Wilfred Owen (18931918)

Biography
Owen was born on 18th March 1893 in Oswestry, Shropshire, son of Tom and Susan Owen. After the death of his grandfather in 1897 the family moved to Birkenhead (Merseyside). His education began at the Birkenhead Institute, and then continued at the Technical School in Shrewsbury when the family were forced to move there in 1906-7 when his father was appointed Assistant Superintendent for the Western Region of the railways. Already displaying a keen interest in the arts, Owen's earliest experiments in poetry began at the age of 17. After failing to attain entrance to the University of London, he spent a year as a lay assistant to the Revd. Herbert Wigan at Dunsden before leaving for Bordeaux, France, to teach at the Berlitz School of English. During the latter part of 1914 and early 1915 Owen became increasingly aware of the magnitude of the War and he returned to England in September 1915 to enlist in the Artists' Rifles a month later. He received his commission to the Manchester Regiment (5th Battalion) in June 1916, and spent the rest of the year training in England. 1917 in many ways was the pivotal year in his life, although it was to prove to be his penultimate. In January he was posted to France and saw his first action in which he and his men were forced to hold a flooded dug-out in no-man's land for fifty hours whilst under heavy bombardment. In March he was injured with concussion but returned to the front-line in April. In May he was caught in a shell-explosion and when his battalion was eventually relieved he was diagnosed as having shell-shock ('neurasthenia'). He was evacuated to England and on June 26th he arrived at Craiglockhart War Hospital near Edinburgh. Had Owen not arrived at the hospital at that time one wonders what might have happened to his literary career, for it was here that he met Siegfried Sassoonwho was also a patient. Sassoon already had a reputation as a poet and after an awkward introduction he agreed to look over Owen's poems. As well as encouraging Owen to continue, he introduced him to such literary figures as Robert Graves (a friend of Sassoon's) which in turn, after his release from hospital, allowed Owen to mix with such luminaries as Arnold Bennett and H. G. Wells. The period in Craiglockhart, and the early part of 1918, was in many ways his most creative, and he wrote many of the poems for which he is remembered today. In June 1918 he rejoined his regiment at Scarborough and then in August he returned to France. He was awarded the Military Cross for bravery at Amiens, but was killed on the 4th November whilst attempting to lead his men across the Sambre canal at Ors. The news of his death reached his parents on November 11th 1918, the day of the armistice. Biography by: Dr. Stuart Lee, 1997
Disabled He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark , And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey, Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,

Voices of play and pleasure after day, (5) Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him. About this time Town used to swing so gay When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees, And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim, In the old times, before he threw away his knees . (10) Now he will never feel again how slim Girls' waists are, or how warm their subtle hands. All of them touch him like some queer disease. There was an artist silly for his face, For it was younger than his youth, last year. (15) Now, he is old; his back will never brace; He's lost his colour very far from here , Poured it down shell-holes till the veins ran dry, And half his lifetime lapsed in the hot race And leap of purple spurted from his thigh . (20) One time he liked a blood- smear down his leg, After the matches, carried shoulder -high. It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg, He thought he'd better join. - He wonders why. Someone had said he'd look a god in kilts, (25) That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg, Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts He asked to join. He didn't have to beg; Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years . Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt, (30) And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes; And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears; Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits. (35) And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers. Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal . Only a solemn man who brought him fruits Thanked him; and then enquired abou t his soul. Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes, (40) And do what things the rules consider wise ,

And take whatever pity they may dole. Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes Passed from him to the strong men that were whole . How cold and late it is! Why don't they come (45) And put him into bed? Why don't they come ? CPF, Vol. I, pp. 175-6

Literary Criticism of 'Disabled'

1. Disabled (title) Owen remarks in a letter to Sally Owen (14th October 1917) that he showed this poem to Robert Graves who had come to Craiglockhart to visit Sassoon. Owen was struck by the fact that Graves was very impressed by the piece. In mid-1918 Owen drafted his famous Preface to a proposed collection of poems (never published in his lifetime) which apparently he intended to call 'Disabled and Other Poems' (thus emphasising the importance of the piece in his eyes). Fussell (1977) notes that the poem strongly echoes Housman's poem 'To an Athlete Dying Young', whose patriotic enthusiasm for war is strongly attacked by Owen:
a poem in which Housman has also made certain that we see and admire the boy's eyes, ears, foot, head, and curls. Owen's former athlete, both legs and one arm gone, sits in his wheelchair in a hospital convalescent park listening to the shouts of "boys" playing at sunset. He can't help recalling the excitement of former early evenings in town before the war, back then "before he threw away his knees".

