Lesson 5 Close Reading: The Necklace

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Close Reading

Few weeks into CR. 

Another short story, but first....

Why is CR important? What advantages does it bring?

Discussion: Can anyone tell me why CR is important? What advantages does it bring?  (give the lesson more significance)

- deeper meaning?

- reading contracts? (as a lawyer/businessperson)

- reading people? 

Short story of the week by Guy de Maupassant

• Henri-René-Albert-Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893)
• French author
• Master of the short story form
• Naturalist and Realist writer
• Social commentary

Remembered as a master of the short story form.

Genre and literary movement; both reject Romanticism, and are distinct in its embrace of determinism, detachment, scientific objectivism, and social commentary.

The short story "The Necklace"  takes place in France several hundred years ago. Mathilde lives in a flat with her husband, who works as a clerk for the Minister of Education. Their lives are not luxurious, but they are not poor, merely simple. Mathilde, however, longs to be rich. She envies her friend Jeanne who has a large house and lots of jewelry.

Watch 8 min video that summarizes the details. 

External Conflict vs Internal Conflict

Trigger prior knowledge. 

Ask students whether they remember the difference. The superman example should help them. 

• External Conflict – a struggle between a literary character and outside force (other character/nature).

• Internal Conflict – a psychological struggle within the literary character’s mind.

Passage 1

"She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of

artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded

by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. 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.

 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."

Name student to read.

artisan = normal working person, like a teacher

Directions - Closely read the passage below. As you read, look for examples from the text that demonstrate conflict. Write down at least two quotes that show conflict, and explain how the quotes represent said conflict. 

"She was one of those pretty and charming girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of

artisans. She had no marriage portion, no expectations, no means of getting known, understood, loved, and wedded

by a man of wealth and distinction; and she let herself be married off to a little clerk in the Ministry of Education. 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.

 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."

7 minutes

Discuss their answers shorty. 

Ask students whether this is internal or external conflicts; both can be argued.

Internal: Loisel is not satisfied with what she has. If she could accept her financial situation she could be happy

External: if she had gotten a better match; married up the social rank, life would have been better. External factors, lack of contacts, have made it impossible. 

Is poverty an internal or external conflict? And why?

Discuss their answers.

• External Conflict – a struggle between a literary character and outside force (other character/nature).

• Internal Conflict – a psychological struggle within the literary character’s mind.

Let them think about what poverty means.

Unable to afford a diamond necklace?

Go to the modiste every week to get a new dress?

How is this problem that the main character has related to gratitude? 

Passage 2

"He did borrow it, getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there.

He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of moneylenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even knowing if he

could honour it, and, appalled at the agonising face of the future, at the black misery about to fall upon him, at the

prospect of every possible physical privation and moral torture, he went to get the new necklace and put down upon

the jeweller's counter thirty-six thousand francs.

 When Madame Loisel took back the necklace to Madame Forestier, the latter said to her in a chilly voice:

 "You ought to have brought it back sooner; I might have needed it."

 She did not, as her friend had feared, open the case. If she had noticed the substitution, what would she have

thought? What would she have said? Would she not have taken her for a thief? 

Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty. From the very first she played her part heroically. This

fearful debt must be paid off. She would pay it. The servant was dismissed. They changed their flat; they took a

garret under the roof.

 She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing

out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and dishcloths, and hung them out to dry on a string; every morning she took the dustbin down into the street and carried up

the water, stopping on each landing to get her breath. And, clad like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the

grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money. 

"He did borrow it, getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of moneylenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even knowing if he could honour it, and, appalled at the agonising face of the future, at the black misery about to fall upon him, at the prospect of every possible physical privation and moral torture, he went to get the new necklace and put down upon the jeweller's counter thirty-six thousand francs.

 When Madame Loisel took back the necklace to Madame Forestier, the latter said to her in a chilly voice:

 "You ought to have brought it back sooner; I might have needed it."

 She did not, as her friend had feared, open the case. If she had noticed the substitution, what would she have

thought? What would she have said? Would she not have taken her for a thief? 

Madame Loisel came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty. From the very first she played her part heroically. This fearful debt must be paid off. She would pay it. The servant was dismissed. They changed their flat; they took a garret under the roof.

 She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and dishcloths, and hung them out to dry on a string; every morning she took the dustbin down into the street and carried up the water, stopping on each landing to get her breath. And, clad like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money. 

Passage 2

10 minutes

"chilly voice" indicates external conflict; the woman is mad at Mathilde

"played her part heroically": what does this say about poverty? 

"Hateful duties": pov

Similar assignment: Closely read the passage below. As you read, look for examples from the text that demonstrate conflict. Write down at least four quotes that show conflict, and explain how the quotes represent said conflict. 

 

Try to look at the struggles from both characters. Ideally, you name two quotes to explain the man's conflict/struggle and two to explain the woman's conflict/struggle

Content (& Theme)

Close Reading Focus Characterization – The process an author uses to develop and create characters in a story.

• Direct characterization – Information that the author directly reveals about the character.

