First of all, Maupassant cleverly uses allegory to represent the greed …show more content…
“He criticized her for only two tastes, her passion for the theater and her love for imitation jewels” (Maupassant 8). What does the writer mean by saying that M. Lantin only knew two faults in his wife, which were, her love of the theater and passion for false jewelry? Only after the plot is revealed do the word gain meaning to the reader. Her love for theater gives us the hint of the place where she met her lover. Her so called passion for false jewelry hints at the passionate relationship with a physical form through the gifts of the jewels. It could be that M. Lantin is subconsciously aware that the things that are so endeared to his wife could be the same things that would destroy his happiness. That might be the reason he finds faults with his wife. These are the same questions that keep the reader in suspense, and the author used them to achieve that …show more content…
Lantin. M. Lantin is in internal conflict with himself. He married a lover of jewelry and struggled to provide for her whatever she needs due to his little salary. At one point, he went looking for a jewelry shop to sell his wife jewelry and after finding one; he is ashamed to display his poverty by attempting to sell something of little value. His first statement was “ I would very much like to know your value for this trifle” (Maupassant 10). He is not confident, and his mind is in conflict with what wants. He expects the jewel to be of great worth, but he has a feeling that might not be the case. He couldn’t believe it when the man at the jewelry shop told him that the gems were real. The little external conflict in this story is evident in the case where M. Lantin couldn’t tell the real gems for fake ones. He is therefore in a disagreement with the first jewelry buy. He doesn’t buy the idea that the jewels were real, and he thought that the buyer was just confused. This conflict creates some anticipation in the reader and shows the