Examples Of Greed In The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

What is Greed and how Does it Affect us? In the eighteenth century, money was a symbol of power and wealth, for the amount of money a person has defined in their social status. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace”, was vocal about his displeasure with the class system in France during the twentieth century. Although de Maupassant was in the middle class, he still felt that he could change the class system through different short stories. Throughout the short story, “The Necklace”, the setting plays an intricate role in the decisions that Mathilde, the protagonist, makes, and the consequences that come along with her actions. In “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant uses the time period, location of each action in the story, and …show more content…
Mathilde shows that she is ungrateful for the opportunity to go to the ball when her husband finds the money to purchase her a dress, but she still does not want to attend the ball. Mathilde is embarrassed of her life style and is always demanding new clothes and jewelry from her husband. From the moment we meet Mathilde, she is dissatisfied with her life and desperately tries to get …show more content…
She perceives it to be an expensive piece of jewelry, when it is actually a fake. The Loisel’s go into debt trying to repay the load they took out to pay for a new jewel, and as a consequence, they fall deep into poverty. The house they live in is a “garret under the roof” (de Maupassant 4). This house is significant because it gives Mathilde a chance to experience the poorer aspect of life, and it teaches her to become grateful instead of greedy. Also, when the Loisel’s fall into poverty, Mathilde learns not to complain, as she is stuck to do all the work around the