"Jewels" is Maupassant's short story, in which the male protagonist Lang Dan has always thought that his wife is a poor country girl, not only vain but also likes to buy some fake jewelry to wear. When his wife died, Lang Dan was poor and had to sell the "fake jewelry" left by his wife to survive.
In the process of selling jewelry, Lang Dan found that the so-called fake jewelry was real and genuine. Lang Dan began to suspect that the jewels were gifts from his wife's lover, and he was devastated at the thought of it.
It is said that Mrs. Lang Dan is a slut, otherwise how can she afford to buy so much jewelry. Whether she is a slut or not, Maupassant has already told us in some details.
1、
Lang Dan met the daughter of the director of the tax bureau of another province at a party and fell deeply in love with her. After her father's death, the girl and her mother went to Paris.
The mother and daughter were poor and respectable, quiet and gentle. The young girl was a virtuous wife and mother, pure and shy, and enterprising men wanted to marry a woman like her.
He didn't really know much about her, only that she was the daughter of the provincial tax collector and was deeply in love with her because of her beauty.
Lang Dan is a chief clerk in the Ministry of the Interior and earns an annual salary of three thousand five hundred francs. He proposed to her, and she agreed.
According to the international conversion at that time, one franc was equivalent to 50-60 yuan, and Lang Dan's annual salary was equivalent to 170,000 to 210,000 yuan, which was also a middle-income group now.
The young girl was the daughter of the provincial tax collector, who was much older than Lang Dan's petty clerk, and his annual salary was at least several times that of Lang Dan. The inheritance after the death of the father must be inherited by the mother and daughter, the mother and daughter still live a poor and quiet life, they are really a pair of low-key rich women.
After marriage, life is warm and happy, she is diligent and frugal in running the family, and the two people's lives are very generous. She takes good care of Lang Dan, is considerate and gentle, and very endearing. The two have been married for six years, and Lang Dan still loves her very much. However, Lang Dan is dissatisfied with his wife in two ways: he loves to watch drama and loves fake jewelry.
Even after six years of marriage, Lang Dan still did not fully understand his wife, perhaps he did not want to understand at all, in his heart, his wife was a poor girl. The love of drama and the love of fake jewelry were developed after marrying him.
In fact, most of a person's hobbies and habits are developed from an early age, and they are not so easy to change. Loving to watch drama is a way of entertainment in the upper class, and if people who have lived in poverty since childhood cannot cultivate such a habit.
Every time she watched the play, she had to pull Lang Dan up, whether Lang Dan wanted to or not. After a long day at work, Lang Dan watched the drama and made him feel tired. So he begged her to follow the wives she knew to the theater, and they would take her home. Although the wife thought it was inappropriate, she could not withstand her husband's pleading, and she agreed out of compassion for her husband.
The wife is deeply in love with Lang Dan, and she hopes that her husband will accompany her to the theater every day, but seeing that Lang Dan is unwilling and tired or compromised, she is heartbroken for her husband. Lang Dan, on the other hand, is selfish, he only knows that he is tired, but he does not consider his wife's safety.
Later, the wife often brought back some jewelry, her clothes were simple, but they did not lose their elegance, and although the clothes were simple, they did not lose the beauty of the virtuous. Radiating irresistible and humble beauty from the inside out.
The wife's hands and feet are full of elegance, and a person who has not been educated for a long time and has received a good education from an early age can not pretend.
2、
Lang Dan despised his wife's jewelry, and he often said: "Honey, when you can't afford to buy real jewelry, decorate it with a simple and natural appearance and dignified behavior, it is much better than jewelry." ”
The wife did not get angry when she heard Lang Dan say these words, but replied with a calm smile: "What do you want me to do?" I like this, I know exactly what you say, but a person cannot change his nature. I certainly love real jewelry more. ”
She was still very low-key and very cultured, no matter what Lang Dan said she was not angry about. She did not directly tell Lang Dan the truth, she was more afraid that Lang Dan knew that she had a huge amount of property behind her and did not advance, so that her husband thought that the jewelry was fake and it did not matter.
