Essay Draft Three
Fate Is Influenced by Attitude
Many people say that, man proposes, God disposes. I believe it, but not the whole scope. For many things, although the final results lie with God, God has already prepared several final results for people to choose. When unlucky and unsatisfying things happen in life, keeping an optimistic attitude towards life and avoiding being greedy is the correct way.
“The Necklace” written by Guy de Maupassant in France tells a story that a necklace mastered the life of a family. Mathilde borrowed a necklace from her friend, Mme. Forestier to attend a grand ball but accidentally lost it. In order to return the luxuries necklace back to her friend, Mathilde and her husband worked hard and toughly for many years and finally found that the necklace her friend lent her was a fake one. The miserable fate of the couple lies with God partly by the poor economic condition of them, but what is more important is the attitude of the host Mathilde and her husband, which determines their tortuous destiny in the end.
At the first, the family was 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 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. It is true that Mathilde’s family is poor and cannot provide enough money to support her to dress herself beautifully and brilliantly. Compared with those rich women, the dramatis persona seems pathetic. However, whether she is really pathetic or not is up to her attitude. Optimistic women keep living happily even if they are poor. Their eyes are focusing on the delight in the life but not contrasting themselves with rich women in dress styles. If she could hold a positive attitude and be content with her life, without envying other women luxurious jewels and dresses, she would avoid the miserable 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. As they are poor, why must Mathilde attend the ball in luxurious dress? Her husband suggested “the dress you go to the theater in”[P39] and it “looks very well to me”[P39]. But Mathilde could not stand the style of dress. She did not realize that the dress just was the façade and was not as important as she thought. After her husband promised to give her four hundred francs for the new dress, Mathilde still wanted a jewel and refused to accept her husband’s suggestion “You might wear natural flowers”. In the final analysis, Mathilde was too peacockish and accented on the attire that she ignored her financial difficulty at all. She was willing to use every single method to get a luxurious necklace for her to show off in the ball.
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]. Mathilde attended the ball with her amour-propre satisfied greatly. At the ball, Mathilde “danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all”[P41]. She was intoxicated in the dress and jewel. However, the most dramatic turn came to them on that day. Mathilde “no longer had the necklace”[P42] and couldn’t find it anywhere. She lost the jewel not belonging to her. What they could do to make up for her carelessness was to buy an identical one by working hard. Everyone may lose something at some time. Losing one jewel will not cause one’s life to change in a general way. However, Mathilde chose not to tell the owner of the necklace about the truth, being afraid of scolding. If she had told the truth to Forestier, things might have a favorable turn. Her lacking in braveness leads to her satiric tragedy further.
After several years’ woeful life, Mathilde and her husband saved up enough money to pay for the necklace and brought it back to the owner. But one day they were informed that the necklace they lost “was paste”[P44]. Although the story ends here and does not tell the continued plot, they must have been gloomy. Would Mathilde be mad? If they had known the necklace was fake before, they would continue enjoying their life. Maybe this result is what they deserve.
So many conditional clauses and if only one condition failed, the end would not look as the same as before at all. The reasons I just list seem to be objective and not changeable, but the result still could be changed if Mathilde could change herself. God has prepared several results for us to choose, the result subject depends on what attitude people choose to hold. In this story, although Mathilde’s family is poor, which could not be changed by Mathilde, she could change her miserable fate by correcting her erroneous thoughts and vanity if only she know the true meaning of life. The true meaning of life is not envying others what they have by comparing with them everyday, but being content with one’s lot, treasuring the things one already had. People should understand that pursue is endless in the world. What people should pursue is the things that one can afford to get it or the things can be got by making some effort. Those things which are not matching to one’s status should not be pursued. Those who are eager to pursue unattainable things will pay for their greed in the end.
Attitude determines life. What attitude one holds, what life one deserves. A person who does not have strong desires can always live happily because he is always content with his current life although he may not have huge amount of money. On contrary, a person who has a strong desire to things he cannot get will live a hard life because he always wants something new although he has plenty of money. In order to live a happy life, one should hold positive attitude including being honest, contented and brave towards life.
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