• Indirect characterization – Information revealed about a character through his/her actions, thoughts,

dialogue, or interaction with other characters. 

Do you remember that we discussed this the week we did "The Gift of the Magi"? 

We have again have a married couple at the main characters. Having in mind the the two types of characterization, I want you to look at the following passage. 

Passage 3

Directions – Closely read the passage and analyze the text for direct and indirect characterizations of the Loisels. 

"She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers. The poverty of her rooms—the shabby walls, the worn furniture, the ugly upholstery—caused her pain. All these things that another woman of her class would not even have noticed tormented her and made her angry. The very sight of the little Breton girl who cleaned for her awoke rueful thoughts and the wildest dreams in her mind. She dreamt of thick-carpeted reception rooms with Oriental hangings, lighted by tall, bronze torches, and with two huge footmen in knee-breeches, made drowsy by the heat from the stove, asleep in the wide armchairs. She dreamt of great drawing rooms upholstered in old silks, with fragile little tables holding priceless knick-knacks, and of enchanting little sitting rooms redolent of perfume, designed for tea-accompanied chats with intimate friends—famous, sought-after men whose attentions all women longed for.

When she sat down to dinner at her round table with its three-day-old cloth, and watched her husband opposite of her lin the lid of the soup tureen and exclaim, delighted: “Ah, a good homemade beef stew! There’s nothing better...” she would visualize elegant dinners with gleaming silver amid tapestried walls peopled by knights and ladies and exotic birds in a fairy forest; she would think of exquisite dishes served on gorgeous china, and of gallantries whispered and received with sphinx-like smiles while eating the pink flesh of trout or wings of grouse."

10 minutes

Directions – Closely read and annotate the passage as you read, analyze the text for characterizations of the Loisels. 

(he) exclaim delighted -> (she) would visualize: contrast!

(Content &) Theme

What is the most prominent theme of "The Necklace"?

What is the text about?

What message is conveyed?

Theme – In a literary work, the theme is the central topic or message of the text.

• Usually, themes are not explicitly stated.

• The audience has to piece together the clues to discover the theme.

Interaction with the students: ask them to share their thoughts.

What is the theme of Maupassant's "The Necklace"?

1. Greed vs Generoristy
2. Right vs Belief
3. Honesty
4. The dichotomy of reality versus appearance

Right vs Belief: the mc is not born in a rich family but she believe she should have

Themes = 

Greed vs Generoristy 

Mathilde is greedy, but her husband and friend are very generous

The dichotomy of reality versus appearance

Necklace fake; appearance of wealth. Mathilde dresses and acts to appear wealthy, she is not.

Honesty

Final passage

Directions – Closely read the following passage and analyze the text for different types of conflicts and characterizations. In your explanatory passage, also discuss gratitude and honesty, and the dichotomy of reality and appearance. 

• External Conflict & Internal Conflict
• Indirect Characterization & Direct Characterization
• The importance of gratitude and honesty
• The dichotomy of reality and appearance

Take over these instructions as you might forget the assignment when close reading the following passage

Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become like all the other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households.

Her hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red. She spoke in a shrill voice, and the water slopped all over the floor when she scrubbed it. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat down by the window and thought of that evening long ago, of the ball at which she had been so beautiful and so much admired. What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels. Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!

 One Sunday, as she had gone for a walk along the Champs-Elysees to freshen herself after the labours of the

week, she caught sight suddenly of a woman who was taking a child out for a walk. It was Madame Forestier, still

young, still beautiful, still attractive. Madame Loisel was conscious of some emotion. Should she speak to her? Yes, certainly. And now that she had paid, she would tell her all. Why not?

 She went up to her. "Good morning, Jeanne." The other did not recognise her, and was surprised at being thus familiarly addressed by a poor woman. "But . . . Madame . . ." she stammered. "I don't know . . . you must be making a mistake." "No . . . I am Mathilde Loisel." Her friend uttered a cry. "Oh! . . . my poor Mathilde, how you have changed! . . ." "Yes, I've had some hard times since I saw you last; and many sorrows . . . and all on your account."

 "On my account! . . . How was that?" "You remember the diamond necklace you lent me for the ball at the Ministry?" "Yes. Well?" "Well, I lost it." "How could you? Why, you brought it back."

 "I brought you another one just like it. And for the last ten years we have been paying for it. You realise it wasn't

easy for us; we had no money. . . . Well, it's paid for at last, and I'm glad indeed."

 Madame Forestier had halted. "You say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?"

 "Yes. You hadn't noticed it? They were very much alike." And she smiled in proud and innocent happiness.

 Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her two hands. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was an imitation. It was

worth at the very most five hundred francs! . . . "

10 minutes (depending on time)

What has close reading this short story taught you?

- External Conflict & Internal Conflict

- Indirect Characterization & Direct Characterization

- The importance of gratitude and honesty

- The dichotomy of reality and appearance

Question students what they know about these points. 

Elaborate on them with regard to the short story and real life

(last two points are still relevant today - social media)