The Secret Life of Walter Mitty by Thurber versus the Necklace by Maupassant - Essay Example

?Running Head: “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” Versus “The Necklace” “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by Thurber Versus “The Necklace” by Maupassant [Name] [University] “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber Versus “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant were written in different time, in different countries and different settings. Their characters have different fates and their stories have different endings. However, there is something in common between these two literary works - they tell about marriage and gender roles, about daydreaming and escaping from the reality, and they are both short stories. Is there anything else that unites these stories? Or are there more differences than similarities? Having explored both stories in detail, I can say there are more similarities than differences between “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Necklace”, which is evident in the stories’ themes, literary forms and styles. First of all, let us briefly discuss the plots of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber and “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” tells about Mitty, a soft-minded man who has his head in the clouds. Mitty and his wife drive to Waterbury, a town in Connecticut, where they are supposed to go shopping. Mitty’s wife is going to the beauty parlour as well (Thurber, 2011, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”). In the story, Mitty experiences five daydream episodes which are based on Mitty’s heroic deeds. In the first episode, Mitty is a U.S. Navy pilot who is powering up his flying boat when there is storm around. The second episode is about Mitty being a highly qualified surgeon who performs a unique operation. The third episode is about Mitty being a cool criminal that is testifying somewhere in a court room. The fifth one tells out Mitty in the role of Royal Air Force pilot who performs a secret suicide task to bomb the enemy’s ammunition dump. Finally, at the end of the story, Mitty is depicted as facing a firing squad (Thurber, 2011, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”). “The Necklace” tells about the relationship between a Monsieur Loisel and his wife Mathilde. Mathilde is a charming young woman who has been forced to marry Monsieur Loisel, a clerk in the Ministry of Public Instruction, because she has no dowry. She would have preferred to marry a rich man so that she could have delicious dinners and be surrounded by gallant admirers. Yet, she has to look at the bare walls of her apartment and be content with Monsieur Loisier relatively meager income. That is why, she is not happy hearing her husband exclaiming over the delicious soup she prepared. Neither is she happy with her life as a wife of a clerk (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). When Monsieur Loisier is invited to the ball which is going to be held at the Palace of the Ministry, Mathilde gets crossed. Instead of being delighted at the news, she says she won’t visit the ball since she has no gown to wear. Mr Loisier decides to sacrifice a considerable part of his indulgencies (400 franks) in order to let his wife buy the gown she wants. However, Mathilde is not satisfied with the gown. What she wants is exquisite jewellery to decorate herself. Since she does not have any, Mathilde borrows a diamond necklace from her schoolmate Madame Forestier. Eventually, the day of the ball comes and Mathilde enjoys herself being the belle of the ball. She is the most elegantly dressed and the most charming woman at the ball, so she is admired by all men. Mathilde stops dancing around four o’clock in the morning and she and her husband quietly escape from the ball so as not to let anyone see Mathilde’s old wraps (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). When the Loisiers come back home, they discover that the necklace has gone. All attempts to find the lost jewellery are vain. So Monsieur Loisier unquestioningly spends all his savings to purchase a diamond necklace in one of the shops at Palais Royal. He has to pay thirty six thousand franks, but since his savings are far more meager he has to take a loan. Since that time Mathilde never complains about being poor despite the fact that she lives in poverty. She neither complains about having to wash linen, nor about selling groceries. Monsieur Loisel takes up the second job. When in ten years’ time the Loisels manage to pay off the debt, Mathilde looks older than she really is – rough, strong, and hard (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). One Sunday morning Mathilde happens to meet her friend Madame Forestier who is shocked at Mathilde’s appearance. The woman tells that she had to work hard to replace the lost necklace, which has made look like that. Madame Forestier asks whether Mathilde bought a diamond necklace instead of the lost one. Once she hears that yes, she carefully tells Mathilde that the lost necklace was a fake (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). Thematically, both stories have many things in common. To begin with, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Necklace” are both exploring relationships within a marriage. Specifically, both works focus on roles that their characters play within the marriage. In “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the author portrays on atypical marriage. Walter is married to a woman that is domineering and even authoritarian in some way . To add, she is in charge of household. Whatever situation might arise, Walter’s wife acts as if she were his boss and he were someone with a much lower status. In other words, she has taken up her husband’s role and acts as if she were a man, and Walter a woman, a kid, or anything else she imagines him to be. Specifically, when Mrs Mitty comes back from the hairdresser’s and finds her spouse in a hotel, she strikes Walter’s shoulder and speaks in a rough and unladylike manner that actually reminds quarrelling. To illustrate, “Something struck his shoulder. “I've been looking all over this hotel for you,” said Mrs. Mitty. “Why do you have to hide in this old chair? How did you expect me to find you?” “Things close in,” said Walter Mitty vaguely. “What?” Mrs. Mitty said. “Did you get the what's-its-name? The puppy biscuit? What's in that box?” (Thurber, 2011, “The secret Life of Walter Mitty”) All in all, Mrs Mitty’s traits of character illustrate her masculinity. She is obviously a woman that will hardly be liked by men. This is explained by the fact that she acts as a man herself. Similarly, to “The Life of Walter Mitty”, one of the themes of “The Necklace” is gender roles and relationship within marriage. However, the story contrasts with the Thurber’s one in a way that the woman in a marriage is an embodiment of femininity. In contrast to Mitty’s wife, Mathilde is “beautiful” and “charming”, and she wishes to be admired by men. Seemingly, this is the biggest motive for her desire to get luxurious things. To illustrate, “She (Mathilde) had no dresses, no jewelry, nothing. And she loved nothing else; she felt herself made for that only. She would so much have liked to please, to be envied, to be seductive and sought after” (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). Besides, Mathilde’s femininity is enhanced by her oversensitivity and excessive emotions. Expectedly, she is depicted in the context of the world overpowered by men. Furthermore, escapism is a theme common for both stories. In “The Secret of Walter Mitty”, escapism is the major theme. The protagonist is “a middle-aged, middle-class man who escapes from the routine drudgery of his suburban life into fantasies of heroic conquest” (Napierkowski, 1998). Indeed, daydreaming occupies a significant part of Walter’s life. In the novel, Mitty is constantly daydreaming in order to escape from realizing that he has a weak character. Te hat is why, Mitty imagines himself a true hero, the one who is the opposite to what Walter is in real life. Importantly, Walter manages to escape from the surrounding reality 5 times during one part of the day. To illustrate, In psychoanalytic theory, this mental condition received the name of “self-soothing self-deception” (Grotstein, 2009, p. 197). So whenever Mitty escapes from either his wife or his duties, he is experiencing “a self-soothing phantasmagoria” and “compulsive daydreaming”. These states, as it is noted by Grotstein, need to be treated since they point at some serious problems in a person’s psyche. In “The Necklace”, Madame Loisel also daydreams a lot. Her escapism is actually directed to changing her social status. A representative the French middle-class, Mathilde dreams of becoming rich one day. Having married not for love, but because she had to, Mathilde dreams of crowds of gallantry men around her. Being fond of lavish lifestyle, she hates the house she lives in. It is worth mentioning here that the Loisels were not by any means poor – they could even afford hiring one servant. However, it is greed that makes Mathilde want more . She delves deeply in her fantasies, like Walter does, and she is no less imaginative in her artificial world. Indeed, her daydreams are full of exquisite details. To illustrate, “She imagined silent antechambers, heavy with Oriental tapestries, lit by torches in lofty bronze sockets, with two tall footmen in knee-breeches sleeping in large arm-chairs, overcome by the heavy warmth of the stove. She imagined vast saloons hung with antique silks, exquisite pieces of furniture supporting priceless ornaments, and small, charming, perfumed rooms, created just for little parties of intimate friends, men who were famous and sought after, whose homage roused every other woman's envious longings.” (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”) However, there is a difference between these two kinds of escapism and daydreaming. While Walter daydreams because this is the only way for him to survive, Madame Loisel daydreams because she is greedy and discontent with middle-class life she has. For example, “She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. She suffered from the poorness of her house, from its mean walls, worn chairs, and ugly curtains. All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her.” (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”) Besides, an important thing to note is that Walter’s daydreams often show him doing good not for his own benefit, but for the benefit of others. So he dreams of sacrifice in the name of other people’s health. Rather than being preoccupied with thoughts how to become rich and “sought for’, he often dreams of helping others through sacrificing his health, etc. This is evident in the episode when Mitty imagines he is a celebrated surgeon, an author of internationally acclaimed book on streptothricosis, who is the only doctor among many others who is able to save the life of a millionaire (Thurber, 2011, “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”). Another common theme that is evident in both stories is appearances versus