Desire For Attention In The Necklace And The A & P

“Focus more on the big picture rather than just the minor details.” This quote remains true to characters that care more for being noticed then they do about what they should be focusing on. In the short stories “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and “The A&P” by John Updike, both of the central characters are motivated by the desire for attention, which results in the choices they make and the ending. In “The Necklace,” Madame Loisel realizes she needs attention when she receives her invitation to the ball. She insists that she has jewels, or else she will not attend. “I’m utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear.” (Maupassant 2) Madame Loisel won’t go to go to the ball unless she has jewels because she wants to look important and would prefer to make an impression. Madame Loisel wants jewels so badly that she is letting the fact that she doesn’t have any affect her mood. “There´s nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women.” (Maupassant 2) She says this because she doesn’t want the rich women judging the fact that she doesn’t have that much money. As a result, she borrows jewels from Madame …show more content…
After Lengle tells them they need to look decent to shop in his store, he says, “The girls, and who’d blame them, are in a hurry to get out, so I say ‘I quit’ to Lengle quick enough for them, hoping they’d stop and watch me, they’re unsuspecting hero.” (Updike 4) Sammy quits his job for the girls that he doesn’t even know because he wants their attention. This proves that he is willing to do just about anything to get a female’s attention. “I look around for my girls, but they’re gone, of course.” (Updike 5) He walked out of the store hoping the girls would be there and shower him with affection, but in reality they didn’t even care enough to stop and thank him for his “heroic” action and he just quit his job for