Initially, in her home,
Madame Loisel is quite
unhappy. She cannot dress well because she is not rich, and so she
"dressed
plainly." She suffers "ceaselessly" because she cannot have the
luxuries
afforded by those with wealth, and she feels that her home is "wretched" and
"worn-out" and ugly. Though, the narrator says, other women would not even be aware
of
the flaws Madame Loisel hates so much, she chooses to see them and refuses
to be grateful for
what she has. She only imagines what her rooms could look
like with richer decorations and
furnishings. Moreover, she has a friend with
whom she went to school, though she chooses not to
visit her anymore "because
she suffered so much when she came back" to her own home
and was forced to
compare it with her friend's abode. She only decides to pay her friend a
visit
when she wants to borrow some jewelry.
After the
fateful night of the party,
however, and after Madame Loisel has lost the
seemingly priceless necklace belonging to her
friend, her life changes most
dramatically. She can no longer make very many choices at all.
They must
downsize, moving to a smaller apartment. They must let their servant
go.
However, Madame Loisel takes her part "all on a
sudden, with heroism." She
does heavy housework and her hands grow coarse and
rough. She bears up under this debt better
than she seemed to before it was
acquired. She chooses to accept her responsibility with more
grace and poise
than she accepted her position before. It's an interestingthat she is a more
positive person when she is truly poor than when she only thinks she
is.
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