Explore the issue of belonging and how it is presented in ‘An Unknown Girl’ (Moniza Alvi) and ‘The Necklace’ (Guy de Maupassant)
Although one is a poem and the other a famous short story, both ‘An Unknown Girl’ and ‘The Necklace’ are united by one ubiquitous theme: the issue of belonging. ‘An Unknown Girl’ explores how the narrator, who remains anonymous, finds her sense of belonging in an Indian bazaar through hennaing, with the help of an unknown girl. In ‘The Necklace’, Maupassant tells through realism the tale of a young woman, Madame Loisel, who attempts to leave behind her mediocre life and find acceptance in the upper classes of society. This ultimately results in the loss of a diamond necklace, and Loisel’s spiral into deeper poverty …show more content…
Similar to ‘An Unknown Girl’, the story begins with the protagonist deeply unhappy with her station in life, feeling as if she deserved to belong to a different class. There is a series of events building up to when the persona feels most accepted at the reception of the Ministry of Education. However, unlike a poem, this short story has a clear climax: when Madame Loisel loses the necklace. Thus ensued her spiralling descent into poverty, and her ultimate acceptance of belonging to a lower middle-class family. Dialogue is also used tellingly to convey the central protagonist’s wish to belong to a higher class. During an anxious conversation, Madame Loisel declares, “I’ll look like a church mouse. I’d almost as soon not go to the reception.” She is afraid to humiliate herself and gain the lesser opinion of the higher classes that she wants to belong to. It is also used to contrast the different feelings of belonging between Madame Loisel and her husband. Whilst Loisel felt she deserved to belong to a society with “elegant dinners [and] gleaming silverware”, her husband shows his contentment with his mediocre life, declaring that he liked “nothing…better than a nice …show more content…
Unlike Loisel, the speaker of ‘An Unknown Girl’ appears to be a very unassuming character. She does not expect to immediately belong to the Indian culture and the poem is not demanding. The gentle tone of the poem is shown through the warm, and generally positive language used through out such as “soft”, “amber” and “deftly”. The use of the word ‘girl’ in the title alone adds a sense of innocence to this yearning to
Although one is a poem and the other a famous short story, both ‘An Unknown Girl’ and ‘The Necklace’ are united by one ubiquitous theme: the issue of belonging. ‘An Unknown Girl’ explores how the narrator, who remains anonymous, finds her sense of belonging in an Indian bazaar through hennaing, with the help of an unknown girl. In ‘The Necklace’, Maupassant tells through realism the tale of a young woman, Madame Loisel, who attempts to leave behind her mediocre life and find acceptance in the upper classes of society. This ultimately results in the loss of a diamond necklace, and Loisel’s spiral into deeper poverty …show more content…
Similar to ‘An Unknown Girl’, the story begins with the protagonist deeply unhappy with her station in life, feeling as if she deserved to belong to a different class. There is a series of events building up to when the persona feels most accepted at the reception of the Ministry of Education. However, unlike a poem, this short story has a clear climax: when Madame Loisel loses the necklace. Thus ensued her spiralling descent into poverty, and her ultimate acceptance of belonging to a lower middle-class family. Dialogue is also used tellingly to convey the central protagonist’s wish to belong to a higher class. During an anxious conversation, Madame Loisel declares, “I’ll look like a church mouse. I’d almost as soon not go to the reception.” She is afraid to humiliate herself and gain the lesser opinion of the higher classes that she wants to belong to. It is also used to contrast the different feelings of belonging between Madame Loisel and her husband. Whilst Loisel felt she deserved to belong to a society with “elegant dinners [and] gleaming silverware”, her husband shows his contentment with his mediocre life, declaring that he liked “nothing…better than a nice …show more content…
Unlike Loisel, the speaker of ‘An Unknown Girl’ appears to be a very unassuming character. She does not expect to immediately belong to the Indian culture and the poem is not demanding. The gentle tone of the poem is shown through the warm, and generally positive language used through out such as “soft”, “amber” and “deftly”. The use of the word ‘girl’ in the title alone adds a sense of innocence to this yearning to