2. 'He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark' (L.1) The immediate appearance of 'dark', 'grey' , and 'shivered' sets up the isolation of the wounded soldier. It strikes a strong comparison to the warmth of the second stanza. 3. 'used to swing so gay' (L.7) The next few lines mirror the elegiac tone of such poems as 'The Ruin', an Old English poem, in which the poet (anonymous) looks on a ruined building, now frost-bitten and decrepit, imagining the sound and warmth that once rang through its walls. 4. 'glow-lamps' and 'girls glanced' (L.8 & L9) Both are linked effectively by the use of alliteration. 5. 'before he threw away his knees' (L.10) The implication that this was a needless loss (sacrifice) is reinforced by Ll.23-4 where the wounded soldier fails to remember why he joined up, pointing only to a distant sense of duty, and euphoria after the football match. Fussell notes that: Owen's favourite sensuous device is the formula 'his - ', with the blank usually filled with a part of the body. (p. 292).

6. 'Now he will never feel again how slim/Girls' waists are' (L.11 & L.12) Showing not only the physical loss of his arm, but also the psychological scars as the soldier knows he will be shunned by women from now on. 7. 'younger than his youth' (L.15) The reversal is total. The implication is that his face is now older than his youth. 8. 'He's lost his colour very far from here' (L.17) C. Day Lewis cites this line as an example of one of the great memorable lines written by Owen. It is an example of deliberate, intense understatements - the brave man's only answer to a hell which no epic words could express...more poignant and more rich with poetic promise than anything else that has been done during this century. HFP, P.17 9. 'spurted from his thigh' (L.20) Clearly a parody of sexual ejaculation. Owen uses erotic language at this point but referring to blood instead of semen. The irony being that here we have the loss of life (the soldier loses his limbs, and his senses) as opposed to the creation of life. The sexual imagery plays on the continual point that his injuries, resulting from his enlisting in order to please his girlfriend and other admirers (ll. 25-6), has resulted in him being abhorrent to women. 10. ' a bloodsmear down his leg,/After the matches, carried shoulder-high' (L.21 & L.22) Again Owen uses irony effectively here. We are already aware that the soldier has lost an arm and his legs, yet here we are told that before the War he felt proud to have an injury (albeit obtained on the football field), and to be carried shoulder-high (for reasons of celebration as opposed to helplessness). The concept of reversal is again used: sporting hero to cripple, handsome to 'queer disease' (L.13), colour to dark, warmth to cold. 11. 'a god in kilts' (L.25) An indication that the soldier was a member of one of the Scottish regiments (repeated in ll.32-6). This also implies that the soldier joined up for reasons of vanity. 12. 'giddy jilts' (L.27) A Scottish term for a young woman. 13. 'Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years' (L.29) The sadness of the soldier's plight is heightened. Clearly he was under-aged when he enlisted and therefore is still young. 14. 'Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal' (L.37) Recalls the image of the football match earlier. L.22 implies that he was carried from the field shoulder-high, possibly as the result of scoring the winning goal. Here, despite having achieved far more, for far greater a loss than a 'blood- smeared leg', the crowd's reception is more hollow. 15. 'do what things the rules consider wise' (L.41) The soldier's passivity is complete. The fine young athlete has been reduced to a state of dependency on others and helplessness

