JBoland Week 5 Discussion

The quote about literature for my second essay was spoken by Margaret Artwood. She used this quote in her manifesto “Survival” in which she critiques the standards and themes commonly found in Canadian literature. While the quote  focused on the specifics of Canadian literature, her intellect and phrasing allows quotes such as “Literature is not only a mirror; it is a map, a geography of the mind.” to be applied in various spaces. I will use this quote as a basis for my analysis of “The Necklace” by “Guy de Maupassant.” As discussed in a few of the supplementary materials in our OpenLab course, Matilda’s fatal flaw in the story was her pride, and her insatiable need to upkeep appearances because of the society she lived in. We see her rash decisions and speculations revolving around the “right thing” to do, even if she never verbalizes it. Through her actions we see how her subconscious operates and the route she takes to achieve what she perceived to be as the “good ending.” Had this maybe been a different era of society, things could have end drastically different for her character, which emphasizes the notion that literature we read both serves as a mirror for human ideals and emotions during a specific era as well as another perspective of the human mind.