Summarize and Create your own response based on my responses.
Mathilde seems dissatisfied at the beginning of the story because she feels as though she has the assets necessary to live a better
lifestyle than the one she does. She’s frustrated with the fact that she knows what could have been and the fact things did not go that
way for her is disheartening and hard for her to come to terms with. She knew that she had potential to become wealthy and live
comfortably so instead of accepting things for how they turned out she is holding onto a life that isn’t attainable anymore.
Their marriage seems like it would be very difficult to be apart of. Mathilde isn’t appreciative of Loisel’s effort to make her happy by
inviting her to the ball and puts an emphasis on her appearance rather than having a nice outing with her husband. The fact that she puts so much stress on having materialistic things could really be damaging for their marriage because not only could this make Loisel put
himself down and make him feel like he doesn’t do enough for her but it could also make her develop resentment towards him for not
giving her the life that she feels she was deserving of.
Over those 10 years, their relationship did not make that much progress at all. She still seems to have the same mindset and dreams of
her grand lifestyle. I feel as though the fact that she was working so hard could only make her resent her husband more for giving her no
other choice but to work hard to pay off the necklace instead of giving her the lifestyle she “deserved”.
1. Why is Mathilde dissatisfied at the start of the short story?
2. What do you think of the marriage the Loisels have a the beginning of the story and why?
3. How has their relationship developed over the course of the 10 years they worked to pay off the debt?
