In a low attic, an elderly "hardworking woman" sat by the window alone, thinking. She recalled the ups and downs she experienced in the past ten years, the dance that brought her profound changes ten years ago, and the pursuit of her dream in those years ... Thinking of this, she was deeply moved and couldn't help it-

one

This Mathilde woman shouldn't be a citizen of this city. She was born in a small clerk's family, and can also be like other middle-class women: marry a small clerk with the same status, form a warm family, and assume the due responsibilities and obligations entrusted to her by society-in fact, after Mathilde became Madame Loire, her life path still naturally extended forward according to the logic of life.

This is her married life: dissatisfied house, "delicious broth" and a Meidochan who "does trivial housework for her"; There is also a legacy of 18,000 francs ... So, this young woman who doesn't need any work is still elegant and has enough time and energy to maintain her beautiful face, "pink fingers" and "crazy dreams".

Fate has arranged this kind of comfortable life for her, but she is not satisfied with it, dismissing it as "poor" and "poor".

Why doesn't she keep her duties and dreams?

"She is a beautiful and moving girl." This is not for every woman. If you put on a beautiful long skirt and a beautiful diamond necklace and appear at the festive banquet of the upper class, those ladies who think they are extremely noble will be eclipsed! The touching scene at the party proved that Mathilde was full of confidence in it.

She is also a well-educated woman. The church girls' school is the cradle of ladies, which endows Mathilde with elegant temperament and gentle temperament. This "naturally intelligent" Mathilde was undoubtedly an excellent student at the beginning.

To make matters worse, she is very familiar with the lifestyle of a senior lady! The contact with Mrs. Fleischer, a typical lady, made Mathilde witness these amazing scenes with her own eyes: spacious living room, oriental curtains, antique wall clothes, exotic antiques, pink bass and grouse wings ... and chatting with the man whom ordinary women admire and want to meet most in the quiet hall with a charming smile.

Mathilde's own quality is not inferior to that of a lady in the upper class. She has all the conditions to become a member of the aristocratic class-except the poverty of family background and low status! Therefore, "she feels that she was born to live an elegant and luxurious life" and "constantly feels distressed" for this.

Then, tragedy happened.

If Mathilde is plain, if she is vulgar without a good education, if she doesn't have a "rich girlfriend" and knows nothing about the lifestyle of the upper class, then nothing will happen, and Mathilde will behave like Mrs. Loire without complaint.

If Mathilde comes from a noble family, we have every reason to believe that she will be a wonderful flower among your ladies and a dazzling star rising in Ran Ran, Ran Ran. Isn't it? That unforgettable Monday night, the moving scene in the auditorium of the Ministry of Education fully showed her unparalleled charm!

two

But this is just a hypothesis. The reality is: she lost her necklace! When she was marching into the ideal kingdom, it seemed that she was about to knock on the door, but suddenly she fell to the bottom of society-even the status of the original middle class could not be kept, and she became an ordinary working woman at the lower level.

If she hadn't lost her necklace, what would be the situation now? Who knows? Who knows?

Of course, poor Mathilde can't predict her future fate, but common sense tells her that losing the necklace will be a disaster, and she must pay a heavy price for it in the years to come!

At the party, Mathilde's charming manner conquered all the male guests. They all looked at her, asked her name, asked for introduction, and the staff in the confidential room of the Ministry (white-collar workers! I want to dance with her, and the minister pays attention to her. "

This is a question that I have been thinking about for many years. What is more intoxicating than being favored by a man in high society and falling at her feet? As for the envious eyes of that young lady, it was excitement! The direct result of the extreme satisfaction of vanity will inevitably produce a stronger desire to find opportunities to display their talents again. In any case, she can't go back to the monotonous, lonely and poor life of Madame Loire. The success of the party means that Pandora's box was opened and never closed.

Therefore, Mathilde's fate after the banquet is inevitably faced with two choices: one is that an upper-class man falls in love with her and marries her regardless of secular prejudice; One is that Mathilde falls into a man's arms and becomes his mistress and plaything.

/kloc-In France in the late 20th century, the capitalist system developed considerably, and the establishment of social order led to hierarchical social relations. Since the Middle Ages, immature moral concepts have been corroded beyond recognition by copper, and the story of Prince Charming and Cinderella has become a complete fairy tale. Those gentlemen who think they are noble have little courage or need to break away from traditional ideas. Marriage itself is a means to consolidate social status and achieve a certain goal-if he can't put his personal future aside, the so-called "love" life can be compensated by methods other than marriage. Since she can't "let a rich and decent person know her, know her, love her and marry her" before marriage, the married Mrs. Loizai will never become the hostess of a rich and noble family.

So "if the necklace is not lost", isn't the answer obvious? Mathilde lost her necklace, but her humanity was restored, which objectively prevented her from falling rapidly on the road of falling. In this sense, the loss of the necklace saved a person's soul. Thus, Mathilde began a truly meaningful and fulfilling life-the life of urban civilians.

This is the tragicomedy of life.

three

The other extreme can also lead to corruption.

