Later, due to many times of careful reading, I have some insights, that is, to live a down-to-earth life, too many unrealistic fantasies will bring unnecessary trouble to myself.
Later, I noticed a sentence in the work: "How strange and changeable life is. The smallest thing can destroy you and make you complete! " "So I think the work also shows this meaning, that is, life is changeable and fate is impermanent, which is difficult for ordinary people to grasp, revealing the cruelty of society and life.
Is that all?
Now I reread The Necklace and read another classic novel by Mo Bosang, The Road to Suicide. I think my previous interpretation is wrong, or at least inaccurate.
We should interpret the works from the text itself, instead of ignoring the text, putting on political labels and wearing colored glasses under this framework.
After careful reading and careful consideration, I found the following points worthy of attention:
This work played down the social environment.
If the main task of the novel is to create typical characters in typical environments, then the necklace deliberately downplays the social environment. In his works, the author did not focus on depicting the typical environment of capitalist society, nor even set up a small environment to show class contradictions. She and the rich lady Mrs. Flythe are good friends. She can borrow necklaces from Flythe Festival and Flythe Festival, and she is willing to lend them to her, so she can choose at will. There is no class contradiction between them.
According to Mo Bosang's writing age, the author has always been classified as a "critical realist writer", so this novel is of course a critical realist work, so Mathilde, the heroine, became the object of criticism, labeled as a "petty bourgeoisie" and became a petty bourgeoisie female image who was vain and bent on climbing up. This judgment is based on the psychological description of the heroine in the first few paragraphs of the work:
These two psychological descriptions really show that Mathilde is extremely dissatisfied with his life and dreams of living a noble and elegant life like a lady in the upper class. But who doesn't want to live a luxurious life? Who wants to endure poverty? It is human nature to pursue a rich material life. Who said that the dream of a better life is "petty bourgeoisie"? Don't we also have a "Chinese dream" and want to "run towards a well-off society"?
Mathilde is "a beautiful and moving girl", and she should live an ideal life. However, fate played a joke on her. She married a small clerk and didn't even wear a decent dress, so she felt a little unfair and resentful about her miserable situation. Therefore, these dreams are not vanity, but the normal thoughts of a girl.
It is particularly noteworthy that she didn't try her best to get a luxurious life, she just thought about it. She abides by the basic principles of being a man and maintains her dignity.
When her husband received an invitation and had the opportunity to attend a high-class dance, after he tried his best to make new clothes for her, she was worried that there was no decent jewelry and even planned not to attend the dance. Later, she accepted her husband's suggestion and borrowed a necklace from her good friend Mrs. Flythe. In fact, she only did this to protect her dignity, because she thought that "the most shameful thing in the world is to show her poverty among many rich women."
Sure enough, she wore a necklace to the party, which proved that she was better than the rich man;
It should also be pointed out that the fake necklace was not specially given to her by Mrs. Flythe, but was chosen by Mathilde herself. She chose the diamond necklace because she thought it was the most beautiful. It never occurred to her that Mrs. Guo had fake jewelry. Of course, this also shows her simplicity, but also reflects that she, a poor little woman, has no chance to touch expensive jewelry and has no ability to distinguish between true and false jewelry. If she has this ability, can distinguish between true and false, will it lead to tragedy?
There is a lot of helplessness in life, especially a little woman like her who has no right or money.
After the party, Loire was afraid that his wife would be frozen, so he put on simple clothes commonly used at home, which were out of proportion to the luxury of the party. For the sake of dignity, in order to avoid the attention of the ladies wrapped in precious leather clothes, Mathilde almost fled hastily and lost her necklace.
After discovering that the necklace was lost, on the one hand, they wrote to Flythe Festival, explaining that the necklace was not returned in time because the hook needed to be repaired; On the other hand, the couple took a box with a necklace and found a jewelry store according to the signboard in the box, intending to buy the same necklace for their friend. This shows that Mathilde is a trustworthy person. Although he is poor, he has backbone.
The shopkeeper said that he didn't sell this necklace in his shop, but only made this box. At first, Mathilde might suspect that the necklace might be another bargain. Why is there another box for expensive jewelry? But she doesn't doubt it at all, which shows her simplicity and kindness.
I bought the same necklace in other stores from memory and paid it to my friend. The Mathilde family owed a lot of money. What should we do? Do we want to stay young and beautiful or not lose our personal dignity? She made a choice, decided to give up her youth, chose dignity, paid off her debts with her hard-working and honest work, and survived.
For Mathilde, this "small" thing (losing the necklace, losing the necklace, paying off the debt with labor) destroyed her, or fulfilled her?
I think Mo Bosang is very satisfied. Because she used her own behavior to explain that "people are poor and ambitious"!
In fact, there are several options before Mathilde. She can run away, run away; I can tell my friends the truth, but I have no money. Kill if you want-be an "old lai"; You can even use your beauty to attract men and get money to pay off debts, which was legal and effortless in France at that time. But she has no choice in these projects. Without any hesitation, the couple resolutely chose a difficult and bumpy life path.
Mathilde washed clothes, did housework, bargained, was laughed at, and saved a penny. The tempering of life not only changed her appearance, but also highlighted her spirit. It can be seen that she is not a vain person, but a strong woman with self-esteem and personality.
When she met her beautiful young friend again ten years later and told her with great pride that ten years' hard work finally paid the price of losing the necklace, she showed a bright and innocent smile. This smile is a sign of her confidence and pride.
Another classic of Mo Bosang, The Road to Suicide, was also written by a woman with a humble position but a noble personality. Compared with Mathilde, can you still say that this novel is a criticism of vanity? No, the author is praising these women with low status but high spirit!
A thousand readers have a thousand Hamlets. Similarly, there are 1000 Mathilde for every 1000 readers. However, no matter what Mathilde is in your eyes, you should start from the text to explore and then make a judgment.
Rereading the classics of humanities and social sciences in college thesis writing