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Elective English–II

Notes years. During this time he became close with Gustave Flaubert, a friend of his mother’s and
the author of Madame Bovary (1857). Flaubert introduced him to several other prominent
writers and spurred Maupassant to focus on his writing. As a result, Maupassant began producing
a fair amount of short fiction on his own and eventually found work as a contributing editor
for several prominent French newspapers in 1878. Despite this early focus on writing, however,
Maupassant didn’t publish any of his work until he turned thirty.
“The Necklace,” or “La Parure” in French, first appeared in the Parisian Newspaper Le Gaulois
in 1884. The story was an immediate success, and Maupassant later included it in his short-
story collection Tales of Day and Night (1885). Flaubert’s influence on Maupassant is evident
in “The Necklace,” and the story is in many ways similar to Madame Bovary. Both works, for
example, revolve around attractive yet dissatisfied young women who seek to escape their
destinies. More important, both works are also among the finest examples of realist fiction, a
style of writing first appeared in the mid nineteenth century that sought to expose the grittier
realities of ordinary people’s lives. Above all else, Maupassant sought to explore the deeper
meanings of everyday events, and his writing style has influenced other literary greats such
as Anton Chekhov and O. Henry.
Maupassant’s literary career peaked in the 1880s, around the time when he published “The
Necklace.” In the years just before and after he published Tales of Day and Night, Maupassant
wrote more than 300 short stories and several successful novels, including Un Vie (1883), Bel
Ami (1885), and Pierre et Jean (1888). He travelled extensively during this time and often
produced his best writing on the road, writing newspaper articles, essays, and travelogues in
addition to fiction. A powerful literary figure in his day, Maupassant formed and maintained
friendships with other literary giants such as Ivan Turgenev and Émile Zola.

Despite his wealth and popularity, Maupassant never married, partly out of fear of being
abandoned by a loved one as he was abandoned by his father. As he grew older, Maupassant
became more withdrawn and obsessed with death. His infection with syphilis contributed to
his growing dementia, and he was institutionalized after he tried to kill himself in 1891. He
died two years later, on July 6, 1893.

2.1 Detailed Study–The Necklace

The Necklace is often studied as a short work in world literature. The story is by Guy de
Maupassant, and he infused the story with heartache, with the wounds of self-sacrifice—the
stuff we can’t ever forget or be allowed to let go. And, then, what happens when the hellish
torment is over? Here’s a story you may not soon forget.
The girl was one of those pretty and charming young creatures who sometimes are born, as
if by a slip of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no dowry, no expectations, no way of being
known, understood, loved, married by any rich and distinguished man; so she let herself be
married to a little clerk of the Ministry of Public Instruction.
She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really
fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty,
grace and charm take the place of family and birth. Natural ingenuity, instinct for what is
elegant, a supple mind are their sole hierarchy, and often make of women of the people the
equals of the very greatest ladies.
Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and luxuries. She was
distressed at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, the
ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never
even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry. The sight of the little Breton

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