reality. As Napierkowski states, Mathilde is beautiful however dissatisfied. Therefore, her beauty is nothing else but appearance. Best of all, this idea is embodied in the symbol of the coveted necklace. Although it appears to be expensive and beautiful, it is an imitation. Just as, ironically enough, Mathilde is at the ball. Despite the fact that she enjoys enormous success and is even noticed by the minister, it is not her beauty, since she pretends to be what she is not. Therefore, as Napierkowski thinks, “ it is not the reality of wealth or high social class that is important for Madame Loisel, just the appearance of it” (Napierkowski, 1998). In case with Walter Mitty, he is known to daydream in order to flee from the harsh reality of his suppressed life. So the roles of leadership and heroism that Walter plays aim to compensate for his secondary roles in real life. Thus, he wants to appear someone he is not. Thus, both stories may be said to conceal their protagonists’ real selves with the help of appearances. As for Mitty, he resorts to a variety of characters he represents in his heroic daydreams. Mathilde, on her part, hides her real self by appearing as if she belonged to the upper-class. A common thing, though, is characters put on these appearances to pretend they are someone they cannot be. Unfortunately, they suffer from this greatly. It is Walter Mitty who one day will wake up from his escaping daydreams and realize he will never be a person he wishes to, as well as the man Mrs Mitty wants him to become. Because they both want to appear better than they are, the Loisels spend a fortune to secretly buy a new diamond necklace to replace the lost one. Had they not been so appearance-minded, they would go on leading their peaceful life of middle-class Frenchmen. But ten years of unbearably hard labor have to pass till Madame Loisel dares to confess to her friend that she lost her necklace. Indeed, “better late than never”, she learns that the lost necklace was a fake (Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). Additionally, it is the theme of success versus failure that dominates both stories. As Heuscher describes, “the nice and complying Mister Witty experiences himself in several roles that are incongruous with his ordinary, henpecked daily life” (Heuscher, 2003, p.153). This actually means his real life is a failure. So he makes a retreat to the imagined life filled with conquest inside his mind (Napierkowsky, 1998). This is how success is contrasted with failure in Mr Mitty. As for Madame Loisel, she thinks of herself as of an unsuccessful woman who was “as unhappy as though she had married beneath her” (de Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”). She becomes a success at the ball organized by her husband’s ministry, when she is regarded highly by the social elite around her. However, this success changes to failure the sane night when she loses her necklace and is doomed to real poverty. All in all, despite the fact that success appears in both stories it is merely a ghostly vision, since neither of characters is able to have a full taste of it. For instance, Mitty is successful only in his colorful daydreams while Mrs Loisel’s experience of success is very short. There is one more theme that, as discovered in course of careful analysis of both works, is present in both stories. This is the theme of pride. In “The Necklace”, this theme seems to be a leading one. As Fusco, a literary critic, rightfully claims pride is the root of the plight the Loisels get in (Fusco, 2004, p. 62). At the beginning, Madame Loisel borrowed a necklace from her friend, which was because she did not want to look poor or middle-class. Then, it is pride that makes the Loisels hide the truth from Madame Forestier who owns the necklace and incur a horrible debt to be repaid in ten years’ time. Finally, it is pride that makes Mathilde confess to her ex-schoolmate that she has worked hard in order to pay off the oppressive loan (Bloom, 2004). As for “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”, the hero, too, is not free from this sin (if to consider him a normal person, of course). Despite the fact that very often his actions are seemingly aimed at doing good for the benefit of others, they are done not for the sake of love or compassion, but because the indecisive character wants to be appraised by other people. It is his pride that puts him in a position of a hero that is admired by other people. This seems rather similar to what Madame Loisel wanted to have. It is time to discuss differences in literary form between “The secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Necklace”. Both of them are short stories. Both are written from the third person limited perspective. Both are thought to be written with the help of historical/ biographical approach (Thurber himself is thought to be a prototype of Walter Witty in relation to his first marriage that was a failure (Fensch, 2001, p. 267); de Maupassant describes life of the society and classes he was familiar with). Both The main difference is that “The Necklace” is an inversion story, i.e. the one in which a surprise-inversion technique is used. In “The Necklace” it is expressed through the unexpected ending. As for the literary style, a common thing for both works is extensive use of irony. While irony is implied in striking discrepancies between what Mitty wants to be and what he really is, in “The Necklace” it is irony almost everywhere. Especially, the language is quite ironical and even sarcastic at times. It seems Mr Loisel is the only exception, since he is