In life, many women can't bear the weight of poverty and debt and go to depravity. They can steal, rob, cheat and betray themselves-Mathilde has unique conditions if she wants, "because in women, beauty, charm and charm are their origins."

Let's take a look at the plight of this couple: the poor savings at home and an inheritance inherited by her husband are exhausted, plus the terrible debt of 18 thousand francs, and there is great mental pressure. If they can't repay their debts on time, they will face the threat of bankruptcy or imprisonment-can their thin shoulders bear this burden?

However, Mathilde "suddenly showed heroism and made up his mind" to meet the severe test of ten years of hard life!

What made her face the reality bravely and accept the challenge of life without degradation?

We can clearly feel that the prudence, honesty and naivety of the shop assistant are unified in Mathilde, who is different from the underclass who lacks good education and the bourgeoisie full of hypocrisy and moral decay. In addition, the persistent pursuit of her own ideals also proves that she is a strong person.

But this is not the fundamental reason why Mathilde has the courage to endure ten years of hard life.

Let's look at the image of Mathilde in ten years. All the capital that caused her "crazy dream"-elegance, beauty and gentleness-disappeared. "She casually linked her hair, wore an askew skirt, showed a pair of red hands, and talked loudly …" At this time, what appeared in front of people was a real "stout and hardworking woman from a poor background", neither a middle-class jasper nor a jewel-like lady.

But one thing will not change, that is, the ardent yearning for the life of the upper bourgeoisie, which has been vividly demonstrated in ten years of suffering, that is, the good memories of this banquet:

Sometimes, when her husband goes to work, she sits by the window alone, thinking back to the dance that year. How beautiful and charming she was that night.

One night of love, ten years of hardship. Value, or not? Mathilde's answer is yes. This party is the only climax in her life, the first and last embodiment of her own value, and the highlight left by her bleak life experience. Once in a lifetime is enough. The eternal memory of this evening party is the spiritual pillar and source of strength in the past ten years!

She is a woman with the highest vanity!

four

The ending of the novel is the most exquisite stroke in this exquisite work. Over the years, many people want to use it as the beginning of another story and write a "Necklace II". In fact, in my humble opinion, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Because the plot of the novel and even the fate of the heroine have reached the limit, there is not much room for development.

But after all, the author left us room for thinking.

Mrs. Frenjev told me the true value of this necklace, which means that Mathilde has instantly become a "rich woman" with 36,000 francs, who can spend the rest of her life comfortably, make up for the huge losses in the past decade, and even get a place in this money-rich society and become a bourgeois woman.

However, there is one thing that can never be found back, and that is the desires and dreams that were full of ambitions and longings in the past. From the first day when the necklace was lost, Mathilde clearly realized that there was no chance of "elegant and luxurious life" in this life. At this time, she was unrecognizable, old and yellow, and had irreversibly become a city civilian-both in appearance and temperament.

In the past ten years, all the hardships and tribulations have been the price paid for the success of nightclubs. The so-called "36,000 francs" is only the materialization of this price. It is precisely because a one-night stand costs ten years of hardships and 36,000 francs that its value is precious. The good memories of the night party satisfied her psychological balance and vanity, so Mathilde bravely endured all the hardships.

If Mathilde doesn't know the true value of that "exquisite diamond necklace" all her life, then she will still be "intoxicated in the clouds of happiness" and spend the rest of her life with an abnormal heart.

But now, irretrievable youth and lifelong hope have been ruined by a misunderstanding and planted on a fake worth only 500 francs, which is an iron fact that can't be accepted anyway. Mathilde is much more painful to accept this grim fact than to accept ten years of suffering.

"My poor Mathilde, that necklace is fake, worth as much as five hundred francs! ..... "Mrs. Fleischer's words are tantamount to sprinkling salt on the bleeding wound, but the effect is no less than the sentence" You put it, Sister Xianglin! " Mathilde is hardly ecstatic about getting 36,000 francs unexpectedly-if she is really crazy about it, there is only one ending: a complete mental breakdown.

Although the author himself lacks understanding of the social causes of Mathilde's tragic fate, he still attributes it to the accidental loss of the necklace, although the author has sympathy for the heroine. However, Mo Bosang completely exposed her vanity. From this, we can fully feel the strong rational critical spirit of critical realism literature in19th century.

/kloc-the critical realism literature of the 0/9th century describes the tragic events in which many middle-class and lower-class youths struggled to change their destiny and eventually failed-of course, not everyone encountered the misfortune of losing their necklaces. Carolyn Mibe (Sister Carrie) written by Dreiser never lost her necklace, so she became the mistress of Hurstwood and others. In "Red and Black", Julian Sohall has successfully obtained the commission of a hussars lieutenant, but in the end, he was not allowed to go to the guillotine by the aristocratic class. Let's listen to his speech in court:

Gentlemen, I am not honored to belong to your class. In your eyes, I am a farmer who resists my humble fate ... Some people want to make an example of me and make such young people lose their courage forever. They were born in a humble class and suffered from poverty, but they were lucky to get a good education and boldly integrated into the circle that the rich proudly called the upper class.

This is my crime. Gentlemen, this will be severely punished. ...

