James Joyce’s Araby, Louise, by Somerset Maugham and The Necklace Essay Example

by the light", "bowing her head towards me" and also the way he only notices " the white curve of her neck" and the "white border of her petticoat", white being the symbolic color of purity. She exists only as an object of his adoring gaze- we never even learn her name- which leads to his romantic quest to Araby bazaar in aid of something special to return with for his fair maiden! His imagination is in overdrive.

For example, "I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes", this romantic statement shows his overheated imagination when comparing it with the girl's brown dress (and she's going to the retreat) so she's really not a romantic figure at all- she's actually identified with oppressive Dublin. The bazaar is dark with only a few lights to be seen, which could suggest darkness representing something negative.The bazaar is also compared to a church, " two men were counting money on a salver". Our protagonist's world is about to crumble when he goes to one stall and hears a young lady having a flirty conversation with two young gentlemen. Then when she addresses him it is just purely out of duty, and the way the gentlemen chatted the young lady up, leads to the realization of his idealized version is wrong. This lead to his epiphany: "Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature driven and derived by vanity, and my eyes burned with anguish and anger".

This climax could have easily destroyed the main character, although we know he gets over it because the narrator is the boy all grown up and through the story,

he tends to use words like; 'foolish', 'embarrassed', and 'amused'. In 'Louise', by 'Somerset Maughan', the main character, a lady called Louise, fails to have an epiphany because this cunning lady knows exactly what she wants in life from an early age, we are told that; " her mother and father worshipped her with an anxious adoration, for some illness, scarlet fever I think had left her with a weak heart and she had to take the greatest care of her self".This start gave her the tools to achieve whatever she could through manipulation and of course the fact her bad heart might take her young. Faced with the narrator's skepticism about her supposed ill- health, her first husband, who, by the why is rich says; "no, no, she's dreadfully delicate. She's been to all the best heart specialists in the world and they all say that her life hangs on a thread. " If indeed this heart specialist even existed!.

The narrator is quick to say, "I sometimes think that you're quite strong enough to do the things you want to do", and observes that " she could dance till five in the morning at a party, but if it was dull she felt very poorly and poor Tom had to take her home early". There is a pattern: if 'Louise' doesn't like the way things are going she suddenly becomes ill or has a heart attack! This lady doesn't need an epiphany as she holds all the answers and pulls all the strings to achieve what she wants.When her first husband catches his death out sailing one day, it is because his lovely sick

Louise has all the blankets leaving him to freeze! This is a typical Louise thinking of herself, and conveniently he leaves her a small fortune as well as a daughter. After Tom's death, her friends double their attention
ot really through choice but because "They had to, because if she was called upon to do anything tiresome or inconvenient her heart went back on her and there she was at death's door".Her second husband,(yes her second after just one year! , George Hobhouse, an ambitious soldier with wealth gives up his career to look after Louise, maybe because she assured him, "I shan't live to trouble you long". Which is ironic as she outlives him as well.

After her second husband's death, she turns her villa in Monte Carlo into a hospital for convalescent officers. Her friends are convinced it will kill her, but selfless Louise replies, "Of course it will kill me, I know that. But what does it matter? I must do my bit". Her real intentions are totally selfish and the officers actually look after her.

Later in the story, her daughter Iris has met a young fellow and he wants to marry her, but of course, 'Louise' gets what she wants and the wedding is canceled. However this time she is confronted by a long-time friend, the narrator who challenges her illness. Not happy she proclaims, "Iris shall marry in a month's time, and if anything happens to me I hope you and she will be able to forgive yourselves". True to her word Louise dies the morning of the wedding, saying she forgave Iris for killing her!. This is so cruel, yet Louise

successfully proved the narrator wrong about her heart but actually proves him right about her devilishness.The protagonist in this story controls and plans everything, never achieving the opportunity for some insight or wisdom because of the extreme lengths she takes to get her own way, death!.

In 'The Necklace', by Guy De Maupassant, the protagonist just like Louise is driven by a desire for attention and getting her own way, although her fate is a bit like that of the boy in 'Araby': in that reality hasn't got that fairytale ending. The main character in this story clearly doesn't like who she is and where she comes from and feels that" she was one of those charming girls, born by a freak of destiny in a family of toilers".She has no way to better herself other than marrying a rich man, but because she never knew any she settles for, " a clerk in the office of the Minister of Public Instruction", who fails to provide her with a dream life. We are told that; " her imagination carried her away to stately banquet halls, whose walls were covered with rich tapestries, portraying scenes in which ancient personages and strange birds were pictured in the middle of a fairy-like forest".This suggests the unreality of her dreams which truly mad her unhappy. For example her word use while talking about her old friend that had everything she wanted, "suffered from seeing the things she could not have", or, "wept whole days for grief, regret, despair, and distress".

The protagonist is about to have her world turned upside down, firstly when her husband comes home with an invite to

'Monsieur and Madame Loisel's party that by chance leads her to complain about not having a dress, toilette, and jewellery..Of course with her manipulative ways she gets her money off her husband but in turn leads to yet another chance moment when he advises her to, "go to your friend, Madam Forestier, and ask her to lend you her jewels". Everything in this story is based on chance from beginning to end, but the main character until the catastrophe happens never seems to pick the right one. "She took them in her trembling hands and put them on over her simple high-neck gown, and stood lost in an ecstasy of admiration of herself".

Her vanity takes over on this occasion when she barrows that "superb Riviere of diamonds" without a thought.Another chance moment is at the end of the party when she is leaving. She doesn't want anybody seeing her with a shabby cloak on so she runs for the streets instead of waiting for the carriage to arrive. This decision truly has an impact on the story and she realizes that "The diamonds are gone, I _I have lost Madame Forestier's necklace! ". Life is a roller-coaster ride from that very moment, having borrowed the money to replace the necklace putting them in debt for many years working around the clock to pay it off.

This brings the best out in the protagonist and really makes her see life in a different light! At the end of the story when she meets Madame Forestier and tells her what happened tens of years ago, when she lost her necklace and she said, " you know, it was

not easy for us, who had nothing- but it is finished, and I am very happy. " This is however an insight that took ten years to achieve. Madame Forestier's revitalization at the end, "oh my poor dear Mathilde! But mine were paste. They were not worth more than 500 francs at most. " ( This might symbolize the fakeness of her former dreams), but the story ends there- even this shock news doesn't cause any great insight in her.