Austin Swanson
Mr. Evans
English 101
September 8, 2015
Greed and “The Necklace”
Texts can be interpreted in many ways based on who’s reading the piece and what they have gone through. One very major theme that speaks to people is greed. Stories telling of people wanting the world and losing everything, can do wonders to the reader’s thoughts. Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is a very commendable example of a work with many meanings such as greed, ambition, and love for social class. This story has a very deep context of greed and how it can destroy the lives of you and the people around you.
Mathilde Loisel was just a middle class girl who dreamed of wealth her entire life. She was born a clerk and ended up marrying a clerk despite her ambitions …show more content…
Mathilde’s greed leads her to the rash decision of spending all her husband’s money. “Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs left to him by his father. He intended to borrow the rest. He did borrow it, getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of money-lenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even knowing if he could honour it, and, appalled at the agonizing face of the future, at the black misery about to fall upon him, at the prospect of every possible physical privation and moral torture…” (Maupassant 37). Mathilde let her husband throw away the rest of his life for a mistake she made. Through the loss of all the family’s earnings and the ten years work to follow, Mathilde’s viewpoint on life seems to shift. Her mind lets go of the greedy thoughts of wanting the world and turns to seeing herself as the bigger person. She “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism” (Maupassant 39). She turns from one form of greed to another. She has shed her affection for valuable objects and now loves herself as some sort of hero. Greed has many forms, all of which can ruin your
Mr. Evans
English 101
September 8, 2015
Greed and “The Necklace”
Texts can be interpreted in many ways based on who’s reading the piece and what they have gone through. One very major theme that speaks to people is greed. Stories telling of people wanting the world and losing everything, can do wonders to the reader’s thoughts. Maupassant’s “The Necklace” is a very commendable example of a work with many meanings such as greed, ambition, and love for social class. This story has a very deep context of greed and how it can destroy the lives of you and the people around you.
Mathilde Loisel was just a middle class girl who dreamed of wealth her entire life. She was born a clerk and ended up marrying a clerk despite her ambitions …show more content…
Mathilde’s greed leads her to the rash decision of spending all her husband’s money. “Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs left to him by his father. He intended to borrow the rest. He did borrow it, getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of money-lenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even knowing if he could honour it, and, appalled at the agonizing face of the future, at the black misery about to fall upon him, at the prospect of every possible physical privation and moral torture…” (Maupassant 37). Mathilde let her husband throw away the rest of his life for a mistake she made. Through the loss of all the family’s earnings and the ten years work to follow, Mathilde’s viewpoint on life seems to shift. Her mind lets go of the greedy thoughts of wanting the world and turns to seeing herself as the bigger person. She “now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover all of a sudden, with heroism” (Maupassant 39). She turns from one form of greed to another. She has shed her affection for valuable objects and now loves herself as some sort of hero. Greed has many forms, all of which can ruin your