The Necklace Essay - 700 Words

People who are driven by greed end up focusing on what they do not have instead of being grateful for what they do have. This is relevant in the short story â€Å"The Necklace† by Guy de Maupassant because Mathilde Loisel ends up losing everything she owns just because she lets greed drive her decisions and get the best of her. When receiving an invitation to an extravagant ball, she declines because she says she does not have anything nice to wear. In the beginning of the short story she says, â€Å"There is nothing more humiliating than looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women.(Maupassant).† The reader sees how she puts value in possessions and what others think of her. After finding a dress and then borrowing a necklace that she thought†¦show more content†¦When she is given the opportunity to dress in extravagant clothing and act like she is wealthy, she found a â€Å"sense of triumph that is so sweet to a woman’s heart† (3). Mathilda Loisel’s change from the exposition of the short story to the rising action is dramatic. The reader’s first impression of the character is that she is unhappy and resentful but at the party she comes off just the opposite. She was joyful and â€Å"danced wildly, with passion, drunk on pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty† (3). Mathilda Loisel’s true character starts to reveal itself when the reader sees how much value she puts in possessions. The necklace serves as a symbol for greed. When Mathilda Loisel loses the necklace that she believed was worth forty thousand francs, she desperately retraces her steps and gets her husband to help her find it as well. It ends up taking ten years to pay off the debt. The ten years were hard on Mathilda Loisel and her husband, and Maupassant told the reader that she â€Å"looked old now†¦ with hair half combed, with skirts award, and reddened hands† (6). However, even after the lon g ten years of manual labor all because she lost the necklace, she â€Å"sat down near the window and though of that evening at the ball so long ago, when she has been so beautiful and so admired† (6). The necklace symbolizes that when greed controls emotions and decisions, it never leads to good results. Mathilda Loisel’s life is worse at the end of the short story thanShow MoreRelatedEssay on The Necklace1342 Words   |  6 Pagesshort story The Necklace. Its protagonist, Mathilde Loisel, longing for a lavish lifestyle rather than her middle class way of life, falls under the spell of an priceless diamond. Dealing with her fate, some of Mathildes strong character traits soon become apparent. Examining these attributes, we discover that Mathilde Loisel definitely has a negative personality. The first of many character traits of Mathilde Loisel that Maupassant makes evident in the The Necklace is greed. 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