loisel loses the necklace, and she and her husband spend the next ten years paying b ack the loans they had to take out to replace the necklace, only to discoverRead MoreComparative Analysis: Maupassants The Necklace and Hughes Salvation1459 Words   |  6 Pageswe have no other choice than to lie. An example of two such stories is Guy de Maupassants The Necklace and Langston Hughes Salvation, where both characters are faced with social and community pressures and make the choice to lie rather than admit the truth. Maupassants story concerns a woman, Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace to wear to a dance, for which her husband obtained a rare invitation. When the necklace is lost, she decides, with her husband, to replace it rather than tell the truthRead More Comparing Maupassants Necklace and Chekovs Vanka Essay780 Words   |  4 PagesNarrators and Sympathy in Maupassants Necklace and Chekovs Vanka  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚   In Guy de The Necklace and Anton Chekovs Vanka, the narrators attitudes are unsympathetic toward the protagonists Mathilde and Vanka. However, where the narrator of The Necklace feels outright hostility toward Mathilde, the narrator of Vanka voices his opinion more passively by pointing out the flaws in Vankas wishful thinking. In The Necklace, the narrators unsympathetic feelings toward Mathilde are madeRead MoreWilla Cathers Pauls Case and Maupassants The Necklace Essay1059 Words   |  5 PagesWilla Cathers Pauls Case and Maupassants The Necklace When comparing two fictional characters from two different writers one must first and foremost analyze their dreams, ambitions, or goals in the story. Whether the character isRead MoreAnalysis of Guy de Maupassants The Necklace665 Words   |  3 Pagesa family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no means of being known, understood, loved, wedded by any rich and distinguished man, (de Maupassant). From the first line of The Necklace, the reader is prepared for a Marxist-feminist understa nding of the protagonist. The overall theme of The Necklace does not so much undermine the structural inequities in Mathildes society, but points more to the futility of pursuing happiness through material wealth. Whereas her husband joyously exclaimsRead More The Value of Possessions Examined in Guy de Maupassants The Necklace749 Words   |  3 PagesThe Value of Possessions Examined in Guy de Maupassants Short Story, The Necklace The late Irish poet Oscar Wilde once stated, In the world there are only two tragedies. One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it (qtd. in The Quotations Page). This quote accurately describes human nature to the extent that man is never fully satisfied with his current possessions. In fact, most people who rely on materialistic items for happiness are typically desolated and miserableRead More Mathildes Inability to Accept Destiny in Guy de Maupassants The Necklace1088 Words   |  5 PagesMathildes Inability to Accept Destiny in Guy de Maupassants The Necklace Many people born into the middle to lower class of society come to accept their lot in life and make the best of it, Mathilde, the main character in Guy de Maupassants short story, The Necklace, is not one of these people. Mathilde felt that she was attractive and that fate must have made a mistake in birthing her into a family that could not provide a suitable dowry for a proper marriage. This situation left her with

Annotated Bibliography On Kenya Trafficking Legislation

Kenya Trafficking Legislation 1. Introduction and CITES: Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species In 1975, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) came into force. Today, there are 179 countries who are â€Å"member parties† to the Convention. Each â€Å"member party† has some form of domestic legislation that implements CITES, thereby enumerating what is considered illegal trafficking in wildlife in that country and indicating what prosecutorial powers and judicial processes exist domestically for holding these criminals accountable. CITES has established a global framework to regulate and control international trade in endangered species of wild animals and plants listed in its†¦show more content†¦It came into force on January 10, 2014 and is largely aimed at improving the protection, conservation and sustainable use and management of the country’s wildlife resources. The 2013 Act contains dramatic increases in both custodial and financial penalties for wildlife-related crimes (largely in re action to the criticism that the 1976 Act’s penalties did not act as a sufficient deterrent to poachers and traffickers). †¢ The 1976 Act The 1976 Act was Kenya’s primary legislation related to wildlife trafficking and conservation until the new law came into force. It was updated at various points but the key elements remained the same since implementation. In regards to trafficking, it criminalized the hunting of protected animals and the unlicensed hunting of game. It established the Kenya Wildlife Service (â€Å"KWS†) as the primary governmental agency in charge of enforcing the 1976 Act. Under this law, the KWS has investigative and prosecutorial powers. In relation to CITES, the 1976 Act implemented some of the requirements, but not all. And, in fact, Kenya came under very public pressure at the CITES Conference of the Parties in March 2013 for its failure to have implemented domestic legislation that was fully in compliance with CITES. This, along with increased poaching and paltry

