La Parure by Guy de MaupassantMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Disclosure:
This nice story was included in the National Education Curricula in the Secondary Year of General Education, I own a Paperback copy. in addition to an Electronic PDF written in French too.
My Plot:
The Necklace is an amazing story about the poor beautiful Mathilde Loisel who was born Paris. Mathilde dreams of being in the top of "the Parisian Class". By an error of destiny she get married to a clerk who works inside the Ministry of Instructions. Mathilde leads a sad life during her marriage, even if her husband was doing the best to make her happy. One day her husband gets an Invitation to a Party held by the Ministry, she gets worse by realizing that she has nothing to wear for the Party. Her Husband gave her 400 Francs, she bought a nice suite, but even with this sacrifice she still gets unsatisfied, finally she borrowed a Necklace from her friend Madame Jeanne Forestier and went to the party. During the Party she exposes a nice feeling of happiness being proud of herself. But suddenly she realizes that the Necklace had gone. They both look for it but unfortunately nothing had been found. Though, it was decided for both of them to take loans in order to buy a necklace with the same characters as the one they borrow it from Madame Forestier. It takes 10 years of hard work to bring back the loans they took from their friends. One day Mathilde was browsing in the park and met her friend Madame Jeanne Forestier, who chocked her by discovering that the lost Necklace was just an imitation of the Original one which costs 36.000 Francs.
Positive and Negative Aspects:
The whole story was an outcome of Maupassant's imaginations, the shift from one event to the other was epic, the nature of Language was so simple. Moreover, the Necklace was a best example for Maupassant teachings in social cause. In this story he tries to teach people how to deal with destiny, Mathilde Loisel was an example of persons who are not satisfied of their social situation. Anyway, the positive side of the story stands on the simplicity of events, the beautiful techniques of narrations, and the nature of subject it discusses. Regarding the negative sides, I would say that the writer was so harsh toward the Characters. It was very sad to spend 10 years of hard work just to pay for a fake Necklace, besides, Mathilde's husband was a victim of the arrogance of his wife, in fact both of them suffer from the punishment of destiny.
My Personal Reaction:
I would love to express my feeling toward this story. It was realistic and sad at the same time, no happy endings and reliefs to the Characters, all was about punishing someone who don't feel satisfied inside his social class, that's the reason why I feel sad toward the story. The husband was doing his best to make Mathilde happy but society was an obstacle for their happiness. This story also exposes the social disease that the Parisian society suffer from, everyone want to get high and feel the warmth of the highest social class. In my interpretation, the Parisian society are the one to blame first in this story, not the main Characters.
Recommendation:
Since the story contains no harm for the whole readers, I would recommend it to every Francophone who want to explore and enjoy the nice aspects of the Realistic literature. It would be the best attempt for accessing the world of Maupassant in Literature.
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