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RESPONSE WRITING EXAMPLES |
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of
Successful
Student Response Writings |
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English 104 - Introduction
to Literature: Fiction, Fall 2002 |
Short Cuts: Response Writings #1
on "The
Necklace," by Guy de Maupassant:
Josh Goodall,
"Point of View and Narrator in 'The Necklace'"
Christalyn Grantier,
"The Dynamic Madame Loisel"
Kyle Heinze,
"Dynamic vs. Static Character"
Laura Palmer,
"Dynamic vs. Static Characters - 'The Necklace'"
Jessica Thompson,
"The Theme of 'The Necklace'"
Jennifer Vanni,
"Character - Dynamic vs. Static . . ."
Webpublished with students' permission ~ Thank you! ~ Cora
Josh Goodall
Eng 104, Prof. C. Agatucci
Response Writing #1 - Topic # 5
21 October 2002Point of View and Narrator in "The Necklace"
In Guy de Maupassant’s The Necklace the author utilizes a third person narrator who possesses a limited omniscience (1010). This narrator is exposed through the fact that there is never an “I” in the story. It seems as though the story is being told in retrospect, by on who has some connection to each and every character in the story. This is evidenced in the very beginning of the book where Maupassant writes, “She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station…” (524). The narrator is obviously in tune with the feelings o Mme. Loisel, beyond that of a bystander, which would suggest an omniscience to some extent. However, the narrator seems unable at times to examine the thoughts or feelings of a specific character. When Mme. Forestier meets Mme. Loisel after years of hard work have faded Mme. Loisel’s beauty, there is no discussion of her surprise or inner thoughts, merely the words that were spoken (529). Therefore, there is but limited omniscience, which is used chiefly (although not always) on Mme. Loisel. This selection of which character’s mind to pry into is sound, as Mme. Loisel is the main character whom the story revolves around.
In choosing a third person, limited omniscience narrator, Maupassant grants the reader a deeper insight into the characters than a narrator who is only concerned with the facts. “She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that” (524). This knowledge essentially sets the stage for things to come, without it we would lack understanding of what in Mme. Loisel’s character drives her life.
Even though insight into a character’s mind is enlightening, without leaving parts of a character to he imagination, the reader may not feel as though they have been given a fair chance to imagine the character. Maupassant does a good job in informing us of necessary information while still giving free reign to the imagination.
© 2002, Josh Goodall
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
Eng 104, Prof. C. Agatucci
Response Writing #1 Topic # 3
21 October 2002The Dynamic Madame Loisel
Characters in a story can be classified as “dynamic” or “static”. “Dynamic characters are characters that change as a story progresses (1007). “Static” characters, which can also be described as “flat”, are characters that are not well developed and remain fairly constant (1007). Madam Loisel, the main character in “The Necklace”, is an example of a “dynamic” character. Her attitudes and feelings change several times throughout the story. The story begins by describing the lady as discontent and depressed by her entire lifestyle. Many things not even considered by other women of her rank, such as worn-out chairs, curtains, and soup for dinner, “tortured” her (524). In contrast, Maupassant describes her as “made drunk by pleasure” (526) at the ball, when she was admired by all those who lived the life she greatly desired (526). The effect of having to pay off the debt of the replaced necklace on Matilde is great. Her appearance is changed by the new labor she must perform to survive. She is described as having “frowsy hair, shirts askew, and red hands” (529). The attitude of Madam was also altered. “She took her part…with heroism” (528).
© 2002, Christalyn
Grantier
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
ENG 104, Prof. C. Agatucci
Response Writing #1 - Topic # 3
21 October 2002
Dynamic vs. Static Character
All characters in literature, it seems, can be classified as either a Dynamic or Static character. A dynamic character is defined as one who changes in the course of the literature. These are usually the main characters in a story that, as a result of circumstances or events, undergo a sort of change. (It should be noted that “change” in a character usually suggests something internal, be it in the character’s personality or something of that sort, not necessarily external. In J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, an Orc who undergoes the “change” of having his hand chopped off is not then qualified as a dynamic character.) A static character, on the other hand, is one who is included in the story but does not change.