Atomic Bomb vs. Invasion Free Essays

On August 6, 1945, an atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 9. The unconditional surrender of Japan was announced on August 10. We will write a custom essay sample on Atomic Bomb vs. Invasion or any similar topic only for you Order Now The atomic bomb ended the war swiftly and quickly, and resulted in no Allied casualties. Others supported Operation Downfall, an invasion of Japan. However, this may not have resulted in an unconditional surrender. U. S. President Truman was advised that 250,000 to one million U. S. soldiers could have died in Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of mainland Japan. In a study done by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in April 1945, the figures of 7. 45 casualties per 1,000 man-days and 1. 78 fatalities per 1,000 man-days were developed. This implied that the two planned campaigns to conquer Japan would cost 1. 6 million U. S. casualties, including 380,000 dead. On August 1, 1944, the Japanese War Ministry ordered the execution of all Allied war prisoners if an invasion of Japan happened. This means that over 100,000 allied soldiers that would have been executed. Some may argue that innocent Japanese civilians and military soldiers lost their lives to the bomb. The Japanese were dangerous and were raised to fight, starting from a young age. An Air Force Association history of the 21st century says, â€Å"Millions of women, old men, and boys and girls had been trained to resist by such means as attacking with bamboo spears and strapping explosives to their bodies and throwing themselves under advancing tanks. † The AFA noted that, â€Å"The Japanese cabinet had approved a measure extending the draft to include men from ages fifteen to sixty and women from seventeen to forty-five. As a result of the increase in draft range, 28 million more people were drafted. The result of the atomic bombs was the unconditional surrender of Japan. If an invasion took place, the surrender may not have been unconditional. According to historian Richard B. Frank, â€Å"The intercepts of Japanese Imperial Army and Navy messages disclosed without exception that Japan’s armed forces were determined to fight a final Armageddon battle in the homeland against an Allied invasion. The Japanese called this strategy Ketsu Go. It was founded on the premise that American morale was brittle and could be shattered by heavy losses in the initial invasion. American politicians would then gladly negotiate an end to the war far more generous than unconditional surrender. † The U. S. Department of Energy’s history of the Manhattan Project agrees, saying that military leaders in Japan, â€Å"†¦. also hoped that if they could hold out until the ground invasion of Japan began, they would be able to inflict so many casualties on the Allies that Japan still might win some sort of negotiated settlement. The Japanese most likely would have been able to inflict enough casualties so that they would be able to negotiate. The Japanese followed the code of bushido, which is why the resistance is so strong in the Japanese military. According to one Air Force account, â€Å"The Japanese code of bushido—†the way of the warrior†Ã¢â‚¬â€was deeply ingrained. The concept of Yamato-damashii equ ipped each soldier with a strict code: never be captured, never break down, and never surrender. Surrender was dishonorable. Each soldier was trained to fight to the death and was expected to die before suffering dishonor. Defeated Japanese leaders preferred to take their own lives in the painful samurai ritual of seppuku. Warriors who surrendered were not deemed worthy of regard or respect. † Operation Downfall would have taken more lives, compared to the atomic bombings. The atomic bomb quickly ended the war and was necessary. It eliminated the threat of the Japanese empire. It also eliminated many dangerous Japanese soldiers and civilians. President Truman made the right choice in authorizing the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. How to cite Atomic Bomb vs. Invasion, Papers

Rwanda genocide free essay sample

