“The Necklace” Response Paragraph
Due to losing Mme. Forestier’s diamond necklace at the ball, Mathilde Loisel (and her husband) worked diligently for ten years to payoff the debt. When it comes to gaining the reader’s sympathy, I certainly did not feel pity for Mathilde since she caused the workload and punishment for herself; rather, I felt pity for Mr. Loisel. Her egoistic self and pride along with her status consciousness, knowing that her husband could not afford her extravagant demands, is what trapped her into the catch 22 situation. The mere fact that she felt the necessity of borrowing jewels after her husband bought her an expensive dress expresses how deeply she valued wealth and luxury: “She has no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And …show more content…
Evidently, Mathilde wants what she does not have and all her thoughts revolve around wealth and show. Also, in the beginning of the story, Mathilde is said to have “...a friend...who was rich, and whom she did not like to go and see her anymore, because she suffered so much when she came back” (Maupassant 1). Despite not wanting to meet Mme. Forestier's, Mathilde borrows the necklace from her solely because she was able to use Mme. Forestier to her advantage. This shows how desperate she is to be wealthy; betraying the boundary to live within her means and seeking to show off her fake wealth was one cause of her destruction. However, after misplacing the necklace and coming to accept her fate, she persisted upon maintaining her status and made another major mistake. Considering that Mme. Forestier was a childhood friend of Mathilde, Mathilde could have easily told the truth to her, hence inhibited from dismissing her servent or renting a garret under the roof; being ignorant of the value of Mme. Forestier’s necklace and assuming that it was real diamonds ponderously penalized Mathilde. This critical assumption lead to the reversal of Mathilde’s life for then she comes to “...know what heavy work meant and the odious