Ana Baletskaya
Ms. Jemar
ENGL1302AN01
30 March 2017
Ignorance is Bliss
“The Jewelry” is a short story that makes you question all you know about human nature. It requires you to examine all relationships with those close and wonder about the agendas of the heart, the depth of a person’s love and their promise of devotion. This story is particularly interesting because of the irony it casts over the reader by providing such realistic descriptions of a married pair. The couple in this story seemed to have it all! Not in the sense of riches, power and fame but in happiness, true love and admiration for each other.
The story takes place in Paris and only provides the husband’s description of the relationship. There is no mention of his wife’s name. The wife came out of a poor family and the mother tried her best to marry the young girl off. The author did say the following about her though, “The young girl seemed to be the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future. Her modest beauty had a charm of angelic shyness; and the slight smile that always dwelt about her lips seemed a reflection of her heart.” Much of her personality and …show more content…
Lantin would have agreed to join his wife at the theater; although he loathed the idea, his wife may not have wandered off to another man who became her “lover and lavisher” as the story strongly implies. It’s easy to see the jewels in the story as symbolic of a betrayal of trust. The wife, who I am assuming was the mistress of a wealthy man for some time, clearly had been too subtle for her husband since he suspected nothing. It shows how great of an “actress” she was and just what a “clown” she had made of him. No wonder it was such a shock for him! It seems that she came obsessed with the idea that she deserves a better man and a better life. After her death, the husband remarried six months later. Even though his second wife seemed to be a virtuous woman…he was miserable with
Ms. Jemar
ENGL1302AN01
30 March 2017
Ignorance is Bliss
“The Jewelry” is a short story that makes you question all you know about human nature. It requires you to examine all relationships with those close and wonder about the agendas of the heart, the depth of a person’s love and their promise of devotion. This story is particularly interesting because of the irony it casts over the reader by providing such realistic descriptions of a married pair. The couple in this story seemed to have it all! Not in the sense of riches, power and fame but in happiness, true love and admiration for each other.
The story takes place in Paris and only provides the husband’s description of the relationship. There is no mention of his wife’s name. The wife came out of a poor family and the mother tried her best to marry the young girl off. The author did say the following about her though, “The young girl seemed to be the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future. Her modest beauty had a charm of angelic shyness; and the slight smile that always dwelt about her lips seemed a reflection of her heart.” Much of her personality and …show more content…
Lantin would have agreed to join his wife at the theater; although he loathed the idea, his wife may not have wandered off to another man who became her “lover and lavisher” as the story strongly implies. It’s easy to see the jewels in the story as symbolic of a betrayal of trust. The wife, who I am assuming was the mistress of a wealthy man for some time, clearly had been too subtle for her husband since he suspected nothing. It shows how great of an “actress” she was and just what a “clown” she had made of him. No wonder it was such a shock for him! It seems that she came obsessed with the idea that she deserves a better man and a better life. After her death, the husband remarried six months later. Even though his second wife seemed to be a virtuous woman…he was miserable with