described as a victim of his wife’s pride and greed. As for the description of Mathilde, she is described in an ironical manner all throughout the story, and even at the end. To illustrate, “Her tastes were simple because she had never been able to afford any other, but she was as unhappy as though she had married beneath her, for women have no caste or class, their beauty, grace, and charm serving them for birth or family, their natural delicacy, their instinctive elegance, their nimbleness of wit, are their only mark of rank, and put the slum girl on a level with the highest lady in the land.” (Guy de Maupassant, 2011, “The Necklace”) In conclusion, the short stories discussed above contain a number of characteristics that make them similar to each other in terms of themes, literary forms, and style. Despite different outcomes, time and settings, they both raise the problem of escapism, gender roles in marriages, appearance versus reality, pride, and success versus failure. In addition, both works are short stories written from the perspective a third person limited, referring to the historical/biographical approach. Finally, irony is what stylistically unifies “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” and “The Necklace”. References Bloom, H. (2004) Guy de Maupassant. Infobase Publishing. Fensch, Thomas (2001). The Man Who Was Walter Mitty: The Life and Work of James Thurber. New York: New Century Books. Fusco, R. (2004) Critical Views on “The Necklace”. In H.Bloom (ed.) Guy de Maupassant. Infobase Publishing, pp. 60-64. Grotstein, J. (2009) “-but at the Same Time and on Another Level--": Psychoanalytic theory and technique in the Kleinian. Karnac Books. Heuscher, J. (2003) Psychology, folklore, creativity, and the human dilemma. Charles C Thomas Publisher. Maupassant, Guy de (2011) The Necklace. Shortstories. Retrieved on 17 December 2011 from http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Neck.shtml#3 Napierkowski, M. R (Ed.) (1998) Novels for Students. Vol. 4. Detroit: Gale. Thurber, J. (2011) The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Zoetrope: All-Story. Retrieved on 17 December 2011 from http://www.all-story.com/issues.cgi?action=show_story&story_id=100. Running Head: DISCUSSION QUESTIONS Discussion Questions [Name] [University] Discussion Questions 1. Although it seems that poems and short stories might be totally different in terms of literary form and the way they convey their messages, one can find at least one similarity between them. It seems both of them have a unitary message or idea that is conveyed with help of the literary from and devices that it uses. One more similarity can be named. Both of these literary forms are short and may be read at once. As for differences, the biggest one is that of size. While poems are short, they need to be quite laconic. So the message is encoded with brevity. As for short stories, they still have enough place to develop characters and the theme. Moreover, poetry is busy arranging words in a way that is appealing both visually and in terms of the sound. At the same time, short stories merely use sentences to write about the idea. These differences affect the way readers perceive what they read and the way they react to it. While a short story can be retold to someone thanks to it having a plot or a story line, poems suggest that readers just grasp the message and base their perceptions on images or associations. Moreover, poetry usually employs rhyme and rhythm, which appeal to human emotions. Short stories, however, need to do a lot of things to keep the reader going on. For example, characters should be effectively developed, the setting, too, should correspond to the overall theme. For example, the poem “Wild Geese” by Mary Oliver uses a few specific literary devices which create a special mood. One may find repetitions in the poem that help to keep the rhythm melodic. For instance, the following lines all start with the pronoun “You”, which directly addresses the reader: “You do not have to be good,” “You do not have to walk,” “You only have to let”; similarly, “meanwhile” is repeated at the beginning of lines. This rhetorical device is known as anaphora. Next, the poem employs alliteration. The latter refers to repetition of certain sounds in the first syllables of words that go one after another. For example, “Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air…” (sound “l” is repeated). 2. It seems listening and reading to the same poem (“We Real Cool”) helped to have a deeper insight into its message. While reading I was imagining boys at the pool house who are really cool and the word die seemed really inappropriate at the end. So what I decided was ‘die’ was not used literally, but could refer to get exhausted, for example, since having fun in such active way needs physical resources. However, listening to the poem could help seeing it in another light. In particular, it helps understanding the uneven and a bit unconfident feeling conveyed in ‘we’. In my view, it may mean that despite the boys say they are cool, they feel rather unprotected inside. References Brooks, G. (1960) “We Real Cool”. The Bean Eaters. Harpers. Brooks, G. (2006) “We Real Cool”. BeeMP3. Retrieved on December 16, 2011 from http://beemp3.com/index.php?q=gwendolyn+brooks+we+real+cool Brooks, G. (2006) “We Real Cool”. Retrieved on December 16, 2011 from http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15433 Oliver, M. (2011) “Wild Geese”. Panhala Net. Retrieved on December 16, 2011 from http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Wild_Geese.html . Read More