ENG111: Comparison and Contrast Essay of Two Short Stories

This essay provides a comparative analysis of two short stories: Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" and Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's "Friday Black." The essay focuses on the shared themes of consumerism and materialism, exploring how each story depicts the impact of these themes within a capitalist society. "The Necklace" is examined for its portrayal of deceptive appearances and the futility of chasing materialism, while "Friday Black" is analyzed for its depiction of a dystopian society driven by consumerism. The analysis highlights the distinct approaches of the authors in portraying the societal impact of materialistic desires and the deception surrounding the pursuit of a life in a capitalist society, with "The Necklace" focusing on the 1880s and "Friday Black" on the contemporary period. The essay concludes by emphasizing the enduring futility of materialistic desires across different time periods.

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Author Note:
Comparison and Contrast Essay of Short Stories
Both the short stories “The Necklace” written by Guy De Maupassant and “Friday
Black” written by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah share the same themes of consumerism and
both the stories have showed the life in a capitalist society. However, on one hand
Maupassant’s short story deals with more materialism rather than consumerism to be precise
and visibly shows a life in the capitalist society; the short story of Adjei-Brenyah shows the
dystopian society of American culture with consumerism as an integral part of their life. In an
overview, it can be said that both the short stories depict an ideal life that was existing in a
capitalist society and also show how the theme of consumerism plays a vital role in the story.
“The Necklace” is a short story that utilizes the symbol of deceptive appearance
through a necklace. The story provides proof how looks can be deceptive and how futile the
concept of consumerism is. The necklace itself symbolizes the extravagant but deceptive
appearance and then provides the lesson that how futile it is chase consumerism, or in this
case materialism, in order to be able to lead a life in a capitalist society; a society that thrives
on consumerism and materialism, hence a futile lifestyle to lead. Through out the story,
Mathilde, who is the protagonist of the story, is seen to complain about her social class and in
order to live the life in a capitalist society for one night, she borrows a deceptive necklace
that is described in such a way that it looks like a very costly material, for which Mathilde
and her husband lost their decent quality of life. The story shows how futile it was to chase
consumerism just like the other people who likes to live the top- quality life in a capitalist

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society. The character of Mathilde is blind with consumerism and the desire to live in a
capitalist society, which is why the initial stage of the story shows her daily life and how she
is not content with the lifestyle that her husband has provided for her (Maupassant). This
insight on the life of Madame Mathilde helps the reader to know how ambitious and greedy
she is and the insight also helped the reader to get an idea to her mind process; she is of the
opinion that she could have possession of all the fine materialistic objects only if she can
have a high position in the capitalist society. Through his style of literary realism,
Maupassant showed how the necklace is treated in both subjective and objective and such
treatment is dependent on the social class (Maupassant). There was irony regarding the
materialism and the author made sure that the reader knows how a tiny materialistic thing can
save or ruin lives because it has been given that power to do so. It becomes evident that the
author’s intention was to demonstrate that social class cannot buy happiness and in no way, it
is corelated to happiness as well.
Author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is known for his stories that contain societal
issues and thus his short story “Friday Black” also consists of certain societal issues, like
racism, consumerism and more. Consumerism is in fact a huge theme that constitutes the
story of “Friday Black”; the story takes the title from a consumer holiday known as Black
Friday that is seen to occur in US on a Friday that comes immediately after Thanksgiving
Day. The short story shows a setting of dystopia and the protagonist is seen to be working as
a salesman in a department store, which represents the setting of dystopia. The protagonist is
seen to struggle to cope up with the insatiable shoppers of the Black Friday sale so that he can
win the sales contest and can give the prize jacket to his own mother. The story shows the
argument that the author is trying to convey, which is that people in the modern world have
become too dependent on consumerism. It is the obsession of people with buying goods and
services, that they can easily fall into several types of traps. Consumerism ensures that there

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are laws which would protect the rights of the buyers. However, it must also be noted that the
author has not only critiqued the existence of such kind of consumerism, but through the
implementation of effective satire, the author has showed the truthful facets of the
circumstance with mundane details that make the scenario plausible for the readers.
Both the short stories do portray the same message which is the futility of the desire
of leading a life in the capitalist society. However, there are certain visible differences in the
way both the stories are portrayed. For a fact, the story of “The Necklace” chose the issue of
materialism to portray the concept of consumerism and the futility surrounding the
materialistic desires. On the other hand, the story of “Friday Black” directly attacked the
issues related with consumerism, through vivid details of people who are obsessed with
gaining all the goods that would make them feel like they belong to the capitalist society. The
story mentions the state of the buyers and how the black Friday sale is the only time they can
afford buying such expensive products; such is the obsession that they start developing their
own dialect during that particular time; they become savage and look like they can kill
anyone for a mere piece of cloth.
The short stories portray a deception that surrounds the concept of living a life in a
capitalist society and also the fact that materialistic possession can help people to gain a
decent life in that capitalist society. “The Necklace” portrayed the concept of consumerism
and life in a capitalist society as it was at the1880s, whereas, “Friday Black” portrayed
similar concept but in the contemporary modern period. It shows that no matter what the time
period is, the futility remains the same around materialistic desires and the deception is also
the same about leading a life in a capitalist society.

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References:
Adjei-Brenyah, Nana Kwame. “Friday Black.” Friday Black, Mariner Books, 2018, pp. 104
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114.
Maupassant, Guy de. “The Necklace.” The Necklace and Other Tales. Modern Library, New
York, 2003.