She often took the jewelry and rotated it between her fingers, and kept saying to Lang Dan, "Look, how good this is, it's almost the same as the real thing." He said aloud with a smile: "You really have the humor of a Bohemian woman." ”
The wife was implying to Lang Dan that the jewels were actually real. Lang Dan, on the other hand, satirized his wife, like a bohemian woman. Bohemia is a French place name inhabited by wandering tribes that live in caravans and make a living begging and fortune telling. Lang Dan still does not know the goods, and is simply an old hat who does not know the goods.
Occasionally in the evenings, they sat by the fire and chatted, and she laid out the jewels on the tea table. Sometimes mischievously wrapped a necklace around her husband's neck, and then laughed and shouted, "You look so funny!" Then she threw herself into his arms and kissed him affectionately.
One winter night, my wife came back from watching a play at the opera house shivering with cold and coughing. He died of pneumonia eight days later.
Lang Dan's concern for his wife is not enough, and his care for her is lacking. If he really loves her deeply, going out in the winter will remind her to get dressed more, or maybe go with her. Instead of the wife ignoring her outside and making her shiver with cold before she came back.
3、
After the death of his wife, Lang Dan's life changed dramatically. His salary is not enough for him alone, and he has to do everything possible to live in debt.
He could not imagine how his wife had cleverly allowed him to drink all the best wine and eat delicious food, and now the same money could not be the same as before. Finally he had no children on him, so he thought of selling his wife's fake jewelry.
The author does not elaborate on how Lang Dan's wife spent his life alone after his death, but it can be seen that he is not good at financial management at all. From the beginning of the introduction, his income is actually not low. Here it is implied that Lang Dan's wife is a financial expert.
When Lang Dan sold his wife's relics, he found that the jewelry was real and valuable.
He had always wondered where his wife's money came from to buy so much jewelry, and he was convinced that her wife did not have the financial resources to buy a piece of jewelry. Thinking of this, he was even more convinced that these jewels were given to her by others. Why give, and for what?
Fortunately, he did not think that the fake thing was worthless, when the garbage was thrown away, otherwise he would have failed his wife. Lang Dan always suspected his wife's behavior from his own narrow point of view. Once people have a jealous heart, they will come like a flood beast.
When my wife bought jewelry at a jewelry store, she filled in the address of her home. As the saying goes: don't do bad things, don't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door. If Lang Dan's wife is really like he thinks, even if it is fake jewelry, it will not be shown off, in case it is recognized that he can't eat and walk around? Besides, if the source is really unknown, what is there to show off. Only if you come from the right path will you be righteous.
Lang Dan sold all the jewelry to the jeweller and received nineteen six thousand francs. The treasurer said in a mocking, pretentious tone, "This was left behind by a man who had laid all his savings on jewelry." Lang Dan said solemnly: "Like other methods, this is also a way to save money." ”
This is to spend all your savings on jewelry, and buying jewelry is also a way to save money.
After Lang Dan got these windfalls, the whole person drifted. I began to live in a flower-blossom wine field and went to a high-end restaurant to have a big meal. He wanted to tell everyone that he was no longer poor, that he had two hundred thousand francs.
When he quit his job, he told his leader that he had three hundred thousand francs. As he ate, he told a strange gentleman next to him, in a flaunting tone, that he had inherited four hundred thousand francs.
He also felt comfortable watching a play in the theater for the first time, and he also spent the night with other women.
Half a year later Lang Dan got married again, and his second wife was very serious, but had a bad temper. She made him miserable.
4、
Lang Dan is a fool who has never seen the world, an old hat who does not know the real thing, and from the last details, it can be seen that Lang Dan's character is problematic. A person of integrity will not succumb to money. Even if you are too poor to do so, you will not use the money that is unknown. Lang Dan believes that these jewels are gifts from his ex-wife's lover, and he uses them with peace of mind. After fully realizing the jewelry, I don't know who I am, and I fool around with other women on the first day, which is the real swing.
The undeserved have money and are limited to eating and drinking in spiritual pursuits. And decent rich people, in addition to living a good life, also have elegant theater and jewelry collection.
A real slut can't be virtuous, a cheating woman is even less likely to be gentle and considerate to her husband, and it is even more impossible to be affectionate, and Lang Dan at that time is truly happy. The second wife was very "decent", but Lang Dan was not happy.
Therefore, Lang Dan's ex-wife is not a slut, although she is a humble housewife, she has a great taste in life, is an invisible rich woman and financial planner, and is a real treasure.
Maupassant is a master of satirical novels, who is being satirized in the Jewels novel?