Essay Draft Three

Park Pan
June 22, 2007
Draft Three

 In the world-famous story, “The Necklace”, the author Guy de Maupassant has put emphasis on setting some sharp contrasts or comparisons to develop the story and deepen the theme, especially on the main character Mathilde. For example, the totally different lives Mathilde had before and after the party; so were her entirely different attitude to life. Before the party, the young girl borrows the necklace with a strong pleasure. But just because this kind of vanity to show herself on the party, she pays a great pain to repay for the lost necklace, which change her life thoroughly! The difference or the change of the same character at his different ages often shows how the environment has influenced this person. Thus in a story, some comparisons and contrasts will of course show the development of the story and even deepen the theme. The story just showed how a lost necklace influence the life of a poor lady full of vanity, which reflected the clear class consciousness and the social problem at that time, by a writing way of using contrasts and comparisons..

The descriptions of the characters are always one of the most important factors in a story. Such kind of description will not only show the appearance of a character, but also imply some inner qualities of this person. At the beginning of the story, Mathilde is a pretty and charming girl, who is born by a mistake in a family of clerks.（38）That indicates that at that time, she was such a kind of young and beautiful girl that wealth, pretty and common recognition are the most important thing to her. Mathilde didn’t feel satisfied with her current ordinary life condition and always wanted to enjoy a more brilliant life. But after the loss of the necklace and 10-years-hard life, the situation is that she has become a hard, strong and impoverished housewife(43）This time we can obviously see that Mathilde have become old-fashioned, with no desire to pursuit the vanity. From this contrast we can see that how Mathilde has changed after this sad experience.

The behavior and mental activity of the characters are also important to illustrate a character, which make the character more vivid. In the story Maupassant said that "She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was as unhappy as she had really fallen from her proper station..."（38）, which also shows that although Mathilde is in a comparatively low social position, she is always pursuing a good social recognition to satisfy her vanity. And after the sad experience, what Mathilde has is just her frowsy appearance, talking loud when working, (44) through which we can see that she has been changed greatly by this 10-years hard life. This period of hardship has totally effaced the Mathilde’s pursuit of vanity and recognition, changing her living habits and attitude to life. She has changed greatly from a young, pretty and simple girl to a rough, old and sophisticated housewife, which seems just by a mistake of the lost necklace.

The definite difference of Mathilde, caused by a freak necklace, makes us feel a bit sad and commiserate to her. In the story like that "She was prettier than them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and crazy with joy."（41）We can see how happy when the pretty young woman attends the dreaming ball, with a great desire to be recognized and appreciated. But after many years hard life to repay the lost necklace and also the crazy ball, we can see her that"...she sat down near the window, and she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so celebrated"（44）It is the shaking point which moves the readers greatly, although through so many years hard life, Mathilde still can not forget that night of the ball. This contrast makes the readers feel so sad about such a poor girl, whom is so hurt by that society. Readers can not help to wonder why the society and the fate cost so much pain for a pretty young woman to own some vanity and recognition at that time. But although she has suffered so much pains and hardships, Mathilde still regards that night as a pride, which also shows how the society has influenced the people at that time with fame and vanity.

Another interesting contrast in the story is that before Mathilde has borrowed a good jewel, the author described Mathilde’s feeling as “sad, uneasy and anxious.”（40） And after she gets it, she feels so exciting to spring upon the neck of her friend and kiss her passionately（41）Thus we can clearly find out that Mathilde regards the ball as a very important thing and this also leads the latter plot of the lost and compensation. This contrast is necessary and also important in the story. It is like a reason for the latter happening thing, also through the character feelings up and down, the readers will feel amazed and involved by the story.

We can see that in the story “The Necklace”, the contrasts or comparisons develop the story and also deepen the theme, which sometimes shake the readers greatly. The effect of the contrast and comparison is very obvious and great in “The Necklace”. By the using of the contrasts, Maupassant describes a clear social image to us, which is full of class consciousness and social problems. That is the purpose of this story, and the author has achieved it successfully by using so many contrasts and comparisons. Thus contrast and comparison is a feature of the story and should also be learned by us in our writing.

30.5.07 13:46