Julian was only half right. The strangulation of human nature by society is the external cause, and the poison of bourgeois ideology distorts his character, which is the real reason. Otherwise, there will only be a few honest, kind and hardworking middle and lower classes in society, and there will be more treacherous and despicable gentlemen and shameless ladies.

"Necklace" theme

The traditional view is that the novel sharply satirizes the vanity and pursuit of pleasure of the petty bourgeoisie, and the unexpected ending deepens this irony, with a hint of sour sigh-including sympathy for Mathilde.

The basis of this view is that although there is not a word in the novel condemning Mathilde's vanity, the author's attitude is everywhere in character description and plot arrangement. For example, at the beginning, I wrote how Mathilde regarded the luxurious life of the big bourgeoisie as an ideal, and then I wrote how she tried her best to dig out her husband's savings after receiving the invitation. This series of descriptions shows the vulgarity and meanness of this petty-bourgeois woman's soul. In addition, writing a night's satisfaction for Mathilde has brought ten years of hardships, which is a punishment for her vanity. At the end of the novel, ten years of hard work is only a fake, which is another bitter irony to her.

Mathilde's vanity is not an individual phenomenon, but a product of class society, which has certain typicality. Uneasy about the hard work of making a living, looking down on people who are poorer than themselves, and bent on becoming a big bourgeoisie, hoping to take shortcuts and make a fortune by luck, this is a manifestation of human inferiority. Of course, only a few petty bourgeoisie succeeded, and most petty bourgeoisie was reduced to a more miserable situation in the competition. The necklace mocks the contemptible pursuit of vanity in class society and helps us understand the social reasons for this trend.

Another view is that the author has no intention to make a clear value judgment on the characters; What he is interested in, or this dramatic change that happened to the characters, shocked and pondered the soul is that people themselves can't do anything about this change.

The basis of this view is, first, in Mathilde's view, everyone can get what they want through their own efforts; Besides, "people" live to "enjoy", not to endure all kinds of poverty and ugliness, so we can't accuse her of vanity and pursuit of enjoyment. Behind this accusation, there is a hidden value standard of "being poor means being alive, and being happy means being happy", and this value of moralizing poverty is very suspicious. Second, the author didn't criticize the single-minded pursuit of hedonic life, nor praised paying off debts with ten years' hardships, nor did he make a clear preference for the two. He only said, "How strange and changeable life is, even the smallest thing can destroy you and make you complete!"

Our point of view is that The Necklace is a tragic story about Mathilde, the wife of a small civil servant, who worked hard for ten years to compensate for a borrowed fake necklace. The author regrets the helpless situation that the heroine is unable to dress up despite her beautiful appearance. Expressing sympathy and regret for her unfortunate experience of almost ruining herself and her husband's life for a fake necklace; She affirmed her and her husband's honesty and spirit of struggle in repaying the necklace. The novel also criticizes the vanity of the heroine. At the same time, it attacked and exposed the extravagant desires and fraudulent lifestyles of the aristocratic class.

Second, the ingenious idea of "necklace"

In order to highlight the theme, the author designed a tortuous experience for the protagonist from adversity to prosperity and then into adversity. At first, Mathilde's frustration in marriage seemed to put her into adversity. However, the invitation to the dance hosted by the Minister of Education opened the door of hope for her. The solution of dance clothes and jewelry brought her one step closer to success. Be conspicuous at the dance, and you will find yourself on the road to success. Unexpectedly, the loss of the necklace made her fall into fate again. In this way, the transformation of adversity-prosperity-adversity makes the characters' situation more miserable and the theme more prominent.

There are a series of unexpected plots in the necklace. The heroine in the novel always yearns for the upper class, but after receiving the invitation of the ministerial dance, she is "annoyed" and "worried". She was a great success at the dance, but when her luck changed, she lost her necklace. The necklace was lost, and I finally realized that it was fake. These plots seem unexpected, but in fact they are reasonable, which cannot be separated from the author's series of foreshadowing. At the beginning of the novel, Mathilde's psychology of yearning for upper-class life is introduced in a long space, which provides a basis for describing the troubles and frustrations of the characters below. The relationship between the heroine and her friend Mrs. frist is also mentioned in the novel, which seems irrelevant, but it is an important factor in the next plot development. The heroine borrowed the necklace, lost it, returned the necklace, paid off the debt, and found that the necklace was fake, all related to this. Mrs Fleischer didn't pay attention when she borrowed and returned the necklace, which implied that the necklace was worthless. The necklace pointed out at the end of the novel is fake, and readers will suddenly realize it when they think of the above hints.

Third, the psychological description of the necklace

The psychological description of the necklace is delicate and profound. The author is very good at using psychoanalysis to show the inner world of characters. For example, using "she always wants to be liked, admired, pursued and full of temptation" to express her dream of getting rid of the shabby, bleak and mediocre life, becoming a comfortable and flattering lady; Through "she is more intoxicated with her beauty than all the female guests", it shows that she is consciously beautiful and has the confidence to jump out of the mediocre family and climb into the upper class. This vanity is caused by the requirement of capitalist society to regard women as playthings, which indicates the inevitability of Mathilde's tragedy.