Greed In 'The Necklace, Civil Peace, And The Necklace'

We are greedy. We as humans cling to the materialistic things in our lives. Some of us have everything we need to live a perfectly comfortable life, but keep wanting. Greed controls almost everyone, no matter how many possessions we have in our name. In this, when our greed exceed our needs, we lose sight of what is important, leading to our detriment. Three examples of greed and its effects are shown in the stories of “The Necklace”, “Civil Peace”, and “The Golden Touch”.

The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant tells the story of a woman, named Mathilde, who borrows a very expensive necklace, ends up losing it, and spends 10 years of her life repaying the debt it took to buy a new one, only to find out the original was fake and not expensive at all. This alone states the extent at which we will go to replace materialistic items. The lady had been part of the middle class, living comfortably, and even had a maid and a cook. She complained to her husband that if she was to go to a ball, she would need more expensive

King Midas was a very rich man, perhaps the richest in the world. Midas had loved nothing more than gold, except maybe his daughter Marygold. This already had made him a very greedy man; he literally had an entire vault full of gold valuables. When a mysterious stranger granted him a wish, Midas asked that everything he touch be turned to gold. He had all he could ever want, more than he could ever use and yet wished for more. In his quest of greed, he forgot the importance of the basic necessities of life. When he tried to drink, the water turned to liquid gold. When he tried to eat, the food turned into chunks of gold. He had overlooked the simplest of things. Unaware, Midas turned his daughter into a gold statue, taking away the most important thing in his life. His ignorance had cost him everything, showing the evil of