Walter Mitty vs. the Necklace - 2159 Words

An Escape 2 Gender roles and marriages can play an important role in literature. It can be one of the most influential ways that gender roles are constructed. Works of literature construct images of boys and girls and men and women. These works usually depict the girls and women doing housework, playing with dolls, and cooking. The men are usually depicted as sports players and lovers, providers, and figures that are overall stronger than woman. Guy de Maupassant’s, â€Å"The Necklace† and James Thurber’s, â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty† are two works of literature that focus on the themes gender roles and marriage, with some similarities, but with even more differences. In â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,† Thurber shows a†¦show more content†¦Both of the main characters are indulging in escapism. Escapism is described as â€Å"The tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment† in The American Heritage Medical Dictionary (2007). Walter dreams big to escape his ordinary life and Mithilde dreams big of escaping from her normal life. In both of these short stories, the point of view is told from third person. The narrator is telling the story. However, there is a difference between the two stories and their point of views. In â€Å"The Necklace,† the point of view is told in third person omniscient. The narrator can disclose how Mathilde is feeling, and also how others in the story may be feeling. Even though, Thurber told his story from third person too, he told the story from third person limited omniscient. The point of view of the story indirectly puts us in the mindset of Walter Mitty. We learn things from Walter’s point of view, even though he is not the narrator. As a result of this, we feel that much closer to Walter. We learn more An Escape 6 about him, how he feels and thinks because the story is told from his point of view. We are not told how others within the story feel, making this limited omniscient. The genres of these two are completely opposite. In the story, â€Å"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,† the genre would be a comedic adventure. The daydreams alone take the story from boring to overly exaggeratedShow MoreRelatedMaupassant and Thurbers Use of Irony and Conflict to Explore and View Marital Relationships1575 Words   |  7 Pagesand view marital relationships. â€Å"Guy de Maupassant’s, â€Å"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 omniscienceRead MoreShort Story Theme Of Eve In Darkness1344 Words   |  6 Pagesaware of her sinfulness until she was told what sin was and had really thought about it (Lass 23). Once she finally understood the meaning of sin, all her sorry that she had felt from the word sin went away (Lass 23-24). Short Story Title: The Necklace Short Story Theme: Greed will get you nowhere. The theme of this short story is that greed will get you nowhere. This theme was revealed by the author through the characterization in the story. The main character, Madame Loisel, showed many qualities