goal of our life is happiness

 goal of our life is happiness

According to some people, the main goal of our life is happiness. We spend our life looking for money, health, love, and children because we believe that it will make us happy. Happiness is what we daily fight for, but can we reach happiness? According to Mathilde Loisel, we can achieve happiness. For her, happiness is about living in a big house, eating the most exquisite food, and wearing expensive dresses. Unfortunately, she was in the middle class, and she could not offer to herself all these materials that could make her happy. One day, her husband came with an invitation to a ball. He wanted to please her, but he was surprised to see her refuse the invitation. She gave as an excuse that she does not have any appropriate dress and jewelry to wear. She starts crying, and he took pity on her and proposed her to borrow a necklace from her friend. He also gave her all his savings so that she could buy a new dress. With all the sacrifices he made, he succeeded in pleasing her. She enjoyed the party and was during this short period of the time happy. However, after the party, she realized that she lost the necklace. In order to pay it back, she and her husband had to work hard for 10years. After this hard period of work, the day came Mathile met her friend who lent her the necklace.Mathile explained everything which happened, and her friend told her that the necklace was a fake one. In the sad story of Mathilde and her husband, I believe that no one is to blame. It was an accident, and as a couple, they faced it.

Firstly, Mathilde Loisel was not happy. She was living with a man she did not love, a man “she let her parents make a match for her” ( Maupassant 73). She did not have the life she wanted to have, a life in which she would be able to be surrounded by rich people, to eat all delicate repast, and wear beautiful clothes. She dreamt about having a life totally different. She felt like she did not belong to the social class where she was. She did what society expected her to do. She accepts to sacrifice her beautifulness and live with a man who did not deserve her. She had a miserable life, and going to this ball was for her a way to escape for a while. Over there, she was the ” the prettiest of them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and mad with joy” ( Maupassant 76). She needed this night in order to compensate all the grey night she lived. She needed to have for a night all she ever dreamt about. In addition to that, when you live with someone you do not love, it is difficult for you to make an effort for him. She was not happy with him, and this ball was for her a way to be happy for a while.

Secondly, in this society where a woman could not do whatever they wanted to do, where the husband was supposed to be the chief of the family, Mme Mathilde Loisel had not any other alternative. The only way for her to get what she wanted was to ask her husband, and she knew that the only way to make him use his saving to buy her a new dress was to manipulate him. In fact, rather than yelling at him, or trying to force him to do what she wanted him to do, she used her tears” two big tears were descending slowly from the corners of the eyes to the corners of the mouth”( Maupassant 74), and woman’s art of convincing. In addition to that, the self appearance was very important at this time. In order to inspire respect, you had to be well dressed, and Mathilde wanted to be respected, to be admired. For her, it was better to stay home than to go to a party with a dress that is not appropriate (Maupassant 74). She would not agree to go to this party with her old dress, not because of vanity or because she did not want her husband to buy his gun, but because society expected her to come in a beautiful dress at this ball. In the same way that it was a pleasure for her to go to this ball well dressed, It was also an honor for her husband to be with such a beautiful woman; even rich people wanted to dance with her. She had no choice, in order to be accepted and be respected in such a ceremony, she had to be well dressed, and have appropriate jewelry. Yet, she did not know that she would lose the necklace. She did not do that on purpose. It was an accident. She did not take the necklace and throw it away. If she knew that she would lose it, she would certainly not wear it. Maybe someone stole it. Mathilde Loisel did not mean to hurt her husband. She did not expect this ending. Accidents happen every day, and we do not necessarily need to look for a guilty person.

Finally, her husband is blameless for what happened. His only desire was to make her happy. He wanted her to have her dream come true for a night. He wanted her to be like Cinderella. In the same vein, Douglas Bement, a critic, believes that we should not blame the husband. According to him, he was a victim of Mathilde’s manipulation. His ideas are not exactly true. For sure, we should not blame the husband. He tried to please his wife, and that is what good husbands do, but that does not make him the victim. Neither he nor his wife should be accused. The lost of the necklace was an accident, and for sure, they should have asked the value before to paying it back, but when we are facing difficulties most of the time, we make some stupid decisions. He wanted her to be happy because he knew that his happiness depends on his wife’s happiness. In addition to that, they both suffer at the end ( Maupassant 79).In fact, he had to work twice harder, and she also had to work in order to help him. She sacrificed everything that was valuable for her, and she was not complaining about what happened. Partners should not try to accuse each other, they should support each other, and that is what both of them did.

In order to make her dream come true, Mathilde and her husband sacrifice 10years of their life. She lost her beauty and everything she cared about. Her husband also had to work much harder, but in this story, no one is guilty. Society expected her to be well dressed, and have an appropriate necklace to this ball, and that is what she did. None of them complain because both of them know that difficulties happen in life. Rather than complaining and accusing each other, they faced the problem. This problem they faced help Mathilde to get mature and to be more caring with her husband, and she needed that in order to make her live in reality.