Literary Criticism In The Necklace, By Guy De Maupassant

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Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), French author of the naturalistic school who is generally considered the greatest French short story writer. Some would even say that he is the father of the modern short story. Though he didn't invent the short story genre, he perfected it, popularized it, and greatly expanded his audience's understanding of what could be done with it. It helped that he wrote some three hundred short stories, all mostly between 1880 and 1890. Maupassant was also famous for his use of the twist endings. Maupassant didn't invent that either and he certainly didn't use it in every one of his stories. But when he did use it, he was good at it, and it was he, more than anyone else, who made the twist ending big. The Necklace" …show more content…
Literary theories are some ideas which try to define what literature is and how it needs to be studied. These focus on the nature of literature and present some methods to analyze those. These theories are like different lenses that views literature privileging particular aspects of a work over other characteristics. There are different schools of theory based on certain thoughts and assumptions they consider important.
I am going to analyze ‘The Necklace’ from two different point of view- one is Marxist and the other is Feminist. I plan to shed light on the different aspects of the short story which portrays Marxist as well as feminist features.
Marxist
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From that, Maupassant’s “The Diamond Necklace,” teaches how this clash defines societies interactions with each other. Understanding the desire of the proletariat class to overcome the oppression caused by those who have control over them, will give more understanding to the relationship between the Loisels. Through the characteristic flaws shown by Matilda, Marxist theory is upheld. With Marx’s idea of how Capitalism works, class conflict, manipulation, and repression are exemplified through the characteristic conflicts that build and destroy the husband and wife’s relationship within the story, while helping them become one with each

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