(heightened by the pitiful closing repetition of 'Why don't they come?'). The stanza has him waiting for others to do things for him, he 'spends a few sick years', 'takes whatever pity' others choose to offer him; he is passed over by the women's attentions, as he bemoans the cold and hopes that someone will put him to bed. 16. 'Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes/Passed from him to the strong men that were whole' (L.43 & L.44) Repeating again the loss of the soldier, this time in his attractiveness to the opposite sex. 'Whole' implying that he is incomplete, less than a man.Ironically he is now dependent on young women to put him to bed, in contrast with his prewar virile manhood when he could expect to take women to bed. SPP, P.215 17. '...Why don't they come' (L.45 & L.46) Dominic Hibberd has noted that this line can be linked to the recuiting poster of 1914, 'Will they never come?' (see 'Some Contemporary Allusions in Poems by Rosenberg, Owen and Sassoon', Notes and Queries August (1979), p.333. Several recruiting posters used the motif of linking sport to the army, and there were numerous recruiting drives at soccer matches.

Analysis: Owens Disabled explores the effects of war on those who live through it by comparing the present life of an injured soldier to his past hopes and accomplishments. The first stanza starts with the depressing description of a lone man sitting in a wheelchair, in a park, being unable to walk or indulge in any of the activities involving exercise going around him. His is dressed formally, but his suit is cut at the waist, which shows that he has lost his legs, and he waits helplessly, listening to the voices of young children which sadden him, as they remind him of something he cant ever have again. Then he remembers what his life had been like before his injury: at this time of the night, after the work had been done for the day, the town had come to life at night. He remembers how the streets used to light up and how the girls would become more inviting and alluring. He regrets losing his legs, for he knows that he will never again dance holding a woman, or feel their soft slight touches, as they now only touch him out of pity, like as if he is a strange abnormality in their normal life. He remembers once there was such vitality, such sheer life in him that an artist had been insistent on drawing his face, for just a year ago, it spoke of innocence and clarity of heart. But now his face has become withered with experience and sorrow, and he cant even support himself, both literally and figuratively. He has become pale, as if all his life had been leached out of him through the wound on his thighs, and he feels that half of his life is already over. He remembers how before he had become disabled, he had been a renowned football player, and had been proud of the blood smear on his leg which had resulted from a match, and how the crowd had carried him on their shoulders, celebrating his valor and excellence. It was after such a match itself that, drunk on alcohol, pride and his success, he had thought first of enlisting in the army, just to appear more manlike to the ladies as someone had suggested he would look dashing in a uniform. Thus out of mere pride and vanity, had he joined the war, even going as far as to lie about his age: a fact that shows one that the ex-soldier in discussion might still be a very young man, maybe only in his early twenties. The motive behind joining the war is questioned, as the soldier remembers that he had never ben patriotic enough to care much about the

