De Maupassant: An Analysis of His Works Guy de Maupassant was born on August 5, 1850 at Chateau de Miromesnil in France. As a boy, Maupassant went to school at Yvetot in Normandy, and then attended Lychee at Rouen, When Maupassant was eleven years old, his parents got separated. This was probably the most significant events in his life in that his mother retained custody of him. His mother was the sister of a close friend of Flaubert, one of the most famous nineteenth- century writers who began tutoring her son on various subjects, mainly writing. Maupassant’s association with Flaubert brought him into the French literary circles.
Maupassant education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War, in which he served as a member of the French army. After the war was finished, he entered the French civil service. During the between 1873 and 1880 he also served as a literary apprentice under Flaubert. At this time, Maupassant realized his weakness as a poet and concentrated on developing his skills as a writer of prose fiction.
Maupassant wrote a collection of short stories. He became one of the most famous and well paid French authors of his time. Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is the story of a woman who is overcome with jealousy and envy. Mathilde Loisel feels she has been cheated by life from all of the wonderful things it has to offer. As the story opens, her husband comes home with an invitation to a ball at the palace.
She insisted that she could not go because she had nothing to wear and had no jewelery. Loisel’s husband reluctantly gives her money and suggests that she borrow jewelery from a friend. Upon arriving home, Mathilde realizes that the necklace she borrowed is gone and she is forced to replace it by buying a new one. They borrowed a great sum of money from several different people and they both take on several jobs to pay off their debt. After ten years, they uncover that the necklace she lost was false. Mathilde learns a valuable lesson in life.
The Essay on French culture
France is a Western Europe country with a population of approximately 60. 4 million people as by July 2004. France has a diversity of religions but the dominant religion is Roman Catholic with Jewish religion having the least followers (Kwintessential, 2010). These preliminary diversities in ethnicity and religion signal a diverse French culture. This paper discusses French culture by looking into ...
Maupassant uses Mathilde as a round character. She is the one who changes or evolves with the events of the story. She learns that “one should be content with what one has” and ” it’s ok to dream, but not to let your dreams keep you from seeing reality. ” On the other hand, Mr. Loisel’s remains flat or constant. With all the commotion in the story, he manages to keep the same character traits.
His life is affected yet, he’s still the same person. Another example of a flat character is Mrs. Forrester. Even though her necklace is lost, it really doesn’t have an impact on her character.
“The False Gem” by De Maupassant is about a man, M. Lantin, who falls in love with a young woman whom he marries. After six years of marriage, he realizes that he is deeply in love with her. However, he soon realizes that she has two weaknesses, the love for theater and a love for buying false jewelery. After her sudden death, he begins to have a hard time making ends meet. He wonders how his wife could have afford the lifestyle they lived.
He uncovers that the jewels are real which make him a wealthy man. M. Lantin is a trustworthy husband whose focus in life is to be a successful businessman. His trust is based on his assumption that his wife is as devoted to their relationship as he is. However, as the story unfolds, a series of events lead M.
Lantin to conclude that his perfect marriage was too good to be true. The pain he suffered led him to reconstruct his life. He changed from an honest person into the male version of his self-centered, materialistic ex-wife.
