My Reading Log For The Necklace
After reading the whole story again, one thought occured to me deeply, that the author treated the feminine lead --- Mathilde too hard.
Why? Because she is a just ordinary woman who cares fortune and beaty, which is a commonplace for anyone, but got a real big crash. I don't consider the word "vanity" as a suitable word to describe her.
The article reminds me a case that several month ago my friend praised my newly-bought famous brand clothes, yet at that time I found no guilty for getting flattered for his words. Indeed, I was delighted from bottom of my heart.
Even pupils in the primary school know, that the more standard a person wears in public, the more respect he shows to others around him. Let's imagine, what would happen, if Mathilde wore in an old dress with no jewelry on her in the ball? And what a silly scene it would be, if the U.S. president in slippers and old clothes which only tramp wear appeared in the Congress? They mean the same.
Is it a sin for a person longing for his appearance becoming a more bright figure, or for getting more fortune? If it's wrong, why do Chinese People wear in more and more colorful cloths in the recent twenty years, and we still call it a great progress? Should Bill Gates, the owner of 53 billion dollars, who has been the richest man in the world for forteen years till now, get a punishment for the desire of earning more and more money?
So in a word, when the civilized France army do many cruel crimes like beast in the Far East in the year of 1884 without any punishment, should a woman get penalty for she loves the thing nearly everyone loves? And as every reader konw, she is still a woman of many virtues, such as honest and staunch in mind. Even if the author sentensed her to poverty and a bitter life in the novel, readers should have forgiven her in heart. Her desire is the human's right and is a part of humanity.
Then a question comes , that if not vanity, what the writer want to warn the readers, by such a sad story?
Mathilde indeed did something wrong. The most important mistake she made is not losing the necklace ,but losing something in mind, which the writer mean more profound then any other kinds of mistake a human will act, hiden deeply under lines. The KEY word for it is "struggle". Mathilde has a big dream for a happier life, but did little to achieve her dream. It's the point.
One should never try to understand a story without an scrutiny for a more complicated and huger background behind it. The 19th century many France people lived in poverty. However, instead of doing their upmost to achieve their dream, they hope fortune would come to them by a sheer luck, like Mathilde's dream--- marry a rich man. The author expressed his worry and hatred in these kinds of ideas in this story: without efforts, how could one acquire his own
happiness? Without struggle, how can one savor the joy of life? For those who want fortune but don't want to struggle againt fate, there is only bitterness await for them in the future. It is exactly what the writer wanted to show to readers.
The sincere readers of Maupassant may know, that he is a follower of Beethoven, the greatest musician in the Europe who has never surrendered to fate. As a matter of fact, through Mathilde, Maupassant gave readers a warning, just like a Chinese old saying, "The splendid odor of wintersweet comes from the bitter winter".