In Guy de Maupassant’s short story, The Necklace, the main character, Mme. Loisel is a dynamic character, in that by the end of the story she is no longer even recognizable in appearance or in character as the same person she was at the onset of the story.
Although M. and Mme. Loisel were not rich or well-to-do by any means, Mme. Loisel used to desire nothing but living a life in high society with beautiful clothes and rich friends to pass the time with (524). “She had no jewels, no dresses, nothing. And she loved nothing but that. She felt made for that” (524).
Through the events of the story, which basically involve M. and Mme. Loisel incurring a major debt, Mme. Loisel is forced to change. She comes to know extreme financial need as well as what it is to scrub floors and dishes and toilets and to do all of one’s own housework. She did this for ten years (529).
In the end, Mme. Loisel ran across and old friend who no longer even recognized her (529). She had changed greatly, not only in physical appearance but also in character.
© 2002, Kyle Heinze
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
ENG 104, Prof. C. Agatucci
Response Writing #1 - Topic # 3
21 October 2002Dynamic vs. Static Characters – “The Necklace”
A main character in a story can be identified as either a dynamic or a static character. A character that has changed at some point within the story would be considered dynamic. A character that has not changed is considered static.
In the story “The Necklace” the main character, Mme. Loisel, at first appeared to have been a dynamic character because of her change in appearance after ten years of hard work to pay for the replacement of the necklace. Upon closer examination of the story it is apparent Mme. Loisel would have to be considered a static character. There are a couple pertinent sentences the writer, Maupassant, provides to the reader that show Mathilde Loisel has not changed. Maupassant writes “sometimes when her husband was at the office, she sat down near the window, and she thought of that gay evening long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so feted” (529). Mme. Loisel still longs to be beautiful and honored.
Another instance where Maupassant shows Mathilde hasn’t changed occurs towards the end of the story when she meets again with Mme. Forestier. Mathilde blames Mme. Forestier for Mathilde’s own changed appearance (529). Mathilde goes on to explain to Mme. Forestier the ordeal of losing the necklace and having to work hard labor for ten years to replace it. Mathilde “smiled with a joy which was proud” (530) when she realized Mme. Forestier never noticed the necklace was not the original. She was glad she had successfully deceived her friend.
Through a few select sentences Maupassant makes it clear that Mme. Loisel has not changed throughout her ordeal of hard laborious work. She still wants to be in a higher social class and longs for the finer things in life, even if that means deceiving or lying to her friend.
© 2002, Laura Palmer
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
Eng. 104, Prof. C. Agatucci
Response Writing #1 - Topic #6
October 21, 2002The Theme of "The Necklace"
The theme is defined as "a generalization about the meaning of a story" (1013). It can be a "moral judgment" (1014), but "must be true to any and all of the specific details" (1014) of the story.
Taking this definition in mind, the theme of "The Necklace" is: it's best to tell the truth. This is shown throughout the short story by two things that were inflicted up on the characters. They worried and fretted about the lost necklace. They believed they would never find it or even find a replacement. "They went from jeweler to jeweler, searching for a necklace like the other" (528). They were "sick both of them with chargrin and anguish" (528). They soon found a necklace that seemed an exact match, but now the worry was over how to pay for it. M. Loisel "borrow[ed], asking a thousand francs of one, five hundred of another" (528). When they got all the money it was time for Mme. Loisel to return the necklace. To her worry, she thought her friend wouldn't be deceived, but "she [Mme Forstier] did not open the case, as her friend had so much feared" (528). To save you wrinkles of worry the truth should be told f! irst.
If the truth would have been told all would have been resolved faster. Mme. Loisel's friend would have known and told Mme. Loisel it was only work 500 francs to begin with. They could have paid her that amount and not worked 10 year of hard labor to pay off 36,000francs for a replacement necklace. The Loisel's would have gotten on with their lives faster and possibly been happier not doing all the povershed work. "She came to know what heavy housework meant" (529). Mme. Loisel also aged through the story from working so hard, "she had become the woman of impoverished households - strong and hard and rough" (529).
