The Necklace

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One thing I love doing is reading histories and stories, especially when it comes to Romantics and Metaphysical Writers, either fiction or nonfiction. It tells a lot about reality and there is always a lesson to learn. There is always one thing I love most about these poets and writers, they mostly talk about their life, their past deeds and what they have learnt in life, their regrets and their happiness.

Guy de Maupassant a romanticist, writes a short story I read sometimes ago, this story reflected on his life somehow. He was from a rich background, but Guy committed suicide in 1893, after he had suffered from a chronic diesease, known as Syphilis.

What made him kill himself? Was it depression? What side of life has he encountered? "The Necklace" a story written by him motivated him to write an epitaph which was inscripted after his death "I have coveted everything and take pleasure in nothing" this statement tells alot about his whole life, how his journey on earth has been so far.

The Necklace, one of the short story he wrote tells of a couple, the husband works in an office while the wife is a house wife, the husband couldn't satisfy his wife in terms of money, and the wife isn't working either. There comes a party organized by the husband's boss, a must for both of them to attend, the wife wouldn't stoop so low and dress like a wrenched one, then so informs her husband that she is not attending the party, because she does not have a dress to wear, the husband was forced to offer her all he had so she bought an expensive dress for the party. Even then, the wife isn't satisfied, she wants a necklace to match her outfit but the husband didn't have any money left.

Thereafter, she knew a woman who owns a lot of jewelries, so she begged the woman to borrow her one of her necklace for the party which the woman agrees to borrow her one. On the day of the party, the wife dresses gorgeously in her new dress and necklace to the party, she danced and drinks a lot that her husband had to drag her home. Amazingly, the necklace is gone, she got home to discover that she had lost the necklace. They search for it at every nook and cranny but all their efforts proved abortive. In an attempt to buy another necklace for the woman, they describe the necklace to someone who sells and they discovered that they have to look for a huge amount of money, let's use $200 (not the currency used in the story). They borrowed from several people before they are able to buy the necklace and return to the owner.

Years later, both couple had been struggling to pay back their debt, the wife even have to let her house maid go because she couldn't afford to pay her again, she had been taking several jobs just to get money and pay her debtors. She met the woman that borrowed her necklace one day, and then she told her the truth about the necklace that she lost the necklace she gave her and had to buy another one for $200. She met her doom when the necklace owner told her that the necklace she gave her was a fake one and she only bought it for $20 (not the original currency used by the author).

What I learnt in this story is that greed will not take us anywhere good, it's only brings vanity, shame and reproach.

I don't know what the author had encountered in his life that made him inscribe that epitaph but I think we should learn from this story and his life.

Thank you for reading ♥️♥️♥️