She also learns, too late, that the jewels and the life she coveted so long ago was a sham. Hence, the symbolic nature of the necklace itself -- although it appears to have great value, it is in fact only real in appearance, not in reality and the heroine is incapable of assessing the false necklace's true worth.
The tale of "The Necklace" conveys the moral that what is real, the replacement she returned to Madame Forstier, can be won not with beauty but with hard work, sweat, and toil. Like "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Necklace" revolves around the use of irony and a single, symbolic element, exemplified in the title object that works throughout the tale, using the literary device of irony, to reveal the protagonist's moral character. That final revelation engineered by the title object makes the story compelling, even if both protagonists may seem morally repugnant. The tone of the stories, one of creeping horror in Poe, versus the lighter and more cruelly humorous tone of "The Necklace" may differ, but ultimately both strive to show the false world-view of the protagonist embodied in both the heart and the piece of false jewelry.
In contrast, the central character of Guy de Maupassant's "A Piece of String" is a fairly likeable individual, an honest peasant. He is a man so honest in fact, that he is physically as well as emotionally and socially crippled by allegations that he failed to return a lost wallet. The title of the story, like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Necklace" refers to the single, physical symbolic element of the...
English Literature - Introduction Minimalism -- John Barth's Description Minimalism certainly means using fewer words to express thoughts, plots, ideas, quotes and action, but there is more to it than that, according to John Barth. By using Henry James' mantra of "show, don't tell," Barth covers the subject very well. Barth also quotes Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote that "…undue length is…to be avoided." The short story itself is an example of
Irony in the Story of an Hour by Kate Chopin Kate Chopin uses the element of irony in her short story The Story of an Hour to emphasis the repressive role that marriage plays in a woman's life. The protagonist, Louise Mallard, is caught between the social expectations and moral obligations to love the man she married, and her desire for independence. This dramatic tension is manifested when Louise hears
The novel is interspersed with instances of irony and pure sarcasm and cynicism and there is hardly a light moment in this entire story. There are various ways in which the transformation can be interpreted. But Samsa being a misfit dominates all other interpretations. Samsa lacks a much-needed sense of belonging, which is one reason, why he is unable to develop positive healthy relationships with people around him. His
Lessons From Short Stories Something of Value Can Be Learned From Reading Short Stories There can be much learned from reading short stories. This will be demonstrated in this work, which review three short stories including Michael Winter's work entitled "Archibald the Arctic," John Cheever's work entitled "Reunion" and Raymond Carver's work entitled "Cathedral." John Cheever: "Reunion" The work of John Cheever entitled "Reunion" is a short story in which the main character Charlie
Edgar Allen Poe's 1843 short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" is about a young man who becomes mortally obsessed with an old man's creepy eye and ultimately kills him. Thomas Hardy's 1902 poem "The Man He Killed" is about a soldier who has become used to killing people just because they are on the other side of the war. Both of these narratives lend insight into guilt related to death, told
Cathedral Raymond Carver's short story "The Cathedral" develops the theme of seeing the world clearly by using rich symbolism, irony, character development, and a postmodern tone and style. The blind man represents an unconventional mode of perception. Without a fundamental sensory input, the blind man relies on alternative methods of acquiring information and especially of interacting with others. His sightlessness at first bothers the narrator, but by the end of the
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