Compare and contrast the themes of The Necklace and Ambush Support your answer with examples from the stories?

Answer 1

The Diamond Necklace - A Short Story By Guy De Maupassant - France

Maupassant (Moppasaang) was a French short story writer. His stories have fine twists towards their end, like O.Henry's. In The Diamond Necklace, he ridicules the vanity and ostentation of women and their lust for wearing costly ornaments. The story conveys the plain message that no one shall borrow ornaments for wearing in a party. Rather go not to the party.

Mathilde ( Mettilda ) in the story in fact has no mettle- spirit or courage. She was the wife of Loisel, who was a clerk in Government and who had only a limited income. Though poor, she was very handsome and loved the luxury and riches which were denied to her. She imagined she was a high-born, rich, aristocratic lass and dreamed about living in magnificent houses with very large halls, perfumed rooms and quite a number of servants. The tone and style of the story- telling is such that rather than pitying her, we will ardently pray to God to grant her all those blessings. Poverty is sadness, and prosperity and riches are what the world wishes for, to be happy. If someone is poor, no one will know about her grief and yearning for riches and happiness, until some great writer like Maupassant comes and tell it this way. She loved rich clothes and ornaments and liked to have heavy furniture and delicate food. But she only had hard food and delicate furniture in the house. The poorness of her home tormented and insulted her continuously. Therefore Mathilde was dissatisfied in her life.

One day her husband brought home an invitation to a great party, to be given by the Minister for Education and Lady. Without proper dress and ornaments, Mathilde could have chosen not to go, but she wanted to go there and appear very impressive there too. Thousands of such incidents happen in this world each week and no one notices it's folly, until one comes across this story. Mathilde borrowed a beautiful diamond necklace from her rich school mate Madame Forestiere and she was the star at the party. But, that necklace was lost. The frantic search by the husband and wife for it during the night needn't be mentioned here.

Now we see the spectacle of punishment for sin. Mortgaging almost everything they had and signing promisory notes and I.O.Us, they collected Thirty six thousand Franks and succeeded in purchasing an exact replica. When the necklace was returned, Madame Forestiere did not even casually glance at it, but threw it into a heap of others the like, the significance of which we are yet to know. To make good of their loss, the couple took to a very hard economical living. They changed their home to a low-rent room, the servant was sent away and the lady herself did cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping. The husband did extra night jobs to repay debts. After ten years of poverty, hardship and suffering, the last Frank was repaid. But within that time, Mathilde had lost her beauty, charm and health. Now she is a ghost of her old self.

One day, after ten years, she met Madame Forestiere on the street, more beautiful and pretty than ever. She was startled to see Mathilde in such a shape and asked her who made her that way."You", was the reply. Mathilde then told her the story of the loss and replacement of the necklace. The bewildered Madame revealed that her necklace was a clever imitation, costing no more than Five Franks. Now the readers, who already have been grieving with the sinner in her misery have a hope at last. Forestiere may return the Thirty six thousand Frank- necklace to her poor school mate, as she is a Madame. Mathilde has paid for the great mistake in her life. We truly sympathises with her. We now feel she was more sinned against, than sinning.

Answer 2

"The Necklace" explores the theme of the consequences of vanity and materialism through Mathilde Loisel's desire for wealth and status leading to her downfall. Meanwhile, "Ambush" delves into the theme of the complexities of morality and guilt as Tim O'Brien grapples with the emotional burden of killing a man during the Vietnam War. Both stories highlight the impact of human choices and actions on their lives and others, underscoring the enduring nature of moral dilemmas and their consequences.

Answer 3

(theme - a one-sentence statement of the lesson or moral learned through the reading of the passage)

"The Necklace": Honesty pays off in the end. OR Taking ownership of one's failures when they occur will save one much trouble in life.

"Ambush": Parents shelter their children out of love and a deep desire to protect them from the hurt and pain of the real world.

Answer 4

These two are very different stories. Probably the biggest similarity of the two is that both stories are centered around a lie. Mme. Loisel lies to her friend Mme. Forestier when she doesn't tell her she lost the necklace, then puts herself into debt for ten years in order to give her back a real replacement only to find out the original was a fake. In Ambushthe narrator's daughter knows her father writes war stories and asks him if he's ever killed anyone. He lies to her and resolves to one day tell her the truth, but for now allows her to believe that he has not killed anyone. The truth is he did kill a man he wanted to scare away with a grenade in Vietnam and he has vivid memories of the corpse with a hole where an eye should be. Both Mme. Loisel and the narrator in Ambush live with regret. One lives with the regret over lying out of shame about a necklace the other lives with regret over killing someone, possibly needlessly, and then lying to his daughter out of shame.

The stories plots are radically different, The Necklaceis about a spoiled ungrateful young woman who learns her lesson the hard way. She attends a ball and must have an expensive dress and jewelry as well which she loses and her pride keeps her from telling the truth and puts her into debt. Ambush is about a man who writes war stories and is conflicted over having killed someone in the war, even if it might have been an enemy, he struggles with his past.