The necklace essay

When you have everything that you absolutely need in life, what more can you ask for? Matilda Loisel had an average life compared to les unfortunate people. When all her husband did was try to please her, she begs for more. She was unhappy with what she has in life. She believes that it could be more. Matilda wants to be on top and when she can’t have it she complains and whines. The one word that describes her would be greed.

Matilda wanted to be elegant and graceful, but she thought that one must be wealthy to possess these wonderful features. She clearly did not see what was right in front of her. The necklace symbolizes sophistication and greed that she had or wanted in her life. When this necklace was around her neck her life was fantastic. Everyone wanted to dance with her at the ball. But wanting everything can only take you so far in life. Once you get to the top of the mountain everything is wonderful; but you can only stay up there for so long. When you lose your balance everything goes downhill. This is exactly what happened to Matilda when she lost the very necklace that got her to the top in the first place. She lost her elegance and grace. When the necklace is gone, so is the greed. All she felt was guilt and if she had done something differently things would be better. The greed in the necklace was gone and replaced with sorrow. All of the good that came with the necklace came and went just as fast. Because of this error Matilda and her husband spend the next ten years repaying her greed with hard work and labor. If she was not wanting more she would have never lost the necklace. Once finished she finds that her work was for something that was of lesser value. She paid more than the original was worth. This symbolizes that with greed you have to pay more to get rid of something that is so small and not worth your time. Matilda paid off her greed with the replacement necklace she bought for her friend. She finally saw how it was to be less fortunate than she already was. Once she saw this she regretted her actions immediately. She wanted what she had before; but by then it was too late and she was stuck forever. Greed can ruin lives. Yet most people let it control them.

Matilda always wanted more that what she had. She would look at what she had and become sad that she was not rich like her friend. For example on page 15 in the hand out. “She suffered incessantly, feeling herself born for all delicacies and luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her apartment, the shabby walls, the worn chairs, and the faded stuffs. All these things which another woman of her station would not have noticed, tortured and angered her.” The small things like a scratch on a chair would infuriate her with rage and selfishness. She wanted everything she did not have. Her husband tried with everything he had to please her. He gives her a gift and she needs something to go with it. She will not be seen wearing something that is cheap yet beautiful. When her husband suggested she wear flowers to play up her face she said it was cheap and needed some real jewels. She wanted money to be pleasing to the eye. Yet she still wanted more after everything her husband did for her. Wanting to be famous and rich, Matilda extinguished her comfortable lifestyle for a world of pain. She tried to be more than she really was and she failed. When she wanted everything all she got was nothing.

Greed can ruin a person’s life and how they act. Matilda threw away a good life for something way worse. She wanted money and that was what life meant to her. Money and nothing else. Without money Matilda thought her life was not as important as others. She felt as if she was too low to be noticed and buy her way to the top. All this did was put her at the bottom. The lesson within this story is that you need to be happy with what you have. Don’t ask for more than you need because you will end up with worse than you have. Greed takes you no where.