Choose a story in English. After you chose story, gives the reasons why you chose it? Think of as many reasons as possible. Maintain a diary when you are reading the text. Not the techniques that you use to understand the story. For example when you did not understand what do you do, consult a dictionary? Guess the meaning try to understand the meaning from the context? Take down notes etc. List as many techniques as possible that you think you used to read the story: Explain do you use them. [Submit the diary with story.]
• Here in this work I am going to express my individual experience to read a story in English. I am giving some of my personal reasons for choosing this story, “The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant. It is a short story with a single plot. It shows the conflict of the middle class. I am also going to discuss the techniques those I have used to understand the story as much as possible. I am also saying here about the difficult words those I did not know and how they are understood by me.
• Reasons to choose this story:
Ø It is a short story:
The main reason to choose this story is that it is a short story. It is a typical short story, so the entire action takes place in the course of a single act. It is marked by an intensity of action. It is just an elaboration of single incident, the lost of the necklace. Due to its short length, there is no any boring description of any incident. So it’s pregnant with meanings. There is no digression.
Ø Favorite form and writer:
Short story is my favorite form. I always enjoy the reading of short story. I have read the short stories of Mulk Raj Anand, Leo Tolstoy and Guy De Maupassant. Among them, Maupassant is my favorite writer. I have read his works like: ‘The clown’, ‘The Mad Woman’, ‘The Story of a Farmer Girl’, ‘Love’, ‘Room No.11’ etc. but I like ‘The Necklace’ most. He always tell the story with clarity and simple in diction, with an economy which gives only the essentials of character, situation. He wrote 300 stories, six novels and some dramatic works. He is the founder of the modern commercial short story.
Ø As a medium of time-killer:
Every man always finds a way to do time pass. He or She always does any spiritual or physical activity. It depends on his or her interest and circumstances. As my interest is in music, cricket, and reading, I do any one activity among them. So in order to use this story as a medium of time killer, I have chosen this story. I hope that I will also get some knowledge from it.
Ø Due to hobby of reading:
Hobby is the part of man’s life. It bases on personal interests. My hobby is cricket and reading, which I always enjoy. In addition to my hobby of reading, I have read some Gujarati and English novels and short-stories. In Gujarati I have read books like: ‘Manvini Bhavai’, ‘Malela Jiv’, ‘Othar’, etc, while in English I have read “Five points someone, Train to Pakistan’, ‘Oliver’s love story’, etc. So, my hobby of reading is one of the major reasons to choose this story.
Ø Limited characters.
How can we imagine a story without any character? Character form is an important part of any play but in some plays they are more than five. However in this story there are two main characters on which the whole story depends. Because of short space a short story the writer cannot portrait a character in full. He can exhibit some one aspect or other features of a character. It is comfortable to concentrate on limited characters and easy to enjoy the real charm of story. In this story there are three characters like: Mathilde, her husband- Mr.Loisel and her friend- Mrs. Forestier.
Ø Theme is about human selfishness
The central theme of the short story may be based on love, adventure, scientific or social. The central theme in this short story, “The Necklace” shows the selfishness of a middle class woman. Here the main characters are from middleclass who are husband and wife. Among them wife is materialistic while husband is very simple. This story shows the reality of middle class when the husband gives a party invitation; she looked at him angrily and stated impatiently; “What do you expect me to wear to go there?” This tells the whole condition of the middle class. For a party the wife borrows a necklace from her friend but after the party she loses it and then they pays the pries for it and works hard for ten years. This tells that they even have no good clothes to wear but they replace a diamond necklace. It shows the honesty of them. As G.B.Shaw says in Pygmalion “Middle class has to live for others but not for themselves.” So it is a satire of a middle class.
Ø Popular form of the modern age.
In a modern age the short story is a very popular form. It tells the story like the novel. It is not long as the novel but short prose fiction. I think that it is an important product of the modernism because people have no time to read heavy volumes for hours. The short length is the soul of it. The real purpose of the short story is to give pleasure to audience. The dialogue is short and meaningful in this genre of literature. The short story has been always popular in every age.
• Techniques are used to understand:
• By previewing the story:
I have read the whole story approximately in 20 minutes as a previewing. It gives me a sense of the content and an idea about the theme. As here I come to know that the story is moving around the party, replacement of necklace, etc. Then I have got some idea about the character of a woman, Mathilde and her husband and her friend. I also understood the story from its title, beginning and an end as in this story the story begins with the description of the woman and the story ends with the suspense that necklace is of paste instead of diamond.
• By prediction
When I was reading the story I tried to understand this story by prediction. In this technique I was always thinking about the future incidents of the story. E.g. When the main character Mathilde denied her husband’s proposal to go to the party, I thought that there was a problem between wife and husband about her demands because Mathilde is shown as materialistic. This ended true as in the story the wife demanded the dress and jewels.