Five thousand people seek haven in their Catholic church; their local governor walks in, makes a gallant speech about racial purity and Tutsi betrayal, and then steps aside and opens the floodgates for hundreds of their neighbors carrying machetes, knifes, and guns, and watches calmly as the massacre begins. One girl lives. While her family is chopped to pieces amidst the screams, she plays dead amongst the corpses for forty three days staring up from amongst the bodies at a statue of Christ. No one comes to help her, for she is Rwandan, African of no economic or political value to any of the Western white men â€Å"sitting in offices.†[1] The Rwanda Genocide, sparked by the death of the interim President Habyarimana on April 9, 1994, was the fastest, if not the most brutal, massacre in human history, and it was carried out with no significant intervention or aid force from any of the wealthy, powerful Western governments. These administrations claim that they were unable to intervene due to lack of warning signs and information; this is untrue. The United States and the Western world did not intervene in the 1994 Rwanda genocide due to economic disinterest, political apathy, and African prejudice, despite distinct knowledge of the genocide. To truly appreciate the depth of Western betrayal, one must first understand Rwanda’s general history and the events that immediately precipitated the Rwanda Genocide. Rwanda is a small African country of 10,169 square miles and a pre-genocide population of approximately 8,380,000. An agricultural nation, it was economically dependent on the harvesting of rice, coffee, and maize. Though the nation was dependent on these agricultural exports to Western powers, including the United States, the West was not dependent on Rwanda for these products traditionally received from Brazil, Columbia, and other larger African nations. Before the genocide it was described by visitors as a â€Å"prosperous and vibrant country.† As a colonial state, Rwanda functioned after 1884 as a German and after World War I as a Belgian â€Å"trustee ship.† The Germans and Belgians could not appreciate the complexities of the subtle relations present in Rwanda before colonization and therefor e established a racial system based on physical characteristics. The Europeans segregated the native Rwandans into three racial classifications: Hutu, Twa, and Tutsi. Tutsi, more Caucasian looking in skin tone and body structure, were assumed to be the most intelligent and  diplomatic of the natives. High ranking positions in government and society were reserved for the Tutsis while the Hutu majority of approximately 90% lived in impoverished conditions, were forced into servile farmer positions, and were denied access to land ownership, education, and Christian conversion. Belgium colonists soon issued ethnic identity cards. The issuance of these cards formalized an imposed condition of racial inferiority that did not exist before European presence. This imposed racial system would later be one of the leading, if not most significant, causes for the racial Rwanda genocide in 1994. Belgium soon realized, however, that in giving Tutsis such a preferred status in government affairs they ran a dangerous risk of the Tutsis demanding independence. Be lgium then decided, in the 1950’s, to reintegrate the Tutsis into the Hutu population to ensure their obedience. In 1962, tensions within the country erupted in a violent Hutu revolution, ignored by the West and the Catholic Church, in which hundreds of Moderate Hutu and Tutsis were killed. An Independent Republic was established with the first Hutu president in Rwandan history, Gregoi Kayabanda. Rwanda, though nominally independent, was still highly dependent on Belgian influence, still had strong Belgian political ties, and therefore retained the racial divisions that allowed the Hutu, in return, to subjugate the Tutsi. This government ended in 1972 with a military coup. Belgium tightly controlled the new one party dictatorship and ignored the increasing Tutsi refugee problem. Beginning in the 1950’s with reintegration, thousands of Tutsis had fled to neighboring countries but, as they were not allowed to integrate into those societies, they desperately wanted to return to Rwanda. The only seeming option of return was military force, and the Rwandan Patriotic Front was born. Supported by the Ugandan government, hundreds of the trained Tutsi soldiers waited for an opportunity to reinvade Rwanda. This opportunity came in October 1990 when the Front invaded Northern Rwanda and started the Rwandan Civil War. At the same time, Rwanda was hit by a devastating economic depression due a drop in the world price of coffee, Rwanda’s single most important export, that was extenuated by the Civil War. In attempts to cease the fighting, in 1993 the Belgian-Rusha Accords were signed that would allow Tutsis back into the country protected by United Nations forces. This  attempt at peace by the Hutu government was a fraud, proven by later planned genocide events, as they had been secretly organizing a â€Å"final solution.