The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant and Roman Fever by Edith Wharton Essay

The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant and Roman Fever by Edith Wharton - Essay Example This essay explores the importance of endings in two stories "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, and "Roman Fever" by Edith Wharton. Ending have been used to facilitate an unexpected change of plot /achieve plot twist towards the end in the two stories. The type of ending used here is called twist ending. There is an unexpected change of outcome towards the end of the story and this brings up an unexpected conclusion to the story. For example, the two women start talking about the mix of love relationships they had before they just got married. Mrs. Ansley had been in love with the husband of Mrs. Slade before he married her. The two woman had been living as friends since childhood and were now chatting as friends as well. Just towards the end of the story, they reveal the grudges they have had against each other all this years and the tricks they had played on each other. For old woman, and both being widows, this is not the kind of thing anyone would expect them to hold much impor tance to youthful love battles (Wharton 1). Looking at the story the necklace, the author has also successfully managed to use a twist ending. Loisel and her had bought a new necklace for Mrs. Forester to replace the lost necklace and had kept this as a secret between themselves for 10 good years. They had been paying dearly for it and no one would expect that Loisel would want to reveal it least it brings up an enemity between them. Surprisingly, Loisel decided to tell Mrs. Forester the truth. To her amazement, she was not angered, instead, Mrs. Forester showed love to her old friend and even confessed that her original necklace was not real diamond nut fake, costing only five hundred francs (Maupassant 1). The importance of the use of twist ending in the two stories allows the readers of the two stories to re-evaluate the narratives and their characters as well. For example, one would have thought Mrs. Forester as a harsher strict women because of the fear in Loisel and her husban d. However, a reverse of this was revealed when she takes Loisel in two hands and tells her the truth behind her old necklaces. The type of ending is also important in allowing the readers to make discoveries in the two stories for example, only through the last portion of the story do the readers come to know the things that contributed to the somehow cold type of friendship and hidden grudges between Mrs. Ansley and Mrs. Slade. It reveals the romantic rivalry in their youth that made Mrs Slade to harbour feelings of hatred and jealousy against Mrs Ansley. By the words of Mrs. Ansley, †I had Barbara†, it reveals Barbara was an illegitimate child she had with Delphin, Mrs. Slades husband. At the same time, it helps to reveal the truth behind the rich-looking nature of Mrs Forester. She was not that rich but she gained status by going for substitutes and no one knew of this. Endings have also been used in the two stories to surprise their audiences. This type of ending is called surprise ending. The use of surprise ending as revealed in the last lines by Mrs. Ansley in the story the Roman fever. No reader would imagine the daughters of the two women were not only friends. They were sisters. Mrs. Ansley surprises her friend and the audience of the story by speaking in a way that revealed that Mrs. Slade’s plan to disappoint her friend and make her separate from her fiancee had turned out to be her luck. The