Author Question: Why does Mathilde Loisel borrow her friends diamond necklace for theball? What do her motivations ... (Read 91 times)

ETearle · **on:** Jul 20, 2018

Why does Mathilde Loisel borrow her friends diamond necklace for theball? What do her motivations reveal about her character?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Miss Brills sense of herself is at least partly based on her attitudes towardothers. Give instances of this tendency, showing also how it is connected with her drastic change of mood.

What will be an ideal response?

sierrahalpin · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 20, 2018

Answer to Question 1

A handsome young woman who has few opportunities to show off, Mme. Loisel wants to cut an impressive figure. She is also self-conscious about her modest social situation. Theres nothing more humiliating, she tells her husband than to look poor among other women who are rich. Her motivations reveal a woman who is both socially ambitious and slightly vain. It is important to note, however, that the actual suggestion to borrow the jewels comes from her husband, an economical clerk.

Answer to Question 2

Early in the story (par. 5), her reaction to some of her fellow concert-goers is a bit condescending, which enables her to feel somewhat superior which is highly ironic in light of subsequent developments. At paragraphs 9 and 10, just before her disillusionment, she feels herself to be at one with the rest of the audience, an equal participant in what she thinks of as the significance and beauty of the event. Then, when she discovers how she really appears to at least some of the others present, it is this cruel epiphany that shatters her happiness and even her sense of herself.