The Necklace By Kate Chopin And Guy De Maupassant

Kate Chopin and Guy de Maupassant both use imagery and symbolism at its best. In describing Mrs. Mallard 's reaction to her husband 's death, "She could see in the open square before her house the tops of trees that were all aquiver with the new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air. In the street below a peddler was crying his wares. The notes of a distant song which some one was singing reached her faintly, and countless sparrows were twittering in the eaves" (Walker). Immediately the symbol of a sparrow twittering gives you the impression of rebirth. The trees were all aquiver with new spring life symbolizes a new beginning. A fresh start. Mary E. Papke cited in Bloom 's Modern Critical Views writes, "It is easy for the reader to be overwhelmed by the pathos of the story, a natural response since the reader comes to consciousness of the text just as Louise

Emily Toth writes, "The Story of an Hour" is also a clever piece of social criticism, showing without preaching. Chopin 's Louise has been a good wife, but she sees that death has freed her from sacrificing herself to someone else 's will. Now she can make her own life. In "The Necklace" Guy de Maupassant clearly shows that social status and class plays a very important part in the irony of the story. In an article titled Masterplots II, by Ahlbrandt, Wm. Laird, he writes, "In this, the husband is as much to blame as his wife. Although Guy de Maupassant seems to be saying that such people are the victims of the society in which they live, dominated by the status-conscious in the early days of the Third Republic, he never prevents his characters from exercising their free will. It is precisely their ability to make such choices that lead to their own damnation. Maupassant shows how the Loisels are imprisoned in their loneliness and their lack of self-worth. Their pathos is their inability to speak to avoid a whole lifetime of