Madame Lantin In The Jewelry By Guy De Maupassant example essay topic

A short story that leaves you with more questions than answers allows the reader to formulate ideas of their own about the meaning of the story. In The Jewelry, by Guy De Maupassant, there are several key points in the story that leave you wondering what exactly was the intent of the writer. It's almost as though the story ends abruptly, that perhaps there should have been more to it. I am now going to take over the job of writer, analyze the story as Maupassant wrote it, and fill in the blanks with possible solutions to the riddle. Starting at the beginning of the story, I begin by examining one of two main characters.

Madame Lantin, as she was mysteriously referred to in the story only once, is expressed as a 'pure' and 'respectable' girl. She is described as being raised by her mother in poverty, and her father was deceased. The first question I had about the story arose when it was stated her mother took the girl and "made regular visits to several bourgeois families of the neighborhood, in hopes of being able to get her daughter married". (9) It was though her mother was auctioning her daughter off, almost like prostitution in a way. I could only wonder if it was being insinuated that the mother may have been trying to sell her daughters hand in marriage, and was looking for the best price to get her and her daughter out of poverty. The reason that I considered that a possibility was because it says a few lines down, "The young girl seemed to be the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future".

(9) If that were so, then why would the mother have to travel to several houses in search of a man to wed her daughter? Wouldn't it have been a very simple task, or perhaps men would have flocked to the girl's house in hopes of her love. That brings the other main character into question. We are introduced to M. Lantin who becomes that lucky young man who marries Madame Lantin.

He has a modest life with a modest salary that he earns, and becomes utterly happy with her. The story states that after years of marriage, M. Lantin loves her more than he did the day he met her. However there are two 'faults' Lantin finds with his wife. Her first fault he states is her love of the theater. The story unfolds as it is declared that she always had her 'loge's e cured for performances. A loge is defined as a type of private box office in a theater.

That struck me as odd that with Lantin's meager salary that she could afford to have private box office seats to these performances, which would most likely be the ideal of a wealthy person as I could imagine those seats as being fairly expensive. Already at this point in the story, uncertainties arose that something odd was going on with Madame Lantin. To raise those suspicions higher, Mr. Lantin begs her to go without him, as he dislikes the shows. I began to wonder if perhaps this made her resentful that he would not accompany her to her one obsession. And peculiarly enough, the second point Mr. Lantin found fault in her was revealed, her craze with false jewelry. Why did she become so infatuated with false jewelry?

She would stare at the false diamonds and pearls as though they were real. Did she know something that Mr. Lantin was not aware of? My curiosity begins to grow. Then in an abrupt and sudden twist in the story, Madame Lantin comes down with pneumonia and dies.

From that sudden occurrence, I realized the focus of the story is not on Madame Lantin after all, but rather on Mr. Lantin. Maupassant's intent from the beginning was to put Mr. Lantin at the center of attention. Mr. Lantin's mourning for his wife was most definitely expressed as the story explains what he goes through when grieving for her. Shortly after, when for some odd reason he falls into debt without his wife 'managing' their finances, he runs into a moment where he is completely broke with no pay for some time to come.

When forced to sell something so he can eat, he feverishly turns to the scorned jewelry that he disliked so much when his wife was alive. When it is discovered that the jewels are in fact real and very valuable, a new light is shed on the past life of his wife, as well as the decisions he must make about his financial life. Mr. Lantin knows they could never have afforded such jewelry on his salary, so where did she obtain such treasures? It is fairly obvious she was the object of some kind of affair with a wealthy man who adorned her with such jewelry to show either his love or his gratitude.

Mr. Lantin realizes that was most likely the scenario, and becomes extremely sad by the thought. Nevertheless, the object of greed sets in, and he has a difficult time deciding if he should sell the jewelry or not, knowing where it came from. When he decides to sell it and goes to the jeweler that wishes to purchase it, it is noticed that several of the clerks almost find his situation humorous. Is it that the clerks know what was going on with Madame Lantin, or who it was with? I believe the reason for their hidden laughter is that they did know exactly what the situation was, and who was responsible.

Now, it's almost ironic that they see her husband coming in so eager to sell it back. Despite the distraction of the clerks, the jeweler offers him a generous sum of nearly 200,000 francs for all the jewelry. And it seems Mr. Lantin suddenly forgets about his late wife and becomes engulfed by the thought of his new fortune. At this point, I decided to scan back in the story a few paragraphs, and found an interesting quote that Mr. Lantin stated. "With money a man can even shake off grief-you can go where you please-travel-amuse yourself! Oh! if I were only rich!" (12) From that statement, I began to think that Mr. Lantin was convincing himself that if he did sell all the jewelry and take the money, then the grief he had over his late wife would simply be resolved.

He begins to think that money will solve his problems and make him a happy man, which we later find out is not exactly the case. In perhaps the greatest mystery of the story, at least from my perspective, Mr. Lantin begins to lie to people about the fortune he has amassed. It's as though he believes people will be convinced he is now a happy man by the amount of money he has, or perhaps by convincing wealthy passerby that he has more money than he has, he will be introduced to a new ring of wealthy and genteel men. First he tells his boss he has 300,000 francs, which may have been his way of rubbing it in his boss's face that he is no longer Mr. Lantin's superior. Then he tells the gentleman at the restaurant that he has amassed a sum of 400,000 francs, double the true figure. It is my belief that Mr. Lantin was simply trying to impress them by saying he was something that he was not.

In the last few lines leading to the conclusion of the story, it is acknowledged that Mr. Lantin has a sudden interest in theater. Suddenly he has grown to love one of his late wife's greatest faults! Once again, I believe Mr. Lantin was trying to fit into a crowd that he did not belong too. I believe he got the impression that the rich are the only happy people, and with their money they know no misery.

That is confirmed in the conclusion of the story when it is told that Mr. Lantin remarries, and his wife makes his life miserable. Most likely he met his new wife in his new ring of wealthy people and thought she was perfect, but in actuality his life became miserable, even with his fortune of money. In conclusion, after all the mysteries of the story and questions the reader is left with, I consider the meaning of the story to be quite simple. The basic message that the reader should be left with is the old saying that money will not buy happiness.

Mr. Lantin was most happy when he was with the women he loved on only a modest salary, however when he inherits his fortune, he thinks the money will lift him out of his sadness and make his life better than ever. Even so in the end his mistake is realized, and with all the money he has, he becomes more miserable than ever.