In the last nineteenth-century Paris, French society was organized on a class basis. It was difficult for people to change or move from the class into which they were born. Although the French Revolution had made great difference in France, class distinction remained an integral part of French society.
Living in such a society, the French writer named Guy de Maupassant described a woman’s fight against her unfair fate in his story “the Necklace”.
As an ordinary woman born into the lower class in France, Mme.Loisel didn’t give up her dreams to enter the upper class and fought for it persistently. She seemed to have succeeded at the dance, but a little thing changed her life. On her way home, she lost the necklace which she thought was very experience. She could have bought a false one to replace it, but she chose to take the responsibility and fight against the fate again. After ten years’ hard work, she paid off her total debt by herself.
We can do nothing but to admit that how life is strange and changeful, how little a thing a person needed to be lost or to be saved. Faced with such powerful fate, Mme.Loisel realizes the unfair of life, and isn’t content with the status quo. So I think Mme.Loisel is a woman who dares to fight fate.
Mme.Loisel’s fight against fate can be divided into three stages:
1. Before the dance, her fight is passive
Mme.Loisel was “born in a family of clerks”. During the time in which the story is set, it was expected that a husband would receive a dowry from the family of his future bride. A man often chose a wife on the basis of how large her fortune was. Mme.Loisel had no dowry, no expectations no means of being known understood, loved wedded by any rich and distinguished man. So she “let herself be married to a little clerk at the Ministry of Public Instruction”
However, in the last nineteenth-century Paris, woman is just a toy for man. Beauty and charm play a more important role than rank. “With woman there is neither caste nor rank; and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of wit”.
Mme.Loisel was “one of those pretty and charming girls”. In her opinion, she should have leaded a life like those nobilities. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries”. “She loved nothing but that, she felt made for that.” She didn’t feel satisfied with the status quo. “All those things tortured her and made her angry.” So far, her fight against fate still remains on the spirit level. We can’t find out any effect this kind of fight has made on her fate.
So before the dance, her fight is passive.
2. Mme.Loisel fights for the dance and achieve great success
In order to take part in the dance, Mme.Loisel cost her husband 400 francs to buy dress. In order to make herself prettier, she borrowed the necklace from her friend. Mme.Loisel made a great success. “She was prettier than them all elegant gracious smiling and crazy with joy.” “All the men looked at her asked her name endeavored to be introduced.”
3. After losing the necklace, a active and conscious fight
When Mme.Loisel realized she had lost the necklace, she didn’t try to escape by buying a false necklace to substitute the lost one. On the contrary, “she took her part, moreover, all of a sudden, with heroism”. “That dreadful debt must be paid.”
In order to pay off the debt, Mme.Loisel sacrificed her beauty. “Mum.Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households----strong and hard and rough.” After ten years’ hard work, she succeeded to pay off the debt. What’ more, in the process her spirit matured. She no longer bemoaned the state of the universe and pitied the fate of humankind. She learned to face difficulties calmly. When she paid off all the debt, she said, “at last it is ended, and I am very glad”. When she met her friend, she went to tell her the truth She now led a solid life. We can feel a woman’s inner beauty.
Many people think Mme.Loisel’s tragedy resulted from her vanity. But according to the analysis above, it’s clear that Mme.Loisel did have the chance to enter the upper class. Her dream would have be realized if the necklace hadn’t be lost. “How life is strange and changeful!” “How little a thing I needed for us to be lost or to be saved”. Maybe this is the writer’s point of view. It is the necklace that changed Mme.Loisel’life. We can do nothing but to accept the accidents. So we take pity on Mme.Loisel.
