High school students are probably most familiar with author Guy de Maupassant, as a short story writer. De Maupassant was a good friend of the novelist Gustave Flaubert; in fact, his' writing style is like Flaubert's. As a child, De Maupassant often observed the worst side of society and later he used that in his stories. His short stories are memorable for their ironic endings in which the main characters beliefs are turned upside down. In "The Necklace, for example, he describes a minor official and his wife who reduce themselves to poverty by repaying a debt. After years of hardship, they learn that the debt was all together unnecessary. De Maupassant's novels, like his stories, are simple, realistic, and pessimistic. In one novel, for instance,