• With the classification of characters, locations and events.
I have tried to understand the story as much as possible by the role of the characters. Here there are two chief characters like: Mathilde, her husband and Mme Forestier. Among them Mathilde is a very materialistic and selfish person who is never concerned with anything in her life while her husband, a lowly clerk in the ministry of Education, enjoys always the simpler things in life, yet his wife Mathilde, Mrs.Forestier is a rich woman who has a lot of money. This story follows the life of a woman and her husband living in France. In this story there is a little description of a party in which Mathilde danced with passion, with enthusiasm and won the heart of all people. She also satisfied her ego. There are some important events like Mr.Loisel brings the invitation of a dinner party after which Mme Loisel quarrels with her husband for dress and jewelry and throws the invitation into his face. The other main incident is that she loses the necklace, which she has borrowed from her friend.
• Keeping myself in place of protagonist.
It is the best way to reach to the heart of the story by thinking his/her self as a protagonist. The same idea is considered by me to read a story effectively. However both the characters in this story are very important. But I think the character of Mathilde is more significant and I also try to accept myself as her. She is a real protagonist who is a selfish and materialistic. These traits are shown through her unhappy manners towards her middle class life and through the awful way she treats her husband after he does all for her. She gives her husband no love, praise, or not even thinks about his sacrifices he makes for her. May be after such a long time of ten years of surrounding up money to buy a new necklace to replace the lost one, she will change her ways. Perhaps she will realize how much she really has in life, may it be material things or love from her husband, and stop constantly worrying she does not have. May be she will even recognize how much her husband gives to her and how little he receive in return. So she is a kinetic character.
• By making a glossary.
Due to my limited vocabulary I often open the dictionary. I confess that I always take the help of the any expert or dictionary to know the perfect meaning of the word. Here I also feel difficulties to understand words like: illuminate immense, swarm, etc. Some of these words have contextual meanings, so it is the easy way to make glossary and understand for me.
• By thinking about the situations aroused.
This story is based on middleclass family in which there are two members: husband and wife. One-day husband brings an invitation of a dinner party but they are not able to join the party because her wife does not have good dress and jewelry. So they manage for dress by saving money but for jewelry [necklace] she has to go to her friend to borrow. Then she loses the necklace during the party. So they have worked hard for ten years to buy a new one necklace of 36 thousand francs. But in the end they come to know that the lost necklace was of only 500 francs’ paste necklace instead of diamond. So it looks like a funny for reader but the reality is that they have earned a costly necklace of 36 thousand francs. So the story ends with a happy end.
• By noting the changes in the character.
Change in any thing is always acceptable for its sweetness. The character in any story may be static or kinetic. Mr.Loisel was always hardworking man and leads a simple life. While his wife Mathilde is selfish and materialistic in her action, thought and day drams. In the beginning she hates and looks angrily at her husband. She does not offer her praise of love to him. But after losing the necklace her husband helps her for ten years to buy a new necklace, she will change her ways. At that time she realizes her wrong way of materialism and her love for husband and stops to think what she does not have. She also realizes that her husband gives her and what he receives.
• By summarize.
I had already noted down the all-important points during the reading of the story. At the end I made a complete sequence of all incidents like: problems and their solutions. Then I summarized the whole story in a small paragraph. It helped me the most to understand the story effectively.
• To understand meanings
1. Finding contextual meanings that are used in a story.
Some words have more than one meaning. In this situation we must have to take the contextual meaning of the word otherwise we cannot get the same meaning of the word. There are some words used in this story which have their contextual meanings related to farming. E.g. dainty, gallantries, etc.
2. Using reference dictionary.
I think no one is perfect in his field. It is also right for me because I took some help to understand some awkward words like: convent, etc. I have used the reference oxford dictionary for it. I have used it because the words are not only described by giving meanings but also there are used in sentences. For example: I have understood the word, ‘convent’ which is described as gathering together. I have used this trick and got easily the solution of problem to get the same meaning of the word.
Conclusion:
I have got an extra ordinary experience by doing this task. Here my topic is to choose a story in English. First I have chosen this story, ‘The Necklace” by Maupassant. Then I have written down the reasons to choose this special story. Then I have explained these reasons in details. Then I have read the whole story passage by passage and use some comprehension strategies to understand it clearly like skimming and scanning. In spite of all this things, I have felt some problems to understand some words, so I have used the oxford reference dictionary to get the same meaning. I think that I get the right meaning of the word. I learn many things throughout this particular assignment like reading critically, writing analytically and understand the gist of the story.
Posted by L.S.Chaudhari at 12:24 AM 1 comments Links to this post
Labels: Chaudhari of Banaskantha by Lalji Patosan
