Tristan Bernards Im Going! An Analysis - 1898 Words

Tristan Bernards Im Going! is a comedy in one act, the dramatic counterpart to a prose short story like Guy de Maupassants The Necklace. Both of these modern works of French literature reveal issues such as gender roles and gender norms within a traditional heterosexual marriage framework. The stories suggest tensions between traditional patriarchy and the more egalitarian gender norms that are transforming the way couples relate. Both Im Going! and The Necklace take place in an urban setting and also show how issues like social class can impact the domestic partnership. For Henri and Jeanne in Im Going! it is how they use their conspicuous leisure time that forms the central conflict in the comedy in one act. Clearly Henri and Jeanne are of the upper class or bourgeoisie. On the contrary, Mathilde and her husband are of the working class and by the end of the story are outright poor. Their socio-economic class status adds tension and a unique dynamic to the Loisel relationship, as i t helps to define the protagonists characters. Therefore, gender norms and socio-economic class define the couples and the individual characters in Tristan Bernards Im Going! and Guy de Maupassants The Necklace. Im Going! begins with Henri and Jeanne in their apartment in Paris, and the entire one-act farce takes place in the same scene. Bernard immediately introduces a central tension between the husband and wife; he is a little nervous when she asks to go toShow MoreRelated19th and 20th Century Gender Expectations in Literature2483 Words   |  10 Pagesinto their work. A fact of the times, even into early 20th century, is that women were not equal to men and the expectations of women were not equal as well. This point will be illustrated by comparative analysis of two separate forms of literature: Tristan Bernard’s humorous play I’m Going! A Comedy in One Act, and Kate Chopin’s short story â€Å"The Story of an Hour.† Authors can use plays, stories or poems to bring us into their world, and through imagination we can connect with them, if only briefly