Worry and deceit didn't get them very far. It got the Loisel family poor and old quick. If they would have just told the truth, they would have been without worry and wouldn't have worked so hard for 10 years for a necklace of diamonds that they don't even own.
© 2002, Jessica Thompson
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
Eng 104, Prof. Cora Agatucci
Response Writing #1 - Topic # 3
21 October 2002
Character - Dynamic vs. Static - "The Necklace"
A dynamic character is prone to change as the story unfolds. One emotion leads to
another, and one state of being to another. On the contrary, a static character stays very
much the same!
Mathilde Loisel (the main female character in Maupassant’s "The Necklace") seems to me
to be a very dynamic character, although some of her moods appear to stay with her longer
than others. For some time in this story Mathilde feels that she is better than her social class
allows her to be. Feeling that she once deserved to marry better but was unable to obtain a
well to do husband she settled and ‘let herself be married to a little clerk..." (524).
Mathilde often dwells on her fantasies of a more elaborate life. She is described to have
"suffered ceaselessly" (524). "The poverty of her dwelling...the wretched look of the
walls...worn out chairs...ugly curtains..." (524) everything that Mathidle owned didn’t seem to
‘suit’ her. An inner desire to be of a higher social status and to possess nice, valuable trinkets
(524) seems to poison her very being.
Continuing with the emotion of self-pity she develops into a very greedy creature. Her
desires to obtain many nice possessions (524) drives her to change into a sulking and whining
mood (525). By forcing a few tears and sadly confronting her husband about her misfortunate
state, she is able to convince him that she needs an expensive dress for an upcoming social
gathering. But the dress is not enough on it’s own...she will need nice jewels to top it all off.
(526).
Mathilde is able to obtain a rather lovely necklace from a friend who owns much jewelry.
After a night of elegance, Mathilde finds that in all her haste to hurry home before the magical
evening was spoiled by someone finding out about her true social class, she misplaces the
necklace she borrowed. Basically, her old emotion of wanting people to view her as
something she was not (a rich society woman) overtook and forced her to contort into a
frightened woman who wanted to conceal her true identity. In the midst of it all she lost a
‘valuable’ possession...the necklace. (527).
A very strange thing then happens to her when she is forced to pay for a new very
expencive necklace to replace the one she lost. Overtaken by her own pride, Mathilde didn’t
tell her friend that the necklace was not the same as the one borrowed. She could not stand
to tell her friend that she had lost the nechlace. So for ten years Mathilde works very hard to
earn money to pay the outragious debt of 36,000 francs. durning this time of labor (something
very new to Mathilde) she beceoms somewhat impulsively practical. She does away with her
servant and rents out the servant’s quater and learns what it is like to work for a living. Now
she has expreicened what it really is to be the wife of a clerk, or even the life lesser than a
clrek’s, for her life is made up of great debt and much sorrow. (528).
A significant setting, I belive, was at the beginging of the story when Mathidle is serving
dinner and her husband replies how fine the food is, "Ah, the good pot-au-fue!..." (524) this
really let’s the reader know that he is more than grateful to be where he is in life and he is glad
to be eating his dinner in his own house. His wife, however, is less than thrilled and goes on to
complain about the poor decorations in her home.
All Mathidle really thinks of at this point is how nice it would be to have fine dining and
‘dainty dinners" (524). She clearly was not content with her situation and merely wanted more
and more to fulfil her many desires. Sadly, in the end after all she has put her husband and
herself through, she finds out that it was all really in vain. Yet I believe to some extent that
during those tens years of tedious labour she learned what it meant to be somewhat content
with what was had. (530).
© 2002, Jennifer Vanni
[Handwritten in class during 20
min. timed writing period - C.A. ]
More Student Response Writing Examples may be posted in future - Under Construction
See also Response Writing #1 Directions, Topic Choices, Evaluation
URL: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng104/RW1.htm
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© 1997-2002, Cora Agatucci,
Professor of English
Humanities Department, Central
Oregon Community College
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