Maupassant II

The Conservatory, The Signal, The Necklace

1.  The Conservatory

a.  Contrast the characters of M. and Mme Lerebour.  What contradictions do you find between Mme Lerebour’s words and her actions or her words or actions and what other people say about her?  How has she been treating her husband in recent years?  What does she seem to want from him?  What is the major obstacle to their solving their problem?

b.  What happens one night?  What does her jumping to the conclusion that there is a thief say about her feeling towards her husband? What does her reaction to her husband’s absence say about her relation to him?  Why does her character seem to suddenly change?

How does the ending render her previous unkind words to her husband ironical (irony:  a speaker says one thing, but something in the text tells us that she does not mean what she is saying)? 

2.  The Signal

a. 418 What is ironical in the first two paragraphs?  Why?

b. 418-19 In what tone does the narrator treat the “little marchioness” and the “little baroness”?  Explain.

c.  419-21 Why does the baroness keep watching the prostitute? What question does she ask herself?  What does she do? Why?  How does it make her feel?  Why are her words ironical ? What happens after the baroness makes the sign? 

d.  421-22  What does the marchioness tell her do?  Why does the marchioness suggest that the baroness give her client's payment for sex to her husband?  Why is this ironical ?  What does this say about the values of the marchioness and the baroness? What is she paying her husband for?

3.  The Necklace

a. 172-74(top) Why is Matilda so unhappy.  What issues of social class are raised by her unhappiness? How does she feel about herself?  her apartment?  her husband?

b.  174-75 How does Matilda feel about herself during the ball, do you think?

c.  What are the consequences for Matilda of losing her necklace?

d.  Why is the ending such a surprise?  What in Matilda’s story does it render ironical?