The-necklace.doc

M. and Mme. Loisel ，a normal family in French, live a normal life without any complex or theatrical accident, however, they became a total tragedy at the end.
Mr.Loisel is not only a little clerk in the Department of Education, but a responsible and gentle husband. As is described In the novel “He grew a little pale, for he was reserving just that sum to buy a gun and treat himself to a little shooting, the next summer, on the plain of Nanterre, with some friends who used to shoot larks there on Sundays, still he said:  “All right. I will give you four hundred francs. But take care to have a pretty dress.” It shows that though he supported the whole family all by himself without any financial help from his wife, he still loves her and cares her feeling a lot.”

Then, after they found that the necklace was lost. Neither of them came up with the feeling of getting rid of the trouble, running away leaving the loss for the owner to handle, or buying the false necklace instead. The husband worked in the evening keeping up the books of a shopkeeper, and at night often he did copying at five of the page. 
  And this life lasted ten years. The necklace's value was illusionary: Vanity caused Mathilde to fantasize about her life and surroundings-to live in a world of illusion, rather than reality. When the necklace was lost, Mathilde lost the very reason for her vanity, her youth, beauty and charm: "Madame Loisel looked old now. Vanity is defined as "excessive pride, especially in your appearance. Some of the ideas I had were youth, social class, beauty, wealth, greed, truth, vanity, and pride. In analyzing the symbolism in this story, I first brainstormed what the necklace might represent. She did not listen to him and rapidly descended the staircase. " In Mathilde's case, the "excessive pride," in her looks and charm caused her to feel as if she deserved a higher ranking social class and the wealth that accompanies it. Forestier, in order to borrow the necklace, didn't want to look like "absolutely no one. When she wore the necklace to the party, she wanted to give the illusion that she was something that she was not. Loisel's values of her desire for wealth led to her downfall. The results of Mathilde acting on her vanity became apparent in the different ways it affected her life.
The nineteenth century French writer, Guy De Maupassant, tells an intriguing story in "The Necklace." He depicts the painful life of a beautiful woman, unhappily born into an average family of clerks. She felt that she was destined to marry into wealth but sadly found herself settling as she married an average copyist. Unlike the women of today, women in the nineteenth century were not fortunate enough to have a career of their own; they were either born into a wealthy family or married a man with money. In "The Necklace", Guy De Maupassant creatively reveals Mathilde Loisel's dreams of a decadent lifestyle. As her struggles start to unravel, it becomes obvious that her heartache is solely caused by her own selfish and vain acts. The stature that Mathilde so desperately desired sadly resulted into a lifetime of misery and despair. She anguished over the reality that her husband lacked the riches she yearned for, she felt insignificant because of her lack of rank, and her vain obsession ended up ruining a decade of her life. What a painful and expensive lesson to learn so late in life. She should have focused on the things she did have in her life, versus the things that she didn't have.
Like many women, Mathilde Loisel became depressed at how ordinary her life had become with her husband. She spent her days torturing herself with desperate dreams of delicacies and luxuries. She seemed to look down upon her husband, Mr. Loisel, because he was pleased to sit down and dine on a bowl of boiled beef. She on the other hand, causes herself sorrow because she isn't dining on an expensive cut of meat, carried to her by a butler on a silver platter. Mathilde longed for expensive banquets with shining place settings; she would only be satisfied with a gourmet-prepared meal. This is an interesting element of her character and becomes one of the first clues of her starvation for a more luxurious life. Mr. Loisel was an average guy with an average job at the Ministry of Education as a copyist. He doesn't seem to be bothered by their basic yet comfortable lifestyle; however, Mathilde is obviously anguished over the lack of his riches.
Mr. Loisel was obviously excited the day that The Chancellor of Education had invited them to an exquisite dinner. Surely he thought that this was finally a way that he could provide an outlet for Mathilde's deepest desires. Unfortunately, instead of being thrilled as he had predicted, Mathilde acted like a spoiled child, throwing the invitation on the table. "She had no decent dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but these; she believed herself born only for these". She couldn't have been more manipulative than when she began to cry about not having anything to wear. Of course Mr. Loisel suddenly fell into her trap and suddenly decided to give her all of the money in his savings account to buy her a new dress. Most would assume that she'd be satisfied at this point; her husband has just made a huge financial sacrifice for her. However, as time drew near to the night of the party, she became insecure and restless because she thought she would look poor if she didn't have any fancy jewels to wear; she thought she'd look like a beggar. 'I'd almost rather not go to the party ", she said. See, this would have been the perfect opportunity for Mr. Loisel to stop her selfish behavior and challenge her self-esteem and self-worth, but instead he catered to her pride. He suggested that she borrow some jewelry from her rich friend, Mrs. Forrestier. Of course Mathilde borrowed the most magnificent piece Mrs. Forrestier had.
On the evening of the dinner party at the Ministry of Education, Mathilde was on top of the world. "She danced joyfully, passionately, thinking of nothing but the moment, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, on cloud nine with happiness made up of all the admiration, of all the aroused desire, of this victory so complete and so sweet to the heart of any woman" . She soon learns a powerful lesson when she loses Mrs. Forrestier's necklace on the way home from the event. What makes her look extremely prideful and vain is when she didn't even think about telling Mrs. Forrestier the truth about the necklace. Did she not think Mrs. Forrestier would understand, or did she not want to make herself look bad? So, instead of telling her the truth, they spent their entire life savings, plus ten years of hard earned money to pay back the loan that they took to replace the necklace.
In the end, both of their lives were affected in a negative way because of her obsession with vanity and money. It is so sad that she honestly felt successful the night of the dinner, just because of her looks and her surroundings; what a distorted view of true happiness and fulfillment. An elegant dress and beautiful piece of jewelry doesn't make a person who they are. A caring and loving person has to be unselfish; caring for others and their feelings. Mathilde Loisel definitely lacked a caring and loving personality. The only person she proved to love was the person she wanted to be. Had Mathilde not spent so much of her life selfishly, she and Mr. Loisel could have had a lifetime of happiness. The most ironic and interesting piece of the story is the conclusion. Their lives were ruined for no reason; had she told Mrs. Forrestier the truth about the lost necklace, she would have known that the necklace was just costume jewelry.

08英语1班：张越
200830962157