Mother's Pearls
Around my mother’s neck was a necklace: a string of jaggedly spherical crystal beads. I don’t know why she chose that necklace for that night. Her sister’s wedding perhaps called for the touch of a family heirloom, or perhaps she simply liked the way it sat above her collarbone in a path of smooth stones. All the same, it was on this night that she chose to wear it — this favorite piece of hers — a gift from her late grandmother.
On my mother’s lap I sat in a curl — no older than seven, with little patience for adults or conversation or wedding parties. With my ear to her breast, her voice reverberated as though echoing out of a dim cave in the wells of her chest.
My mother’s boyfriend was tall and lanky. He had a reddish face and his ears looked as though they had been pinched by the lobes and stretched out an extra inch. His eyes were gentle, but I had no taste for men that were not my father, and was too shy to accept his numerous offers to dance, as my mother eased naturally in and out of conversation with the other women at the table.
"She’s living in Corpus now."
"That’s right. She married an optometrist, didn’t she?"
"Sean Smithl."
The band music, these women’s voices, the vibration of my mother’s chest, had all begun to blend into a slow rhythm, and I stared at the old women on the makeshift dance floor waltzing with their sons.
Between my right fingers were the jewels that settled around my mother’s neck, that spiraled and entwined in the small of my hand, tightening at her throat, twisting effortlessly, the cool stones rolling over the tips of fingers, sliding across palm.
Had my evening ended like this, the entire memory would have been lost in the pile of my past like any other childhood moment. But it did not. In a snap as quiet as the sound of a pin popping through fabric, my mother’s necklace unleashed from her throat, a ripple of beads falling to the floor like rain. She gasped, pushing me from her lap, leaving me wide-eyed and mesmerized by the glittering pellets that rolled and hopped off the carpet, some even reeling their way to the hard edge of the dance floor. Under the table, past the chair legs, she and her boyfriend bent over desperately, plucking the shimmering rocks and filling their hands with them.
No matter what actions or words a mother chooses, to a child his or her mother is on the highest pedestal. A mother is very important to a child because of the nourishing and love the child receives from his or her mother but not every child experiences the mother’s love or even having a mother. Bragg’s mother was something out of the ordinary because of all that she did for her children growing up, but no one is perfect in this world. Bragg’s mother’s flaw was always taking back her drunken husband and thinking that he could have changed since the last time he...
Mays, Kelly J. "The Jewelry." The Norton Introduction to Literature. 11th ed. New York: W W
Maupassant, Guy De. “The Necklace.” 1884. Hole Mcdougal Common Core 9th grade edition. Common Core Edition ed. Orlando: n.p., 2012. 224-33. Print.
A quinceañera receives a gorgeous gift from a family member on her fifteenth birthday, something that she will carry with her forever. In this cultural celebration for our family, it is very important for the father to give his daughter a special jewelry that resembles his love for her on her fifteenth birthday; the way it presents itself, how it would embody her physically, and how it would be carried throughout the years. My father took time and care in choosing the right gift for his princess. The gift that my father gave me was a necklace that touched my heart. It shines when light hits the gold carvings. It glistens in different shades of yellow when the sun comes out. This necklace started as a real gift of nature, so it has some natural variation in the size and shape. Every ornament is unique! The leaf is plated in copper, nickel, and finally gold. The process of the plating leaf into gold made the importance stronger to me, because it is very time consuming. There are two layers of metals applied to the leaf before the gold was applied. These layers help make the leaf very sturdy and long-lasting. It connects to the chain with an oval clip that has small cuts mimicking the shades and shape of a sea shell. The chain has two thin layers of gold crossing together, creating an ong...
Money is the main source of power in the world, but in ways it can be viewed as good or bad depending on the situation. It has a negative connotation when mentioned by the word “acts”. “ Acts” means to perform a fictional role. Which shows that most things involving money are fake. Though humans associate being fake with being morally wrong,but its somehow acceptable if there is a greater power involved. Another definition for acts is to take action;do something. In this case to take an action can be either good or bad. There are many ways to come across money, but nobody cares if it is good or bad because it deals with a greater power.
Values are spread all around the world, and many people’s values differ. These can lead to people being judged, or indirectly characterized by other people. In “The Necklace” Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they search out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she no longer has the necklace on when she leaves the ball. This later troubles her, as she has to work for a long time to collect enough money to buy a new necklace. This story describes the relationship between a couple, who have different dreams, and how desires can revamp your life. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace” uses literary devices to prove people come before materialistic items.
Parker, Sam. Horror Through The Decades. Bauer Consumer Media, 2009. Web. 1 Oct. 2013. .
“Guy de Maupassant’s, “The Necklace”, is about a young couple who discovers the upper society appears to sparkles like a real diamond necklace, but in reality it is not always true. A decision that seems to protect their integrity turns out to tarnish it – like a fake necklace. However, through ironic insights we witness drama, character revelations and experience surprise” (Clugston, 2010) .The Necklace is told from a 3rd person point of view with limited omniscience. The title suggests that the plot will center on a necklace. So, naturally we, the audience or reader wants to know what the significance of the necklace is. After reading the story I believe that Maupassant used the necklace to symbolize the upper society or wealth. Another symbol that the necklace represents is appearance. In the story Mme. Loisel was a beautiful young woman that had admirers at the reception. She made all the attendees believe she was from...
