Decisions, Decisions
Mathilde is a character in the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant. “The Necklace” is based around her and when she gets invited to a very high status celebration, but she hasn’t anything good to wear. She goes to her wealthy friend named Madame Forestier and borrows a necklace from her. At the ball, she loses the necklace and works a tedious ten years and finally had enough to pay for it. After she did, Madame Forestier revealed that the necklace was simply a fake and Mathilde regrets not telling Madame Forestier the truth, even if it seemed like the wrong thing to do. Mathilde makes many decisions that reveal a lot about her character because she is not honest with Madame Forestier, and if she was, then her life would most likely be much easier.
Mathilde in “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant makes many decisions that change the outcome of the story, and reveal a lot about her character. For example, Mathilde decides to not tell Madame Forestier about losing the necklace, which shows she is unreliable and untrustworthy because she is dishonest and tries to protect herself from Madame Forestier getting angry with her. This changes the outcome of the story. This can be proved in the text when the author explains,
“Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs!…” (de Maupassant 119). This piece of evidence supports the claim because the necklace that Mathilde lost was only a cheap knockoff, and if she had told Madame Forestier when she lost it, she most likely wouldn’t be mad and Mathilde would not have to had worked for 10 years.
Another example of when Mathilde changed the outcome of the story is when Mathilde decides to go to the ball because she wants people to be jealous of her. This shows that she cares a lot about how others view her because if she didn’t care, she probably wouldn’t have gone. This has an impact on the story because if she never decided to go to the ball, she wouldn’t have borrowed the necklace, which means she never would have lost it and everything would be normal. An example in the text that shows this is,
“’What do you want me to do with this?’ ‘Why, darling, I thought you’d be pleased. You never go out, and this is a great occasion. I had tremendous trouble to get it. Every one wants one; it’s very select, and very few go to the clerks. You’ll see all the really big people there.’ She looked at him out of furious eyes, and said impatiently: ‘And what do you suppose I am to wear at such an affair?’” (de Maupassant 11). This shows that at first she didn’t want to go, but then decided to which has a major impact on the story.
Mathilde makes many choices that influence the plot and show a lot about her morals. The last example is when Mathilde decides to borrow her necklace because if she never borrowed it then she never would’ve lost it, which means she never would’ve had to work hard for the rest of her life. This can be proved when Guy de Maupassant says,
“‘How stupid you are!’ exclaimed her husband. ‘Go and see Madame Forestier and ask her to lend you some jewels. You know her quite well enough for that.’ She uttered a cry of delight.
‘That’s true. I never thought of it’” (de Maupassant 33). This quote proves my point because it shows when Mathilde decides to use Madame Forestier’s Necklace which changes the outcome because she would never have lost it.
Mathildes determination to be perfect and to wow everyone led her to make decisions that impact the story and her life. Sometimes people want to fit in but life is so much better when you just be yourself. Whenever you are doing something based on what others are doing, ask yourself, “is this really what I want to do?” because you never know if one small decision could lead to something bigger in life.
