Question

English 10 A

Respond in a well-organized essay.

Identify a major theme in ONE of the stories or poems you read for this course. State the theme in a complete sentence. Then explain how the author develops this theme throughout the story or poem through plot events, character development, dialogue, and other story elements.

Answer 1

Using 'The Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant as an example, the theme illustrated is 'The Destructiveness of Jealousy and Materialism.' The theme is developed through plot events and character development, particularly through the protagonist, Mathilde. The final revelation effectively underscores this theme.

Step-by-step explanation:

The 'theme' is an overarching idea or message inferred by the reader from a literary work. For instance, in the short story 'The Necklace' by Guy de Maupassant, a major theme is 'The Destructiveness of Jealousy and Materialism.' The author develops this theme through various plot events and character development. The protagonist, Mathilde, always dreams of a luxurious life, which leads her to borrow a necklace that she loses eventually. Thinking it to be real, she replaces it with an expensive one and lives in penury to pay the debts. The revelation towards the end, that the necklace was fake, underpins this theme effectively.

Learn more about Literary Theme

Answer 2

Life is meant to be better by the development of new technologies . However , in Ray Bradbury´s stories it seems that technological improvements make humans less alive.

No matter what the invention is, a time machine for example, televisions that get the family together at home, human beings in Ray Bradbury´s stories are less and less sensitive and emotional.The advent of devices that make people save time or get anything they want as fast as possible causes men, women and children to be isolated and disengaged.Contact , touch and tenderness are too old fashioned to exhibit and people either hide their feelings or show no compassion at all.

In The Pedestrian , for instance, Leonard Mead is the only person who takes a walk at night .He enjoys his walks since he feels free.Yet, he is lonely and seen as having an improper behavior when all he wants to do is having sensations and feeling emotions.

The lost elements in this life changed and upgraded by technology and new things are the ones that really make life worth living.