Reading Log for The Necklace

In The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde Loisel borrows a necklace from her friend for a party and then loses it. She works hard for years to pay off for the expensive necklace, only to find out that the necklace she had borrowed was a fake.

I both loved and disliked the story. I loved that it gave such vivid descriptions of the characters, especially Mathilde, and each scene she was involved in. I also enjoyed the strong irony that was presented in the story.

As I mentioned earlier, I think Maupassant has done a great job portraying a women who is rather full of herself. I almost felt like I personally know Mathilde. But I disliked the character of the heroin. As a girl myself, I empathized her desire for luxury and her longings to demonstrate her beauty, but Mathilde seemed to have a determined pride about her beauty. She seemed to feel that she was deprived of something - in this case, a higher class life - which she should be given. I can't help but ask myself, if it weren't for that arrogance, would she still have had to be driven to poverty like she was in the story?

The irony presented in the story reminded me of the movie Mystic River - The scene in which Jimmy Markum, after mistakenly killing his childhood friend David Boyle thinking David murdered his own daughter, finds out that he had killed the wrong person. They both remind me that sometimes what we believe without a doubt turns out to be not true at all.

28.5.07 03:55