† [2] The genocide itself occurred in a quick, planned fashion. In August 1993, General Romà ©o Dallaire, UN Force Commander, took his first African command as head of UNAMIR with 2500 lightly-armed Belgian and Ghanan troops. With little historical knowledge of the region and not permitted an intelligence capability, he went in â€Å"blind† with orders to enforce the cease fire between the Kigali government and the rebel Tutsi army. [3] By March 1994, several Rwandan political and military figures had come to the United Nations trying to explain the precarious nature of the Rwandan peace-situation. The American and other embassy in Kigali â€Å"just didn’t get it [the magnitude of the threat]†, one official regrets. On April 6, 1994 at 8:30 PM huge explosions were heard from the Kigali airport. The Hutu presidential plane carrying President Habyarimana returning from Tanzania after signing the Peace Accord had been shot down by a missile. At the time it was disputed w hether the Rwandan Patriotic Front or the President’s own party had shot down the plane. Recent evidence suggests that the crash was caused by a land based missile from a Rwandan military base under the control of the Hutu government. The Hutu extremists therefore feared that the Peace Accord signed by the president did not provide them with enough control of the country and therefore had him publicly murdered â€Å"by the Tutsis cockroaches† to plunge the country into chaos. Over the night of April 9, 1994, 1000 French and Belgian paratroopers seized Kigali airport, independent of the United Nations. These 1000 troops commanded the airport and efficiently infiltrated the country to remove stranded Western citizens while leaving every single African behind. This proves that the Western world was able and willing to get into Rwanda, only to save its own citizens. By April 10, Eastern Rwandan extremists implemented the second planned phase of killing, moving into the countryside. Young recruits of the interahamwe were told, across propagandist radio, that all Tutsis wanted power, would enslave the Hutu if they survived, and were invaders and spies of Rwanda. By April 15, the Tutsi Republican Front was quickly advancing toward the capital, Kigali; the Hutu killers accelerated the killings in attempts to â€Å"exterminate† the Tutsi race before the Front took over the  capital. By April 21, two weeks after the start of the genocide, at least 100,000 Tutsis and Moderate Hutu were dead. On that same day the Security Council of the United Nations, under pressure from Belgium and the United States, voted unanimously to remove all but 10% of its forces, leaving only a token force of 200 unarmed troops from African nations only. Rwandan rivers now flowed red with blood, and corpses floating down stream began to divert the flow of entire rivers in border countries.[4] Six full weeks after the genocide began, on May 17, the UN authorized 5000 peace keepers to Rwanda but with no timetable and therefore no required action; as no troops were â€Å"immediately available† from the 80 different governments approached, nothing happened. The United States promised only 50 armored cars, armored cars that took over 5 months to arrive and never made it past Uganda. This was the extent of American support. By mid-May, 500,000 Rwandans were dead. By July 1994, after 100 days, the genocide ended after Tutsi Rebels recaptured the country. It is estimated that approximately 800,000 people died in the genocide.[5] This massacre of innocent Rwandans happened five times faster than the Nazi massacres of World War II, and the â€Å"never again† Western world remained silent.[6] Within ten weeks, one third of all Tutsis on earth were killed, and the Western world did nothing. The West has presented many excuses for its inaction, but the true reasons remain in political apathy, economic disinterest, and African prejudice. The West will argue that the pre-genocides signs were not clear, and that the West had no way of knowing of the impending genocide. This argument is obviously flawed, as the signs pre-genocide were very, very clear. It is impossible that the Western world did not see the recipe for mass ethnic extermination in Rwanda. Firstly, Anti-Tutsi hate was very clear. The Hutu extremists were orchestrating mass recruitment and training and arming the militia, while waving, guns in hand, to the Western press cameras.[7] There was a mass distribution of arms, guns, and machetes into the population, all through local government offices. Anti-Tutsi state-sponsored national propaganda appeared in schools, churches, and on the radio months before the genocide began. Certain â€Å"Tools of Genocide† were  used to spark the national chaos that would lead to genocide. Daily assassinations were carried out against Tutsi and Modern Hutu political leaders; death lists were prepared and distributed with the names of all registered Rwandans with Tutsi identity cards, with especially â€Å"dangerous,† political or socially active, Tutsis assigned their own death squads. Hate propaganda and demonizing were used to poison public reason and opinion.[8] It even propagated in Hutu angry rock lyrics, such as those written by Simon Bikindi, a founding member of the hate radio who would later face an international tribunal on genocide charges: â€Å"I hate Tutsis. I hate Tutsis. I hate Hutus who don’t think that Tutsis are snakes.†[9] Civilian militias were trained and armed and mass rape became a common manner of instilling fear in victims.[10] Thus, the signs were clear; the West can no longer use the argument that the signs were hidden or absent. The extremists were planning a genocide, and anyone interested could easily envision the deadly outcome; unfortunately the Western world and the United States were not interested.