Comparative Essay Sample: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant and The Scarlet Ibis by James Hurst

People must understand that one’s discontent cannot be fulfilled by the possessions of luxury nor the desires of what can be. In the short stories “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant and “The Scarlet Ibis'' by James Hurst, the authors explore the topics of happiness and what happens when you push it too far. The first story “the Necklace'', Madame Loisel is in major distress when she gets invited to the ball, without any jewelry to wear. When she finds a diamond necklace, Madame Loisel is overjoyed as she doesn't know that the necklace will be what strips her of all she has. In the second story, “The Scarlet Ibis”, Narrator gets unlucky with having a brother that does not possess the ability to swim, climb, box, and so on. To find his happiness, the narrator decides to teach Doodle how to do all those things, and even when he succeeds in one thing, the narrator doesn't stop because he still isn't satisfied with Doodle, and ends up losing his brother during this pursuit of happiness. In both of these stories, the protagonists are unhappy with what they have and desire to have more. This crave for more, at the end is what bereaved them from everything. 

Unhappiness is what drives them to be this way and to act the way they did. The short story “The Necklace.” Madame Loisel is a materialistic woman who lusts for jewelry and expensive gowns. When she had been invited to the ball, Madame Loisel couldn't go unless she could wear something that brought the happiness she lacked. “She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes for a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly been hers.” This quote demonstrates that the reason Madame Loisel was so unhappy was in fact because she didn't have the possessions she believed were supposed to be hers. She fantasizes about grand dinners with exquisite foods and many maids and butlers to be there to serve them. But as she faded out of that daydream she realized she could never have it, which then caused her great dissatisfaction. To continue on this topic of unhappiness, in the second short story “The Scarlet Ibis”, narrator wants a brother more than anything. He wants someone who he can run with, swim with, and box with, but it is not possible when he has a brother like Doodle. “I wanted a brother. But mama, crying, told me that even if William Armstrong lived, he would never do these things with me. He might not, she sobbed. Even be “all there”.” In this quote, it shows how narrator will not have a brother who can be as athletic and as “normal” as he wants Doodle to be, which makes him really unhappy. Narrator is especially unhappy when he has to pull Doodle in a little go-cart wherever he goes, and this is why he goes out of the way to teach Doodle to walk. 

In addition to being unhappy, they also face consequences because of their inability to be satisfied. Madame Loisel in “The Necklace” finds a necklace she sees as perfect and decides to wear it to the ball, which causes her to have a fun evening. She could have not gotten the necklace, and instead go with nice flowers but she didn't want to be seen as “poor”. “Madame Loisel came to know the awful life of the poverty-stricken” this quote shows that she, because of her decisions and choices she made, becomes what she wanted least, in poverty. These consequences were put in place because she couldn't be satisfied; not with her dress, not with flowers, nor with her wraps. Now that she was poor, she could now realize that she had been taking her old life for less than what it was. In “The Scarlet Ibis”, Narrator faces major consequences from pushing Doodle too far.”He had been bleeding from the mouth. And his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red.” This quote demonstrates that Doodle had bled the blood that narrator caused. He brought Doodle way outside his comfort zone because he wanted to teach Doodle to be “normal”.