“The Necklace” by Guy De Maupassant and “The Rocking Horse Winner” by
D.H. Lawrence have two women in these stories that show no care or concern for
anyone but themselves. Hester and Mathilde both had families that they truly did
not love. And they were only involved with them for social reasons and to have
their selfish needs provided. They finally righted the way they lived but only
because they lost something or someone of importance to them. Mathilde always
thought that she should be someone of wealth or at the very least married
someone who was rich. She was a beautiful woman that had all the tastes of a
family with great prosperity. Only she was not prosperous as she married a
clerk. Maupassant writes that Mathilde “…let herself be married to a little
clerk at the Ministry of Public Instructions” (Maupassant Page 976). She never
married for love but married for what she had to settle for. A woman does not
let herself become married, should be for love. “She had no dresses, no
jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that” (Page
976). So Mathilde could not love her husband for who he was, she only loved
material possessions. Possessions she could not have. Mathilde had all the
tastes of excess. “She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the
delicacies and all the luxuries” (Page 976). Mathilde suffered because she
wanted it all but could not have the “delicacies.” One day her husband came
home with an invitation to a formal gathering at her husband’s place of work,
The Ministry of Public Instructions. Instead of being pleased to actually go
somewhere of upper class, she makes her husband feel about two inches tall.
Mathilde was not satisfied with just going but her selfish conceited ways only
wanted more. Not caring of the expense she demanded a new dress for the
occasion. Which happened to be the same amount of money that her husband was
setting aside for gun for himself. But he gave her the money anyway to make her
happy. Only Mathilde was not happy she wanted more. Mathilde whined, “It
annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone, nothing to put on. I
will look like distress. I should almost rather not go at all” (Page 978).
Again her husband feels horrible that he cannot provide for his loved one, when
in return she could careless about him. He had no money left to give, so he sent
Mathilde to her friends to borrow jewels to wear. She was pleased with this idea
and borrowed an elegant necklace. The night of the event came and Mathilde was a
hit with everyone. Finally Mathilde and her husband left the party in a frantic
way because Mathilde was embarrassed of her wraps she wore to cover her
shoulders. After all the rushing and when they arrived home, Mathilde realized
the necklace was gone. She had lost the necklace. “I have – I have –
I’ve lost Mme. Forestier’s necklace” (Page 979). Mathilde uttered to her
husband and their lives changed forever. To replace the necklace her husband was
forced to borrow money from who ever he could. They both had to take on jobs now
more than ever. But Mathilde had changed and now knew that the debt must be paid
off and she was willing to help. “She took her part, moreover, all of a
sudden, with heroism” (Page 980). Finally after ten years all debts had been
paid. Two things happened to Mathilde over these ten years. First she lost her
looks, charm, and overall appeal. “She had become a woman of impoverished
households…” (Page 981). The second is she learned to care for others. She
did anything to help her husband pay the debt off that was ten years lasting. It
was unfortunate for Mathilde she did not learn better ways until she had been
humbled by the work. All because of a necklace that was supposedly of great
importance. As well as Mathilde, Hester did not love the ones she was supposed
to. “She married for love, and the love turned to dust. She had bonny
children, yet she felt they had been thrust upon her, and she could not love
them” (Lawerence Page 873). Everyone thought that Hester was a good mother.
“Only she herself, and her children themselves, knew it was not so” (Page
873). Hester was more concerned about maintaining her social standing and
obtaining more money than being a mother or a wife. “There must be more money!
There must be more money!” (Page 874). These words that were heard throughout
the house summed up the lifestyle that Hester wanted and felt she needed to
live. Hester could have chosen to live a less extravagant lifestyle and
concentrate on solely on raising her children instead of being consumed with
social concerns. Even though her children knew that their mother did not love
them, Paul still made an effort to help his mother with her money
“problems.” Paul had a gift that he could the winner of the horse races.
Paul accumulates a huge sum of money from predicting the winners. Then he
arranges for his mother to receive one thousand pounds for five years on her
birthday. But instead of investing it wisely to come out of debt, she foolishly
spends it, showing a lack of common sense and care for the rest of the family.
Receiving this generous gift was still not enough for Hester’s tastes. She
wanted the whole five thousand pounds at once, which she eventually got. The
narrator states, “There were new furnishings, and Paul had a tutor… There
were flowers in the winter, and a blossoming of luxury that Paul’s mother had
been used to” (Page 881). Hester spent the money carelessly and quickly. This
put a burden on Paul to fulfill his mother’s selfish needs. Paul sensed that
his mother wanted more money and he felt it was up to him to obtain it. Paul had
three races left to bet on and the pressure he put on himself to pick the winner
started to show. Even Hester could see that Paul was not right and needed to
relax. “You’d better go to the seaside. Wouldn’t you like to go now to the
seaside, instead of waiting?” (Page 881), Hester said, showing a sign of
compassion for her son. Paul refused as he felt he must meet his mom’s selfish
wants of more money. A couple days before the Derby Hester went to a party in
town but has this sudden anxiety. Hester starts to have strange seizures of
worry about Paul. She begins to feel concern and love for her child and a sense
of motherhood finally reached her heart. She frantically goes home and rushes to
her son’s room. Hester finds him hard at work on his rocking horse trying to
predict the winning horse for the Derby. Unfortunately Hester had reason to
worry, as Paul shouts out, “Malabar,” and then collapses on the floor
unconscious. Malabar was indeed the winner of the Derby and Paul now eighty
thousand pounds to give his mother. But the price he paid was his life as he
died later that night from a brain fever. Uncle Oscar states, “My God, Hester,
you’re eighty thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad”
(Page 884). Showing that Paul was doing this all for his mother and now that she
is a rich woman she lost her first born that she finally learned to love. And
that money will do nothing to fill her softened heart. Mathilde and Hester were
both selfish, careless, greedy individuals. They wanted it all and it did not
matter that it was not obtainable they wanted it anyway no matter what the
burden it produced. These two both had expensive, luxurious tastes that
sometimes just could not be met. When finally Mathilde and Hester realized the
way they had been living was not the way to go about something of great
importance was taken form them and that it would never be returned. Sometimes a
person does not figure it out until they go through a pain like no other and
that is a shame.