It is funny how some stories are similar. When reading "The Rocking Horse Winner" (1926) by D.H Lawrence and "The Necklace" (1884) by Guy de Maupassant, one can immediately realize that they share a very strong theme: greed. As can be noted, both stories were published when the Industrial Revolution was happening and, at the same time, the middle class was being created. The middle class had different levels but a common goal: acquiring money, social status, and power, which in other words, restates the theme of these two stories. Both authors use exposition, foreshadowing, and symbolism to emphasize the destructive nature of greed.
             First, exposition is used to emphasize the theme in both stories. In "The Necklace," the protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, is described as an unsatisfied person. She is not content with her life, as can be seen in this statement: "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains" (Maupassant 345). Mme. Loisel was not happy with her life style, she felt like she married a man which made her go one step down in the status she had in her life before. Born in a wealthy family, she got married and did not have any of the luxuries she had enjoyed before. As Maupassant states, "She dressed plainly because she could not dress well [. . .]" (345). All her dissatisfaction make the readers believe that Mme. Loisel is shallow and just cares about money and image. Likewise, some critics analyzed this aspect in the story. Jason Pierce, who wrote " Overview of "The Necklace" (1998), states that: " Madame Loisel is defined by what she lacks and what she is not, rather than by what she has and is" (174). The critic's statement, once more, proves that Mathilde is a ch...