invading Germans or Austrians, and he had been young and nave enough to not be afraid of fear yet. He had thought only of the distant lands he would travel to; the honor and glory associated with the army; the excitement and exhilaration of holding a gun and hiding a dagger; and the pride of giving a smart salute. He was drafted and sent overseas with much ado; lots of people cheered and celebrated his valor and courage, reminiscent of the football matches he had won. The soldier is rudely brought back to reality as he remembers how out of the many people who had applauded his departure, few had been there on his return, and all his accomplishments in the war were forgotten as instead of encouraging his deeds, the people pitied his loss, and the fame and glory he had expected were denied him. Only a sole aged man visits him now and inquires about his life and health. It is now that sitting alone in the park, noticing how womens eyes pass over him after glancing at him piteously, to men who are still whole and complete, the ex-soldier thinks about his future. He knows he will live in an institute were there will be people to take care for him, and he will do as they say, following their rules to live the rest of his life. He wonders in the end helplessly, that why has no one come looking for him, to put him to bed. It has grown late and cold, but there is nothing the man can do to protect and warm himself, except hope and pray that someone would remember him and take care of him. 18. Disabled is a potent and strong poem because of mainly the style and structure that Owen has used. Harsh words are used subtly to emphasize meaning behind the poem: the man is wearing a ghastly suit of grey, showing his morbid and depressed state of mind; sleep mothers him from the laughter and noises of young boys, suggesting that he no longer finds the pleasures of life worth living for and prefers the temporary respite sleep provides. He regrets throwing away his knees, suggesting and later confirming that the ideas and inspirations behind joining the war were not as patriotic or loyal as they should have been, and his vanity only has now left him a cripple. The girls all touch him like a queer disease: the word queer had started being used to describe homosexuals, so to think his social standing is the same as those considered, in those times, to be an unnatural blasphemy, is extremely revealing on how people think of disabled people. The imagery of his life bleeding out of him through the wound on his thigh, and the use of the word purple, a colour denoting life and vitality, shows that the ordeal the soldier had gone through when he had been injured had a deep impact on him, as he no longer feels alive or has any desire to live. The analogy drawn between playing sports and being a soldier in a war, though by no means new, is nevertheless effective. Along with highlighting the egoistic and vain motives the man had for joining the army, it also acts as a reminder to him that his pride had caused him the exact thing he had been proud of: he would never again run in a field or score a winning goal, he would never again be praised for being a hero; only pitied endlessly for being a cripple. The things which he used to boast about: the wounds received in a match, and being carried on the shoulders of his team mates; have become permanent sources of sorrow: he no longer has his legs, and cannot help but be carried around helplessly. This contrast is both chilling and distressing. The structure of the poem: the frequent switches between present and past and the juxtaposition of remembrance and realization casts a harsh light on everything the soldier has lost. Each stanza starts with describing the soldiers present conditions and then compares it to his past life, or vice versa. The final stanza however depicts what he thinks his future holds for him: a life lived by rules set by other people, a life of utter dependency and helplessness.

Considering Owens own discharge from the army due to neurological problem, the poem carries considerable weight as it must have been written from direct observation. Perhaps this is why the words ring so true: the man in the wheelchair had been no patriotic passionate youth ready to die for his country. Rather he had been, more realistically, a vain and egoistic man seeking glory and recognition through the war, caring only of how he would look in uniform, and how the fairer sex would react to him. There are no medals and endless people doting on him when he returns disfigured and destroyed: there is only a wheelchair, and a few people with pitiful looks. Instead of celebrating his heroism and applauding his contribution to the war, the people all express their sorrow for his loss, making him feel even more unworthy and pathetic. Something which keeps recurring in his recollections of the life he used to live before the war is his active and successful interaction with women. He was a very appealing figure, lively and exuberant, enjoying all the ladies attentions, and living his life to the fullest. Now he is left sexually incompetent and can no longer derive pleasure from the very things which had once been such a comfort to him. The last lines highlight this deplorable state: Gone is the man who used to lead and win matches singlehandedly, and left in his place is a lifeless and hopeless shell who pleads desperately and helplessly for someone to appear and put him to bed. The poem is one of the most reputed protests against war as it not only shows the meaningless of it, and the wastage of life caused by it, but also highlights the after effects it has on those who live through it and survive it, returning home maimed either physically or troubled mentally, unable to get over the horrors they had seen and experienced. It shows not only the soldiers but also the people they interact with, providing a strong comment on society who considers the man who has sacrificed his very being for his country, to be whole, and thinks that his disability makes him less of a person than he was before. It is sad to the point of being depressing and frank to the point of being unsettling. It disturbs one, just as it moves one. One sympathizes with the mans helplessness despite being repelled by his selfishness. Owens Disabled is a force to be reckoned with.

An Unknown Girl by Moniza Alvi

Moniza Alvi was born in Pakistan (Her father was a Pakistani and her mother was British.). She left Pakistan when she was a few months old and she moved on to live in England. The poet has used this poem as a tool to explore her cultural identity. The poem is apparently set in India and it is autobiographical in tone . The narrator feels her cultural roots and traditions have been re-affirmed and re-awakened in the bazaar by the unknown girls simple act of hennaing hands. This new lease of life filters through into her descriptions of the market as she brings it alive with her new found energy and confidence.

Structure and Form

It is a free verse, which suits the narrators exploration of thought. As one long verse it flows like a stream, like consciousness as she describes what is happening in and around her. The poem is visually pleasing and is centered layout is reminiscent of her newly decorated henna hand.

