In The Necklace, De Maupassant raised several contemporary issues at once: the conflict of desires and opportunities, the discrepancy between the spiritual organization of a person and the social conditions of their existence. These problems remain actual today, especially in the light of the global crises. This research aims to discuss how the issues explored by De Maupassant find reflection in the modern society.
Băniceru, Ana Cristina. “Hysteria as Alternative Masculinity in the Gothic Discourse of the 19th Century: The Case of E.T.A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allan Poe and Guy De Maupassant.”Gender Studies, vol. 19, no. 1, 2020, pp. 29–50., Web.
In her study, Băniceru discusses how the Gothic literature attempted to change the concepts of normative masculinity accepted in the 19th century. The author states that several writers adopted a more hysterical, feminine male image in their works. Supporting her claims, Băniceru explains how the male figure in the aforementioned writers’ works challenge masculine images of German, U.S., and French societies. This research provides relevant discussion on the socially accepted behavioral norms and how they were reflected through the lens of literary works.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Analysis of Guy De Maupassant’s Stories.”Literary Theory and Criticism, 2019, Web.
Mambrol offers a comprehensive review of various De Maupassant’s stories in relation to the author’s personal life and experiences. The author claims that major motives in De Maupassant’s work came from his everyday life. According to Mambrol (2019), “De Maupassant’s short stories dealt with such diverse themes as war, prostitution, marital infidelity, religion, madness, cultural misunderstanding between the French and the English” (pp. 1). Thus, Mambrol’s essay offers a distinctive analysis on the relationship between De Maupassant and his contemporary society, and how it affected his literary work.
Nurhidayah, Sri, and Apsari Prihantini. “Handcuffs of the Beauty Myth in Maupassant’s The Necklace.”Proceedings of the Third International Seminar on Recent Language, Literature, and Local Culture Studies, BASA, Surakarta, Central Java, Indonesia, 2020, Web.
Nurhidayah and Prihantini dissect the myth of beauty as portrayed in De Maupassant’s story The Necklace. The authors claim that women’s representation in literature was deeply affected by the long story of female exploitation by the capitalist society. According to the authors, the myth of beauty supported the patriarchal views throughout the history, allowing society to “shackle” the women with it. This discourse presents a comprehensive analysis of women images in The Necklace and ties it to the historical and social tendencies of female imaging in literature.
Smriti, Richa, and Aroonima Sinha. “Struggle of Social Classes in Maupassant’s Select Short Stories.” Ars Artium: An International Peer Reviewed-Cum-Refereed Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, vol. 6, 2018, pp. 114–119.
In their study, Smriti and Sinha discuss how the social struggle of classes was reflected in several of De Maupassant’ short stories. The authors claim that the writer was especially interested in this issue, and thus strived to accurately represent it in his works. According to Smriti and Sinha (2018), “he deeply studied different aspects of life around him and reveals the same in his stories” (114). The discussion provided in this research offers valuable analysis on De Maupassant’s views towards social struggle.