Essay Draft Two

 Fate Is Influenced Artificially

Many people say that, man proposes, God disposes. I believe it, but not the whole scope. I think that although the final results lie with God, God has already prepared several final results for people to choose. Although sometimes we feel unlucky and castdown, we should still work hard, for the existing good ending.

At the first, the family is so poor that Mathilde “dressed plainly”[P38] and “suffered ceaselessly”[P38]. The beautiful inexistent jewel and dress made her envy the women of her rank dressed in the luxurious style. She expected the gallant adornment for a long time, which foreshadowed the followed story. This is the first step to direct their life. If Mathilde had only a few ,but not many, jewels and dresses to make up herself more prettily, the result would come to another ending.

Then the story came to the subject. Her husband told her to take part in a ball. Contrary to his expectations, Mathilde “threw the invitation on the table with disdain”[P39] and raised the essential problem which had depressed her for long, “what do you want me to put on my back?”[P39]. The husband loved his wife deeply enough to buy her a pretty dress, but he is so needy that he could not pay for a single jewel for Mathilde any more, since he had already paid four hundred francs for the dress. Then, he proposed to borrow one from Mme. Forestier. This is the second step to guide their fate. If they had enough money to pay for only a single jewel, they would not need to borrow jewels from others.

Mathilde came to Mme. Forestier and asked for a jewel. Mme. Forestier helped her generously. At first nothing caught Mathilde’s eye until Mme. Forestier brought out more. These facts all determined that Mathilde would borrow a “superb necklace of diamonds”[P41]. If Mme. Forestier hadn’t helped, or Forestier had not so much jewels, would Mathilde still borrow the very jewel that lead to the satiric tragedy?

Mathilde attended the ball and on that day the most dramatic turn came to them. Mathilde “no longer had the necklace”[P42] and couldn’t find it any more. What they could do to make up for the her careless was to work more hard to pay for the necklace. Everyone maybe loses something at some time. But she lost the jewel not belonging to her. If the jewel had not been lost, everything would have gone well, wouldn’t it?

After several years’ hard work, they saved up enough money to pay for the necklace and gave it back. But one day they got the fact that the necklace they lost “was paste”[P44]. Although the story ended here and didn’t tell the continued plot, they must have been gloomy, I think. If they had known the necklace was fake, they would continue enjoying their life.

So many conditional clauses and if only one condition failed, the end would not look as the same as before at all. That’s all the objective condition that we could not change because they caused by external factors, not ourselves. I believe that everything will cause a few changes which cause others again. Then, can we try to do something to avoid or change the result not relying on other factors? As we could not change objective things, why not changing ourselves?

The reasons I just list seem to be objective and fixed and not changeable, but the result still could be changed if the host chose another route. As I said before, God has prepared several results for us to choose. Then I will list the corresponding factor that Mathilde could change.

First, it was the truth that Mathilde’s family was so poor that it could admit her to dress herself very pretty and brilliantly and outstandingly, but so many poor women in the world there were! Optimistic women will be happy even if they were poor. They will find the delight in the life but not contrast themselves with the rich women in the dress style. Let alone Mathilde had a excellent husband which loved her very much. It should be really happy. If she could enjoy her life and enjoy the husband and not always be thinking of the luxury jewels and dresses, she would be happy forever, I believe.

It’s true that they were poor. Just as they were poor, why must Mathilde attend the ball in luxurious dress. Her husband suggest “the dress you go to the theater in”[P39] and it “looks very well to me”[P39]. But Mathilde couldn’t stand the style of dress. She didn’t know the dress just was the façade and was not as important as she realized. After the husband admit to give her four hundred francs for the new dress, Mathilde still wanted a jewel and couldn’t accept the suggestion her husband gave that “You might wear natural flowers”. It would be distinctive and look nice. But she couldn’t accept. If she hadn’t accented on the attire and not been so pettish, she would not borrow the necklace and the continued story would start again.

Mathilde went to Mme. Forestier to borrow a jewel and attended the ball. At the ball, Mathilde “danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all”[P41]. She was intoxicated in the dress and jewel. That was a factor which made her careless to lose the necklace. If she had remembered the necklace was borrowed from others and paid more attention to the jewel, perhaps the jewel would not be lost so easily, at least probably could be found again.

After the woeful life when they toil fully to pay back the lost necklace, they got to know that the necklace was fake. Would Mathilde be mad? The story didn’t tell the end, but it still was a factor that could be controlled by Mathilde, herself. If she accepted the situation and became bright, she would be happy again. But would she?

What I want to say is that although the objective object Mathilde could not change, she can still change as possible as she can, if only she wanted. Perhaps even if she tried hard, but the end would still come badly. The word FATE is only to be used here, to comfort the people that pay much but harvest a little. Saying FATE is only a way of comfort, not the excuse to escape the work. Mathilde’s fate was poor, but it was only the fate. It included the behavior that she did, the choice that she selected. What she did also influenced her life.

28.5.07 13:53