Language
The Poems vocabulary places it into the poems exotic, foreign location. Which are brought to life in several ways by the narrator. Eg: "bazaar,rupees,henna,Kameez" although the girl herself "unknown" She nevertheless shows great skill and precision in her work and is therefore greatly respected. Eg: "she steadies with her","Very deftly". Textures are often described appealing to the sense of touch. Eg: "wet brown line","satin peach knee" many others... Sounds are contrasted for Eg: "now the furious streets are hushed" Colorful images come alive Eg: "peacock","brown line","the amber bird beneath" The narrator initially applies her existing cultural references to the girls Artwork."She is icing my hand". Her traditional cultural roots seem to be established."I have new brown veins","I am Clinging to these firm peacock lines" as if she now has a new force flowing through veins.

The personal inner conflict between cultures that the narrator experiences is also demonstrated publicly by the shop dummies. Whose sport "western perms" and other likewise posters for 'Miss India'. A competition for western origin perhaps require a modern or less modest presentation. Then the Indian culture traditionally advocates The simple act of hennaing the hand has initiated a powerful sense of yearning by the narrator of her roots.This is communicated by the repetition of what "clinging" and the subsequent of longing. Although the henna might physically attract, we feel certain and convinced that the feelings have been reawakened by this experience and this experience will continue to flourish.

Electricity Comes to Cocoa Bottom by Marcia Douglas

IntroductionBook cover
This Poem is about Electricity coming to a Carribean Village, which does not have modern amenities. The adults, the children, the birds, the animals are drawn to Mr. Samuel's House. Where he is preparing to turn on Electric lights for the First Time. Sadly there is no one to record this Historic moment.

Stanza one
The First word "Then" takes the reader straight into the action as though it was a story. The names that are used makes us feel as if it is a real scenario. E.g: "Cocoa Bottom is a small Village which may or may not exist". But the word "Cocoa Bottom" sounds convincing. The language used gives a sense of importance and suspence. Nature and Human Beings are united in their interest, like the children are prepared for a long stay. E.g: "They camped on the grass bank outside his house,their lamps filled with oil,".The Birds "swooped in...congregating in..." and the Breeze "held its breath". The writer is using all these to give the natural creatures,Trees and nature the ability to anticipate and feel the same way as Humans. This makes the Poem more Dramatic. Power and Light are emphasized by description "the sky turn yellow, orange." Light is referred in the poem through, Childrens oil Lamps, the natural light of sunset, The Potential Light of fireflies. The day fades into night. This softness is emphasized by the conparison for E.g:"evening came as soft as chiffon curtains". Ends with a Repeatition. E.g:"Closing. Closing."

Stanza Two
There is a contrast between beginning of the stanza and end of the last one. The single exclaimed word "Light" conveys the way light burst into brightness when current was switched on. The starkness of the light shown by Mr.Samuels appearing in silhouette (A portrait shortly standing out against the background light) After the Dramatic shortening of lines they let them again gathering momentum. The writer has used words imaginatively. Some words suggest movement, For E.g:"fluttering","swaying". Some suggest sound that suggest onomatopoeia, E.g:"gasp","Whispered". some words are repeated for emphasis, such as "swing". The respond of nature hear also indicates that this is an awesome moment. E.g:"the long grass bent forward". The writer has made this moment very special. This is undercut by mysterious voice.(Which could be of God).This brings the question; If there is such an important moment. why isn't there anyone to record this. This Stanza ends on a sad note perhaps because no one can write or they have no material to record it. It has taken the poet sometime after the event to commemorate what happend.

Stanza Three
This stanza begins negatively with the statement "no one..." yet this voice is heard by some warm rocks. This part is also an anticlimax that the children had to go home in the dark using their oil lamps. The concluing moment is the opportunity to celebrate and record this event has gone.....

