In five pages this paper compares Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground and Guy de Maupassant's 'The Necklace' in their depictions of social class stratification. There are no other sources listed.
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they create their own social norms and coping mechanisms. Generally, the elite stay within their own social circles, looking down at the poor when they even give them a second
thought. The two worlds are vastly different but in life, as in literature, sometimes the two worlds collide. Such is the case in Guy de Maupassants The Necklace and
Dostoevskys Notes from Underground. In The Necklace, Guy de Maupassant uses irony to tell a tale about Mathilde Loisel, a woman of limited means who is anxious to
be well-liked and wants to be perceived as being in a higher class status than she finds herself. The Necklace is indeed about a necklace, but that necklace is a
symbol of the attainment of wealth. She loses it and takes it quite hard. She does not know what to do. The dilemma is that she borrowed the necklace
from a wealthy friend to wear at a special event, but it vanishes. Ashamed and afraid, Loisel gives her friend a different necklace. Of course, she could not have afforded
to replace such an item outright so bought it on credit. All along, Loisel assumes the necklace is very expensive. She never tells her friend the story until years later
when they ran into each other by chance. What Mathilde Loisel did was difficult and in some way admirable. But what she learns is that all her hard
work to pay back the money she used to buy the necklace was for naught. The necklace that Madame Forestier leant her years ago was just a cheap imitation.
In addition to using irony, this author uses much symbolism. People toil for things and status symbols. Sometimes they work hard to pay back an IRS debt for example, and