Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is a short story that demonstrates the life of a young woman living in Paris yearning for all forms of riches. The protagonist of the short story is a woman named Mathilde who is very unsatisfied with her life and just fed up of not living the glamorous life. Until, the day her husband Mr. Loisel extended her an invitation to the ball. This is where crisis of the story begins and we then begin to realize maybe money does not buy you happiness. A brief inspection of the use of character, symbol, and theme tells us how “The necklace” achieves its effect.
Mathilde is a character that wants to feel beautiful inside and out but does not have the money for the materialistic things. Being that her husband works as a clerk and does as much as he can do to support his family it is still not enough for her the desire for materialistic things still control her thoughts. Her character depicts the need for acceptance to be a part of the high class people. Drawing conclusions leads me to believe that her character suffers from self-pity for not having the materials she desires and also very unappreciative. Mathilde is not thankful for the things she does have which is her husband and a roof over her head.
The necklace that Mathilde borrows from her friend is a symbol that Mausappant uses to represent the art of appearance vs reality. Mathilde wears this necklace to make people perceive she is wealthy but in reality she is actually poor. The necklace is only a faint object of imitation that really does not hold any value to her. Instead the necklace destroys her because she loses it at one point and ends up making her and her husband work for years to pay it off. To then come to find out the necklace was a fake and was also used for an impression.
Deceptive Appearance versus reality plays a big part in this short story. The deceptive appearance is Mathilde’s necklace she borrows from her friend but the reality is that it is only replica. Just because the thought of the necklace coming from Madame Forestier’s jewelry box give it that illusion that it was going to be real. That shows you that even the rich can be deceiving to and just because you have money does not mean you have to buy expensive items. If Mathilde had the slightest idea she was wearing Fake jewels she wouldn’t have went through with it. It is the art of appearance that led her to believe that the necklace was real but, in reality it was not.
So is pretending to be something or someone you are really not that important? Apparently Mathilde thought so not knowing that something as simple as necklace can make her life go downhill. The yearning to live this fantasy life of riches and diamonds made her become poorer then she actually really was. Reality versus appearance sometimes you don’t have to be rich to look rich you just have to know how to improvise
Mathilde is a character that wants to feel beautiful inside and out but does not have the money for the materialistic things. Being that her husband works as a clerk and does as much as he can do to support his family it is still not enough for her the desire for materialistic things still control her thoughts. Her character depicts the need for acceptance to be a part of the high class people. Drawing conclusions leads me to believe that her character suffers from self-pity for not having the materials she desires and also very unappreciative. Mathilde is not thankful for the things she does have which is her husband and a roof over her head.
The necklace that Mathilde borrows from her friend is a symbol that Mausappant uses to represent the art of appearance vs reality. Mathilde wears this necklace to make people perceive she is wealthy but in reality she is actually poor. The necklace is only a faint object of imitation that really does not hold any value to her. Instead the necklace destroys her because she loses it at one point and ends up making her and her husband work for years to pay it off. To then come to find out the necklace was a fake and was also used for an impression.
Deceptive Appearance versus reality plays a big part in this short story. The deceptive appearance is Mathilde’s necklace she borrows from her friend but the reality is that it is only replica. Just because the thought of the necklace coming from Madame Forestier’s jewelry box give it that illusion that it was going to be real. That shows you that even the rich can be deceiving to and just because you have money does not mean you have to buy expensive items. If Mathilde had the slightest idea she was wearing Fake jewels she wouldn’t have went through with it. It is the art of appearance that led her to believe that the necklace was real but, in reality it was not.
So is pretending to be something or someone you are really not that important? Apparently Mathilde thought so not knowing that something as simple as necklace can make her life go downhill. The yearning to live this fantasy life of riches and diamonds made her become poorer then she actually really was. Reality versus appearance sometimes you don’t have to be rich to look rich you just have to know how to improvise
