The necklace short story annotation. The Necklace (Annotations).docx 2022-10-05
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"The Necklace" is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant in 1884. It tells the tale of a young woman named Mathilde Loisel who is unhappy with her social standing and longs for a more luxurious life. When she is given the opportunity to attend a fancy ball, she borrows a beautiful diamond necklace from a wealthy friend. However, the necklace is lost at the ball and Mathilde and her husband are forced to go into debt to replace it. The story ultimately ends with Mathilde and her husband working for years to pay off the debt, and Mathilde realizing that the necklace was only worth a fraction of the price she paid to replace it.
One of the main themes of "The Necklace" is the cost of material possessions and the desire for social status. Mathilde is unhappy with her simple life and longs for the finer things in life, leading her to borrow the necklace for the ball. However, her desire for material possessions ultimately leads to her financial ruin as she is forced to go into debt to replace the necklace. This serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of letting material possessions and social status dictate one's happiness and well-being.
Another theme in "The Necklace" is the consequences of greed and selfishness. Mathilde is only interested in borrowing the necklace for her own pleasure, and she is careless with it at the ball, leading to its loss. Her husband is also willing to go into debt to replace the necklace, even though they cannot afford it, in order to keep Mathilde happy. This self-serving behavior ultimately leads to their financial ruin and years of hard work to pay off the debt.
The character of Mathilde serves as a foil to her wealthy friend who lends her the necklace. While Mathilde is unhappy with her simple life and longs for material possessions, her friend is content with her wealth and has no desire for more. This contrast highlights the dangers of coveting material possessions and the importance of finding happiness within oneself, rather than seeking it through external means.
In conclusion, "The Necklace" is a cautionary tale about the dangers of materialism and the consequences of greed and selfishness. It serves as a reminder to be content with what one has and to not let external possessions and social status dictate one's happiness.
The Necklace (Annotations).docx
If the story ended there, it would still be tragic, but De Maupassant is not yet done twisting his knife. They went toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. It's very stylish at this time of the year. Now that the debt has been settled, Mathilde decides to tell Mme. I will call a cab. By picking the most expensive-looking item in Mme.
In the short story, Mathilde Loisel is an attractive young woman who believes she deserves better in life. She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: "We must consider how to replace that ornament. He had discovered nothing. Thereafter Madame Loisel knew the horrible existence of the needy.
One Sunday, while she is out for a walk, Mathilde spots Madame Forestier. She thought of long reception halls hung with ancient silk, of the dainty cabinets containing priceless curiosities and of the little coquettish perfumed reception rooms made for chatting at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire. He gave notes, took up ruinous obligations, dealt with usurers, and all the race of lenders. While her husband expresses his pleasure at the small, modest supper she has prepared for him, she dreams of an elaborate feast served on fancy china and eaten in the company of wealthy friends. But she is ashamed at the shabbiness of her wrap and follows Monsieur Loisel outside.
She would have liked so much to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after. Loisel replace the piece of jewelry at a tremendous cost to their middle-class household: thirty-six thousand francs, which they beg and borrow and use up their inheritance to purchase. The first kind of oppression, in the first section of the short story, comes from within Matilda herself because of her unrealistic dreams and expectations for her life. Instead of being delighted, as her husband had hoped, she threw the invitation on the table crossly, muttering: "What do you wish me to do with that? Did you take his number? Loisel returned at night with a hollow, pale face; he had discovered nothing. But suddenly she uttered a cry.
Madame Loisel felt moved. For ten francs you can get two or three magnificent roses. Terrified, she sits and waits for him. They were very like. They could have it for thirty-six.
“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Essay Example
All the attaches of the Cabinet wished to waltz with her. Finally she replied hesitating: "I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred francs. How small a thing is needed to make or ruin us! She went away about four o'clock in the morning. To escape this reality, Mathilde loses herself in a world of dreams and illusions where she surrounds herself with the trappings of wealth, but of course none of this is real and therefore Mathilde cannot truly be happy. Madame Forestier agrees to lend Mathilde her jewels, and Mathilde selects a diamond necklace. She danced with rapture, with passion, intoxicated by pleasure, forgetting all in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness comprised of all this homage, admiration, these awakened desires and of that sense of triumph which is so sweet to woman's heart.
The Necklace Annotations childhealthpolicy.vumc.org
She has one wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, but refuses to visit her because of the heartbreak it brings her. She had a rich friend, an old school friend whom she refused to visit, because she suffered so keenly when she returned home. Mathilde has schemed and strived to get to this moment: she wheedled money from Monsieur Loisel so that she could buy a new dress and borrowed jewels from Madame Forestier so that she would not look poor among the other women. Her heroism, however, shows that she attributes value to her suffering: for her, one night of wealth is worth ten years of poverty. She suffered ceaselessly , feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. The day of the ball arrived.
And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. She was remarked by the minister himself. Loisel takes on a night job balancing accounts and copying documents. She regrets her lot in life and spends endless hours imagining a more extravagant existence. She no longer had the necklace around her neck! All these things, of which other women of her class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her.
He borrows money from his friends and makes ruinous deals with moneylenders and loan sharks. She thought of the long salons fatted up with ancient silk, of the delicate furniture carrying priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish perfumed boudoirs made for talks at five o'clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy and whose attention they all desire. . She washed the dishes, using her dainty fingers and rosy nails on greasy pots and pans. He threw over her shoulders the wraps which he had brought, modest wraps of common life, whose poverty contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. They walk for a while before hailing a cab. Her dress was ready, however.
I am Mathilde Loisel. Would she not have taken Madame Loisel for a thief? She is, truly, both a victim of her own oppression and of the oppression which life lays down upon her, and the second form of oppression is a direct result of the first. He asked: "You're sure you had it on when you left the ball? These beginning paragraphs are important to the story because they show from the very first that Matilda is a woman whose oppression comes from within herself: she oppresses herself by longing for a life that she cannot have; she oppresses herself by being unhappy and discontented with the life that she does have. She washed the soiled linen, the shirts and the dishcloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. Her frock was ready, however. She tried the jewels before the glass, hesitated, but could neither decide to take them or leave them. Is her husband the clerk? But he said: "All right.
