The Diamond Necklace
“The diamond necklace”, one of the claical short stories, written by Maupaant who was a France writer from 1850 to 1893, in my opinion, is a good and educational works for people, especially for teenagers.Guy de Maupaant, famous for its short works, such as “Boule de suif”, “My uncle jules”, “Two friends” and so on, together with Anton Chekhov and William Sydney Porter, was recognized as the leader of the development of short stories.
The story mainly talks about a pretty and charming young lady, who, as if by a slip of fate, is born into a family of clerks, and gets married to a little clerk of the Ministry of public instruction.She behaves resentfully for all these things.One day, an unexpected chance, which she thinks can turn her into a beautiful swan from an ugly duckling, however, makes her poorer and more misfortune, for she lost her friend’s jewel she had borrowed to satisfy her vanity in the ball before.To protect her dignity, she and her husband have to aume the responsibility to pay it back, which begins a life of economizing on food and clothing.When all the debts is paid off, the heroine is no longer a attractive and charming lady, but a strong, hard and rough middle-aged woman, looking nothing different with a
impoverished housewife.But what’s dramatic is that her friend tells her what she borrow is paste, when one day, the heroine comes cro the same friend and elaborates what happens to them in some park.I can’t imagine what expreions her faces present when told what she struggles for ten years, working from dawn to night, should be a fake.
France philosopher Bergson put it well when he said, “it’s difficult to say that the vanity is a devilry, but all the devilries, arising from and around the vanity, are just approaches to satisfy your vanities.” Although the heroine is misfortune, for she adds more troubles to herself rather than get what she wants finally, meanwhile, she is also lucky that the cruel reality wakes her up.From the story, I realize that the false honor is froth which may broke anytime, and that we should not run after some imaginary things that doesn’t belong to us, on the contrary, we are supposed to walk step by step, through persistent efforts, to create our own honor.
