WARREN'S WRITING PORTFOLIO

Warren Ge
May 16, 2007   
Draft three   

Mme.Loisel’s fight against fate

In the late nineteenth-century Paris, French society was organized on a class basis. Most of people had a strong sense of hierarchy. So 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 distinctions 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”. In the story, Matholve Loisel, an ordinary woman born into the lower class in France, who feels the distinctions between social classes, does not give up her dreams to enter the upper class and fights for it persistently. As a result, she finally seizes a opportunity to demonstrate her beauty at a ball hosted by the ministry of public instruction. She comes near succeeding in fighting the fate when she is noticed by the minister himself at the ball. However, on her way home, she losses the necklace which she thinks is very expensive. She could have bought a false one to replace it, but she chooses to take the responsibility and fight against the fate again. After ten-year hard working, she pays off her total debt and prevails over the fate again.

As it is said in the story, “how life is strange and changeful and how little a thing a person needed to be lost or to be saved”(44). Faced with so powerful fate, the majority of people will choose to give in. But Mme.Loisel is an exception. She sets an example for us. She tells us that when facing difficulties rather than bemoaning the state of the universe and pitying the fate, we can come over any difficulties as long as we held a belief in our heart! 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 ball, Mme.Loisel’s fight is passive and useless

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. So Mme.Loisel who is “born in a family of clerks”(38) and consequently has “no dowry, no expectations, no means [of being known by any rich man]”(38) has to “let herself be married to a little clerk at the ministry of public instruction”(38).

Meanwhile, in the late nineteenth-century Paris, woman was submissive to the male. In man’s view, beauty and charm play a more important role than rank does. “With woman there is neither caste nor rank; and beauty, grace, and charm act instead of family and birth”(38). By virtue of beauty, a woman can make herself from “women of the people”(38) and become “the equals of the very greatest ladies”(38). Mme.Loisel is “one of those pretty and charming girls”(38). So in her opinion, she should have leaded a life like those nobilities. But because of the class distinctions, it is actually impossible. As a result, discontent and suspicion grows in the depth of her heart. Is it just because of the immutable, external, predetermined reasons such as birth and family that she can not be known by rich men, that she can not lead a comfortable life? She thinks over them again and again so that she “suffers ceaselessly”(38). “All those thing … make her angry”(39). Obviously Mme.Loisel does not feel content with the status quo. But she has not found her way to change the situation yet. 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 ball and achieves great success

For a long time, Mme.Loisel has no chance to change her fate. So it is not surprise that when the chance actually comes, she spares no effect to seize it. In order to take part in the ball, Mme.Loisel costs her husband 400 francs to buy dress. In order to make herself prettier, she borrows the necklace from her friend. At the day of the ball, Mme.Loisel makes a great success. “She was prettier than them all elegant gracious smiling and crazy with joy”(41). “All the men looked at her asked her name endeavored to be introduced”(41).If the necklace had not been lost, Mme.Loisel would probably enter the upper class.

3 after losing the necklace, Mme.Loisel’s fight is active and conscious

When Mme.Loisel realizes that she has lost the necklace, she does not have the idea of buying a false necklace to substitute the lost one. She does not take advantage of her beauty to make up to the rich men for money. She does not try to flee from Paris to avoid the debt. On the contrary, “she took her part…with heroism”(43). She makes up her mind to pay “the dreadful debt”(43). This is her second time to fight against fate.

In order to pay off the debt, Mme.Loisel sacrifices her beauty. She washes the dishes, carries up the water, dresses like a woman of the people and goes to market bargaining with butchers. As a result, she “looked old”(43) and became “strong and hard and rough”(43). After ten-year hard working, she succeeds in paying off the debt. Apart from that, in the process of paying debt, her spirit matures. She is no longer a vain girl. She no longer bemoans the state of the universe and pities the fate of humankind. She learns to face difficulties calmly. So when she pays off all the debt, she just says, “at last it is ended, and I am very glad”(43). When she comes across her old friend, she has the courage to tell her ther truth without worrying about being laughed at. Mme.Loisel now really puts on a new face.

Many people think Mme.Loisel’s tragedy results from her vanity. But according to the analysis above, it’s clear that Mme.Loisel does have the chance to enter the upper class. Her dream would have be realized if the necklace hadn’t be lost. Everyone has his right to pursue the goal he thinks is true. And whether their choice is right or not should not be dependent on whether they succeeded or not but on whether their choice contributes to the maturity of themselves. Mme.Loisel losses the necklace and suffers great loss. However, she matures herself through the ten-year hard working. In this sense, she succeeds. Mme.Loisel sets an example for us. She tells us that when facing difficulties we can come over any difficulties as long as we held a belief in our heart rather than bemoaning the state of the universe and pitying the fate! So I view Mme.Loisel as a woman who dares to fight fate rather than a victim of vanity.

Work Cited
Guy de Maupassant, “the Necklace”1884. Rpt. in the International Story: An Anthology with Guidelines for Reading and Writing about Fiction. Ruth Spack. New York: St. Martin’s, 1994.6-8