Maupassant, Guy De. “The Necklace.” Literature An Introduction to Reading and Writing. Ed. Edgar V. Roberts. 4th ed. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, 2008. 4-11. Print
Values are spread all around the world, and many people’s values differ. These can lead to people being judged, or indirectly characterized by other people. In “The Necklace” Mme. Loisel is a beautiful woman with a decent life, and a husband that loves her, and only wants to make her happy. She is not rich but she makes it along, she insists of a better, wealthier life. When her husband gets her invited to a ball, she feels the need for a brand new fancy dress and tons of jewelry. When the couple realizes they cannot afford jewelry as well, they search out to borrow her friend, Mme. Forestiers’ necklace. She comes to notice she no longer has the necklace on when she leaves the ball. This later troubles her, as she has to work for a long time to collect enough money to buy a new necklace. This story describes the relationship between a couple, who have different dreams, and how desires can revamp your life. Guy de Maupassant, the author of “The Necklace” uses literary devices to prove people come before materialistic items.
In the short story “The Necklace”, the main character, Loisel, is a woman who dreams of greater things in her life. She is married to a poor clerk who tries his best to make her happy no matter what. In an attempt to try to bring happiness to his wife, he manages to get two invitations to a very classy ball, but even in light of this Loisel is still unhappy. Even when she gets a new dress she is still unhappy. This lasts until her husband suggests she borrows some jewelry from a friend, and upon doing so she is finally happy. Once the ball is over, and they reach home, Loisel has the horrible realization that she has lost the necklace, and after ten years of hard labor and suffering, they pay off debts incurred to get a replacement. The central idea of this story is how something small can have a life changing effect on our and others life’s. This idea is presented through internal and external conflicts, third person omniscient point of view, and the round-dynamic character of Loisel. The third person limited omniscient point-of-view is prevalent throughout this short story in the way that the author lets the reader only see into the main character’s thoughts. Loisel is revealed to the reader as being unhappy with her life and wishing for fancier things. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries.” (de Maupassant 887) When her husband tries to fancy things up, “she thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls…” (de Maupassant 887) As the story goes on her point of view changes, as she “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism.” (de Maupassant 891) Having the accountability to know that the “dreadful debt must be paid.” (de Maupassant 891 ) This point-of-view is used to help the reader gain more insight to how Loisel’s whole mindset is changed throughout her struggle to pay off their debts. Maupassant only reveals the thoughts and feelings of these this main character leaving all the others as flat characters. Loisel is a round-dynamic character in that Maupassant shows how she thought she was born in the wrong “station”. “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station.
It took ten years for Mathilde and her husband to pay off the debt of buying a new necklace. Those ten years were not spent with the luxuries she experienced so many years ago at the party, nor were they filled with the simple things she once owned and despised. She came to know “the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism.” When passing her rich friend again in the street, she was barely recognizable. Who she was the day she ran into her friend was not who she was the night she wore that necklace.
“Money is number and numbers never end if it takes money to be happy your search for happiness will never end.” (Bob Marley). For the majority of people in our modern-capitalist world, money is the first thing, and sometimes the only thing that measures success in life. Money can buy power. Money can buy fame. Money can buy time. Sometimes money can even buy a life. So money has become the first common goal for everybody. There are many different perspectives, and how people view the world, in terms of success, and money. Money is not the root of all evil, but the love of money is the root of all evil.
I only knew him for a couple of minutes yet he was the most incredible man I have ever met in my entire life, she ended. As she tucked her children in they said goodnight to her, she switched off their light and everything went pitch black. She stood outside her children’s door and in line with her vision hung a battered, old guitar. Throughout all these years she had kept it with her, because she knew that never letting go of that guitar meant never letting go of that amazing memory. She just stood there gazing at it, virtually paralyzed, while a single drop of tear, from her brown-chestnut eyes, slowly made its way down her cheek then fell silently on the floor.
Cybercrime is a global issue plaguing the world. The dictionary defines cybercrime as “crime conducted via the Internet or some other computer network”(Merriam-Webster). The definition remains very broad because the word “cyber” is defined as “relating to the culture of computers, information technology, and virtual reality.” Due to the growing number of people gaining access to the internet, rapid development of technology, and the globalization of the world, more of the world population is becoming susceptible to involvement in cybercrime – whether it be as a victim or a criminal. Cybercrime involves different levels of the world on both the victim and criminal side from an individual citizen, to small groups, businesses, and the government, to the countries of the world. There are different groups from law enforcement agencies to the U.S. Secret Service, that are attempting to combat the problem through cooperation and preemptive efforts. If these groups combined with the public to protect themselves and the country from criminals that commit cybercrime, the nation’s network and technology servers would be much safer for technology users. Clearly, cybercrime is a problem because it puts internet users at risk of being taken advantage of or harmed.