An Unknown Girl is about Moniza Alvis attempt to find her place in a country to which she does belong to but which she cannot call her own. The poems starts with a description of the setting: it is an evening in a market place where neon signs are the main source of lightening. As the persona sits, perhaps in a stall, getting her hand decorated by henna by a mysterious unknown girl who works for a few rupees. As time passes and colors fade away, the persona imagines that the mannequins in the shop windows are staring at her. As the design is completed and a peacock unfurls its feathers on the palm of her hand, the persona feels that she has achieved a new identity, with the henna running in her veins. She desperately tries to hold on to the intricate lines of henna unwilling to let go and she thinks that despite the fact that when she removes the dried henna from her palm that night and even when the design fades away in a week, she will still remember the experience, the feeling of belonging, and long for it in her dreams. This poem is written in free verse but makes use of many other literary techniques to further emphasize the message. Ethnic words such as bazaar, henna, shalwar kameez give an exotic feel to the place, which one finds out later is a market place in India. The girl who is applying the henna comes across as almost sensual in her mysteriousness: she is a deft worker, clad in satin, artistically creating designs and patterns. The passing of time is described in a metaphor which again because of the implicit imagery provoke the readers senses: the colors which float up in balloons. This creates a gradually darkening atmosphere as it grows late and the evening turns to night. The contradictory feelings that the persona feels as she sits in the bazaar are brilliantly portrayed in the metaphorical description of the dummies with western perms turning their heads and staring at the persona as she tries her best to fit into a culture not quite her own. At this point it is safe to assume that the persona depicted is Alvi herself. Having origins in two different countries-Pakistan and Britain, but having been brought up in London, Alvi might as well be writing about herself when she talks of a girl who tries desperately to find her roots in an almost foreign culture, a fact which becomes evident in the metaphoric statement that she has brown veins. The year becomes evident as a contrast is presented between the previous traditional scene by the description of the banners of Miss India which adorn the street. Alvi feels such a sense of belonging at the time, sitting in that bazaar that she feels like as if the curtain cloth hanging in the windows of shops is covering her, engulfing and accepting her. She tries to hold on to this feeling metaphorically describing her unwillingness to let go similar to that of those people who ride on the sides of trains, as is common for villagers to do in India and Pakistan. Again the passage of time is described by the fading of noise, proving the auditory sense of the reader. The previous hum of activity described recedes as the bazaar becomes quiet and the future tense is used to show Alvis thoughts as she muses on how despite the fact that the color on her hand will fade away, she shall always remember the time she felt that she really belonged to her country, and will yearn for the reoccurrence of the feeling in her dreams.

After analyzing the poem at great depth it becomes apparent that the title is not only for the girl who is applying the henna, who remains unnamed and therefore unknown throughout. Rather it can also define the persona, and thus Moniza Alvi herself, as she is a stranger amidst her own people on account of having lived her whole life elsewhere. The dilemma which she is faced with is in todays world a common phenomenon with bi-cultural marriages becoming more and more common. What Alvi feels, the sense of detachment from either of the two countries she belongs to is something that most of us can relate to as we are the generation which was born to parents who immigrated to other countries and therefore have lived all our lives in a foreign home. Such people do not feel that they wholly belong anywhere. The place where they have lived all their lives and that which they call home isnt really enough as they would always have a different set of origins calling out to them; and the quest to find ones roots and culture leaves one not only dissatisfied, but also all the more desolate and alone. Neither country will whole heartedly accept them, nor can they accept only one country. They are torn between two worlds, two different realities, each of which constitutes half of their identity. Thus their sense of self is shaken, and even lost as their identities are torn apart, distanced by oceans and deserts.

