"The Necklace" is set in Paris, France. The title of this story is simply and straight to the point so you automatically know what the story is about. It is about a woman born into a lower-middle class family but she feels that she deserves better in life. The general themes in this story are remorse, friendship, love, greed (money), envy, pride and joy. The overall structure of this story is basically telling us that you don't need money to make your life good as long as you have good friends.
The story begins with a very descriptive opening of Madame Loisel and the surrounding area "dressed simply", "pretty and charming girls". Its shows how her husband would do anything for her in that her gave up the money he was saving up to buy a hunting gun just to buy her a dress for the ball. Later on she borrowed an exquisite diamond necklace from her rich friend. She realized when she had got home she had lost the necklace this also proved her husbands love as "her husband returned at about seven o'clock in the morning". They bought a new necklace to replace the lost one but it took the losiels' "10 long years" to pay off the necklace. When Madame Losiel met up with her friend she found out that the necklace cost only 500 francs and this must have destroyed Madame Losiel.
"The Vendetta" is a story based on the little islands off the edge of Greece. The title "Vendetta" has an air of mystery about it in that you have an idea about what it is about but you couldn't tell the whole story. The General themes in this story are revenge, religion, teasing (the dog), and pride. The overall structure of this story is that it doesn't matter what you have done in life good will always overcome evil.
The story begins with the murder of Paolo’s son. The whole story progresses with the old woman training her dog to attack a scarecrow and this was going to be her way of keeping her word to her son. In the end the woman finds her son's killer and let the small dog loose on him and he is killed. The old woman is filled wit joy and bliss knowing that she had served justice and also kept her promise to her dead son no matter how long it took her do it.
Maupassant’s style of writing is very distinct, unique and individual in a number of ways. Firstly his writing is descriptive "gazed long", "barren coasts". Secondly he uses good adjectives "scarcely", "treacherously". In "The Vendetta" the writer has good use of adjectives in that he uses many good describing words such as "rock-strewn straits" and "dazzling whiteness". He also uses some very good alliteration in that he lets the reader experience and feel how the writer felt at the time, "silently shedding great tears".
In conclusion, I preferred "The Vendetta" because Maupassant made it more devious and interesting with certain little plot twists and because it was a rather unexpected way of getting revenge. The short story format was perfect for his ideas in that he was able to keep the reader entertained but yet tell a clear and concise story at the same time.
