The French novelist, Guy de Maupassant wrote his notorious story The Necklace 1884. His remarkable story. Alternatively, the American memoirist Maya Angelou wrote her influential poem Still I Rise in 1978. Guy de Maupassant was an extraordinary writer, whose short stories dealt with many diverse themes, involving things such as wars and religions. His stories are famous for being very well organized with a lot psychological depth, where he describes characters from various professions and social classes.
When he wrote his short story The Necklace, he had Gustave Flaubert, French novelist, as a mentor, who helped him collaborate/meet other famous writers. Although he had a lot of success in writing, he had a tragic personal life with his brother dying of syphilis and himself attempting suicide. Maya Angelou is also considered a very controversial writer/poet with a lot of political and racial statements in her poems, which brought her a lot of hate throughout her life. She has been a huge face of equality, pairing up with Martin Luther King and many others. She achieved many accomplishments throughout her life such as becoming the first African American and first women to participate in a recitation for a U.S. President. Both these writers, used repetition, short sentences, imagery and themes to present women in their perspective times.
Firstly, both writers present the women in their poem/story through repetition. Guy de Maupassant presents women when the main character repeats “No dowry, no prospects, no opportunities”. The repetition of No in this phrase could display how the character could have no meaning in live, even though she is appealing. It could also present, how her gender in 1884, could have affected her life and opportunities. Similarly, Maya Angelou also presents women in 1978, through repetition, as even though people tried to pull her down, she repeated “Still I Rise”.
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Maya Angelou may have used repetition to express her feelings on how envy became too common and her success through writing, without even going to University, could have made people try to pull her down, but she would rise up. The repetition could also be used to present how Maya herself went through a lot of hate as a civil rights activist, and lost many friends such as Martin Luther King, but she would still rise. The effect of repetition used by these women, shows how they were put down constantly but they would still rise up, which gives the audience an emotional message that you can overcome everything, even if things are unfair.
Secondly, both writers use structure in their poem/story to present women. Guy de Maupassant follows the conventional structure normally used in his time and uses short sentences. Maupassant shows this in the sentence “The minister noticed her”. He uses this repetition to emphasize and bring up the fact that an important personality is noticing her beauty. Another interpretation of this quote is that it highlights the beauty and courage that the Necklace gave her. Similarly, Maya Angelou’s poem uses a 2,4 regular rhyme scheme. Maya could have done this to present her thoughts on equality, as her using a regular rhyme scheme may be her fighting for equality. Maya could have also used a regular rhyme scheme to show that she had the regular routine to have people trying to pull her down, but she would have to regularly rise up. The effect that the structure of Maupassant represents women as an object being looked at by important figures, while Maya uses a regular rhyme scheme to present women to be equal to men.
In addition, both writers use to present women through imagery. Guy de Maupassant uses imagery, when presenting Mme. Loisel, who spends much of her time imagining what her life would be like if she was wealthy. This is shown in many lavish scenes, where Loisel uses vivid imaginary to describe how “She thought of the exquisite food served on marvelous dishes”. He uses this sentence to show how Mme. Loisel is ungrateful for what she has or what she is, which gives the audience the image that she was spoiled and uneducated, presenting women poorly. He could have also used imagery to describe her situation as a woman, as she was not able to change her situation, which presented the image that her gender was affecting how far she could get in life, but she did not seem to want to change it. In comparison
Maya Angelou uses imagery to highlight how people tried to drag her down, but she had “cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells pumping in her living room.” In comparison to Mme. Forestier, Maya Angelou had unending confidence, showed by her courageous moves and words in her poems. The first interpretation of this quote is that Oil wells were a sign of wealthiness and power, which shows that she was very confident and acted/walked as if she were rich. The second interpretation of the quote is that even though all the problems she is facing and people that are trying to bring her down, she still walks with pride and confidence, which presents women in a powerful way, which can confront problems as well as men. The effect of both these writers using imagery to present women, is that Guy de Maupassant gives a spoiled and weak image to the public about Mme. Loisel, while Maya shows a powerful and confident image to the public.
References
- Guy de Maupassant – Wikipedia
- Maya Angelou – Poetry Foundation
- Guy de Maupassant – Encyclopedia Britannica
- Maya Angelou – Biography.com
- The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant: Summary & Analysis – Study.com
- Still I Rise by Maya Angelou Analysis | Poem Analysis
- The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou – Google Books