Critical Analysis of "The Necklace" Short Story The short story, The Necklace, by Guy De Maupassant, follows the life of a woman and her husband living in France in the early 1880's. The woman, Mathilde, is a very materialistic person who is never content with anything in her life. Her husband, a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Education, is not a rich man, but he brings home enough to get by. He enjoys the simpler things in life, yet his wife, Mathilde, cannot. Nothing is good enough for her. Her selfish ways are evident in her attitude toward the material things in her home environment and in the way she treats her husband. Mathilde's materialistic attitude is primarily shown by how unhappy she is with her surroundings and her home environment in general. One night, Matilde's husband brings home, from work, an invitation to a dinner party. When he mentions the invitation, Mathilde's first thought is of what she is going to wear to the party. She does not worry about her husband, his feelings regarding the invitation, or how much fun they may have at the dinner party. She only worries about how she will look and what other people will think of her. Mathilde is unhappy with her darkened rooms and furniture and desires better things: She imagined large drawing rooms draped in the most expensive silks, with fine end tables on which were placed knickknacks of inimitable value. She dreamed of the perfume of dainty private rooms, which were designed only for intimate tte--ttes with the closest friends, who because of their achievements and fame would make her the envy of all other women. (4) These dreams and aspirations demonstrate that Mathilde's thoughts are in the wrong place; and go to show how materialistic she really is. Mathilde first rejects the invitation. She only agrees to go to the party after her husband painstakingly bargains with her, and ends up having to buy her a new dress to get her to come. Even after getting a new dress, Mathilde still wants more. She complains to her husband that she, "[doesn't] have any jewels to wear, not a single gem, nothing to dress up [her] outfit." (6) She whines to her husband that she would rather stay home than go to the party looking like a vagabond. But finally, after more griping, she is persuaded by her husband to borrow some jewels from Mrs. Forrestier, and they go to the party. Mathilde's materialistic view is also seen in the way she acts after the dinner party. When leaving the party at four o'clock in the morning, Mathilde's husband goes to put, "a modest everyday wrap which contrasted with the elegance of her evening gown"(5) over her shoulders, and she runs from him. She runs so that none of the other women, draped in elegant furs will see her and look down upon her for wearing such a thing. Both of these incidents emphasize the fact that Mathilde is a very selfish and materialistic person both in her actions and in her thoughts and daydreams. Another way that Mathilde's selfish character is portrayed is through the way she treats her husband.She treats him as if he is a slave, who exists for no other reason but to be blamed for things gone wrong in her life, and for her to order around. Mathilde gives her husband no love, praise, or thanks for any of the sacrifices he makes for her. An example of this occurs in the beginning of the story when Mathilde basically blames her husband because she is not living the life she dreams of. While her husband has adjusted himself to the plain life that they live, Mathilde has not, and she resents him for that. Another example of the materialistic and selfish way that Mathilde treats her husband is when her husband brings home the invitation. Even though her husband is ecstatic at the thought of going to this extravagant dinner, Mathilde basically throws the invitation back into his face: She looked at him angrily and stated impatiently: "What do you expect me to wear to go there?" He had not thought of that. He stammered:

"But your theater dress. That seems nice to me . . ." He stopped, amazed and bewildered, as his wife began to cry . . . He said falteringly: "What's wrong? What's the matter?" . . . "Nothing, except that I have nothing to wear and therefore can't go to the party. Give your invitation to someone else at the office whose wife will have nicer clothes than mine. (5) Mathilde is so self-centered that she would make her husband, who wants to go to this party so badly, give up the invitation because she has nothing to wear. She again displays her materialistic and selfish ways when, after the party, she discovers that she has lost her borrowed necklace and makes her husband go out at four o'clock in the morning to look for it. He looks for hours and finds nothing, but doesn't give up there. He goes to the police and cab services, while Mathilde, "waited the entire day, in the same enervated state,"(8). She does nothing while her husband is doing everything he possibly can to save her neck. Finally, after all hope is lost of finding the vanished necklace, the couple bought a new one for thirty-six thousand francs. They had to work and save for ten years, and the husband gave up his inheritance to pay for the necklace his wife lost. And after all he did, Mathilde offers not one bit of thanks or praise to her husband. This emphasizes just how evident her characteristic flaws really are. Throughout the story, Mathilde is portrayed as selfish and materialistic. These traits are shown through her unhappy manner towards her middle class life and through the awful way she treats her husband after all he does for her. Maybe after such a long, tiresome ten years of scrounging up money to buy a new necklace to replace the lost one, Mathilde 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 about what she does not have. Maybe she will even recognize how much her husband gives to her and how little he receives in return.