The Disappearance of a Diamond Necklace
Many people undervalue themselves. The way to unlock one’s true potential is to value who one is and be honest with oneself about it. Mathilde Loisel, a remarkably beautiful woman in “The Necklace, ” dreams about glamorous jewels and riches. One day, her husband brings an invitation to a ball; however, she madly rejects the invitation because she claims to have no precious dress. But her husband gives her his savings to buy a dress. She also borrows a diamond necklace from a wealthy friend. Unfortunately, disaster strikes as she loses the necklace and spends 10 years of her life paying off the debt to replace it. Based on her words, thoughts, and actions, she is a self-conscious and ungrateful person, but on the other hand, she is also a hardworking person.
It is evident that Loisel shows pronounced signs of self-consciousness. It drives her crazy to live in constant rebellion against her situation because she believes it is a mistake of destiny. Although she has a loving husband, everything is insignificant except for her desire to own all the jewels and riches in the world because she “[feels] born for every delicacy and luxury.” One of Loisel’s old school friends is very rich and owns a lot of jewelry, but Loisel refuses to see her because she would “weep whole days, with grief, regret, despair, and misery.” Even though she dreams of a better life, the desire for wealth is a constant source of pain and turmoil.
In addition to being self-conscious, Loisel is a very ungrateful person. She feels like her husband is below her class and is not worthy of her even though her quality of life is better than every woman in her class. Because of her beauty, she thinks it is still not enough for her. For example, Loisel’s husband invites her to a high-ranking ball, but she angrily declines and tells her husband to “give your invitation to some friend of yours whose wife will be turned out better than I shall.” She does this because she thinks she “[has no] dress and so I can’t go to this party.” Loisel wants more, even though she already has a caring husband who always cares for her and tries his best to satisfy her desires.
Even though Loisel is self-conscious and ungrateful, she is a hard-working woman. After losing her friend, Jeanne’s necklace, Madame Loisel, has to spend the next ten years of her life paying off debt and “[comes] to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen.” She finally does chores to save money and understands the importance of saving money. While paying the debt, “she had become like all the other strong, hard, coarse women of poor households.” Loisel learns this trait after losing her friend’s necklace and learning the importance of saving money. She finally understands what other women in her class have to go through in order to thrive.
Based on Loisel’s different actions, interactions, and words, she is seen as a self-conscious, ungrateful, but hard-working woman. Loisel always desires more wealth due to her beauty, but this causes her to always be troubled with her life. She is ungrateful for what she already has and thinks her husband is below her class and not worthy of her due to her beauty. After going into debt, she changes and becomes a hard-working person. In this story, the author is trying to say that people should value oneself is and be honest about it. People need to be grateful for what they already have in life and ignore people who are a negative influence.