Guy De Maupassant Social Class Essay

Guy de Maupassant uses characterization, symbolism, and irony to convey the effects of social class. With diction relating to characterization, the author brings the characters to life. Mathilde often daydreams about “oriental tapestries and… handsome butlers” catering her every need (221). With these thoughts Mathilde believes she should be in the aristocracy, not a commoner. The day of the ball nears her and she seems “sad, uneasy, and anxious” (222). She worries that although she seems wealthy, people might find out that she can barely afford the dress she wears currently. With the ball still to come, Mathilde hunts for jewels and once she tries on a diamond necklace she “[remains] lost in ecstasy at sight of herself” (225). She only dreams …show more content…
The effects of the ball have Madame Loisel “drunk by pleasure, forgetting all” (225). She loses sight of her own life and tries to live someone else’s. The “cloud of happiness composed of all this homage” envelops her (225). The life of fancy items entices her to forget all that she knows. Mathilde comes down to earth with the use the shawl as a symbol. The shawl that her husband wraps around her symbolizes her actual way of living. The clueless husband wraps a “modest wrap of common life” around her shoulders (225). The contrast of the shawl to the dress embarrassed her since the other women were “enveloping themselves in costly furs” (225). Her status, or lack there of, shows clearly when the symbol of her actual life is wrapped around her shoulders. Maupassant uses diction to show irony in the story. After spending so much time to appear wealthy, Mathilde fully admits that paying the necklace off “wasn’t easy for us who had nothing” (228). A facade that Matilde spends a lot of effort to create tumbles down after the loss of the necklace. To finish off irony Guy provides a shocking twist. The fact that the necklace “was fake” and at most “worth only five hundred francs” puts an ironic twist on this short