She is much like Alice in the sense that she comes from a wealthy family, but there is one key difference from the other two heroines, her father does not want her to get married. He shields her from men and from society making her socially awkward. They all involve setting off on a journey to seek out a different side of them, whether it will be to get more confidence, or to lose it all. The contrasting pair, A Rose for Emily and Alice in Wonderland will be up first. The two heroines being contrasted are Emily Grierson and Alice Kingsleigh.
Without any money Blanche’s life wasn’t glamorous anymore. When Blanche went to visit Stella, her illusion began. She tried to hide the truth about who she really was in Laurel, a teacher who was fired for sleeping with a student and a women known for sleeping around with many men. Blanche’s fantasy began as she made she made herself out to be an old-fashioned woman who was proper and modest, which was not true at all. Stanley exposed Blanche’s illusion when he confronted Blanche’s lie about staying at the the Flamingo by saying, “ She moved to the Flamingo!
But is she entering a world of lust for money just because she wants something new in her life? If you asked the Girlfriends of Hugh Hefner if they were sex workers, they would probably bitch you out. But if you really think about it, they are. Sex work is any occupation having to do with sex (class lecture 10/5). Yes, they say that sexual participation is not mandatory, but if they didn’t participate Hef could argue that they aren’t participating in the bedroom and not give them their weekly allowance.
Mathilde simply fails to appreciate the good lifestyle she shares with her husband. She wishes for the day she’d be able to escape from it all and gets a chance to do so at this important ball, a night which she uses 10 years to pay for.
Den, Barbara’s awkward and shy ex-lover, reappears in her life and provides a route to wealth for Barbara (in her own eyes). Her dogged determination and persistence to better herself sees Den as a way of paying for a deportment diploma to assist her with gaining employment at the swanky new hotel being built in town. Due to the negative circumstances her character is placed in, it has resulted in her deserting her mentally challenged daughter, Verge. Economic rationalism seemed to have only negative implications on Barbara’s life as she constantly struggles with relationships and self worth. Whilst focusing on the central metaphor – ‘diving for pearls’ it is made clear that for Barbara, pearls are not represented through spiritual wealth, rather economic wealth.
Indeed, the protagonist, Rosaura, undergoes a transformation as she realizes how the ladder truly works. At the beginning of the story, through the character, Rosaura, the author shows that she is aware of a social hierarchy, but clearly refuses to acknowledge how people go up social classes. For example, when Rosaura’s mother states that the party is a “rich people’s party” (9) and Rosaura brushes it off by saying that “rich people go to heaven too” (9). Rosaura uses religion illustrates that rich people and poor people will both go to heaven proves that she is trying to convince herself, and others, that the difference between social classes is minimal or basically non-existent. Even more revealing, Rosaura walks into Senora Ines’ house “with a firm step” (10) as if she was equal to all the people attending the party, but obviously she was not.
Blanche depends on male sexual admiration for her sense of self-esteem. In order to escape from her past, Blanche drinks heavily and is very promiscuous. She pretends that she has just come to visit her sister because she needs a vacation, when the truth is that she has come to start a new life after losing her ancestral mansion, her job, and her reputation in her hometown of Laurel. Blanche feels that she is justified in her actions because she feels the only way to have a new life is to pretend her past life never existed, but with the help of her evil, cruel, brother-in-law, Stanley, her past is eventually found out, and ruins the rest of her life. In the first scene of the play, she tells her sister to talk while she looks around for some liquor, even though she already knows where it is because she helped herself to some earlier while waiting for her sister to arrive.
The readers probably feel some kind of moral satisfaction because deep in their hearts they want Mathilde to be punished for her wrong views of appreciating only material things. Maupassant describes several changes in Mathilde’s life. In order to buy a similar diamond necklace and return it to Mme. Forester, the Loisels have to borrow money from people. As a result, the next ten years for Mathilde are full of poverty.
Also, in both stories, something goes wrong. In the Necklace, Mathilde loses the diamond necklace she has borrowed from Mrs. Forrestier and Arlene in Neighbours locks the key of the apartment inside on the apartment’s door. In the Necklace, Mathilde wants an expensive life. She goes as far as wanting a new dress to go to the dinner to which she and her husband are invited to and she doesn’t want to use the dress that she wears to the theatre. Mathilde also wants jewels to go with the dress hence the reason she goes to Mrs. Forrestier for jewellery in which she chooses what looks like the most expensive jewellery there.
She would basically day-dream about being rich and wealthy. Mathilde crave for richness caused her pain and downfall in her life. Mathilde is also very manipulative; she would always manipulate her husband to get him to buy things for her. Mathilde was invited to a formal dinner but she didn’t have any dress for the occasion. Her husband was willing to give her money to get a dress and Mathilde didn’t hesitate to take it.