High school students are probably most familiar with author Guy de Maupassant as a short story writer. De Maupassant was a good friend of the novelist Gustave Flaubert; in fact, his' writing style is like Flaubert's.

As a child, De Maupassant often observed the worst side of society and later he used that in his stories. His short stories are memerable for their ironic endings in which the main character's beliefs are turned upside down. In the Necklace, for example, he describes a minor official and his wife who reduce theirselfs to poverty by repaying a debt. After years of hardship, they learn that the debt was all together unnecessary.

De Maupassant's novels, like his stories, are simple realistic, and pessimistic. In one novel, for instance, the central character is an unethical journalist which succeeds despite his dishonesty. De Maupassant allows hisself to feel compassion for only the poor and powerless. The vain, foolish or selfish he portrays with merciless clarity.