Guy De Maupassant's Works

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In examining the influence of Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” and “Piece of String”, a similar form of figurative language is found. Situational irony, where an outcome is different from what was expected, is found in Maupassant’s short stories’ surprising and cruel endings. In “The Necklace” the protagonist, lost a diamond necklace, and ten years after struggling to pay off the replacement, she found the original was a fake. In Maupassant’s “Piece of String” the main character picked up a piece of string from the street and as a result of it, he was accused of theft and spent the rest of his life trying to prove his innocence. Guy de Maupassant’s short stories, “The Necklace” and “Piece of String,” were strongly influenced by his depressing life and Gustave Flaubert, his mentor, which resulted in developing main characters who faced unnecessary burdens.

Guy de Maupassant was born August 6, 1850 on Normandy coast of France. During Maupassant’s childhood, his mother, Laure Le Poittevin, wanted to pass on her late brother’s love of literature to her first son, Guy de Maupassant. As Maupassant grew, he lived in several places around Normandy until his family settled into Château de Grainville-Ymauville. In 1860, Maupassant’s parents split. His father moves to Paris while Maupassant, his mother, and his brother moved to Etreat. Maupassant stayed in Etreat until 1863 where he became a boarder at the Institution Ecclesiastique in Yvetot until he was expelled. Then, he enrolled at the Lycée Corneille in Rouen where his guardian was Louis Bouilhet. After Maupassant earned his baccalaureate in 1869, he enrolled into a Paris law school (Bloom 15). Later he was called to serve when France declared war on Germany during the Franco-Prus...

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...Salem Press, 2004. 1-3. Literary Reference Center. Salem Press. Web. 6 Apr. 2012.

"(henri) (rene Albert) Guy De Maupassant." Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Literature Resource Center. Web. 30 Mar. 2012.

Leacock, Stephen. "The Influence of Maupassant's Realism." Guy De Maupassant. Editor Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. 64-65. Print.

Maupassant, Guy De. "The Necklace." Prentice Hall Literature. By Kate Kinsella, Kevin

Feldman, and Sharon Vaughan. Penguin ed. Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Prentice

Hall, 2007. 294-301. Print.

Maupassant, Guy De. "The Piece of String." Ebscohost Literary Reference Center. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation., 1 March 2006. Web. 6 Apr. 2012.

Powys, John C. "Coarsness and Predatory Humor." Guy De Maupassant. Editor Harold Bloom. Philadelphia: Chelsea House, 2004. 66-68. Print.

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