Mathilde vs. Dee
Mathilde Vs. Dee In “The Necklace”, Mathilde is seen as a poor woman who had low self-esteem and was married to a clerk. In this story, she was invited to a ball and borrowed a friend’s necklace. After the ball, Mathilde discovers that the necklace was lost. As a result, she had to search for a similar necklace and had to take out loans to make a purchase. She was forced to work for ten years to pay off the debt until one day when she saw her friend. Little did Mathilde know that the necklace she lost was worth much less than the new necklace she paid for. In the story “Everyday Use”, Dee is portrayed as a girl who “made it”. She was seen by her mother and Maggie as a talented girl. Her only flaw was her selfishness towards her younger sister Maggie. In the story, she pays a visit to Maggie and her mother and have dinner. After dinner, Dee goes rifling through a trunk and two quilts catch her eye. She demands her mother to hand them to her. Although they were to be passed onto Maggie, she allows Dee to keep the quilts. In the end, Dee gives the quilts back. Unlike Dee, Mathilde is described as a woman with unsatisfied living conditions who thought she should have been born with more luxuries. “...feeling herself born for all the delicacies...She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling…” (Maupassant, 3). Dee’s mother compares her to Maggie as being “…lighter...with nicer hair and a fuller figure.” (Walker, 10) and describes her as an outstanding child who held her life in the palm of her hands. “You’ve no doubt seen those TV shows where the child who has “made it” is confronted, as a surprise, by her own mother and father…” (Walker, 3). Mathilde and Dee both seem never to be satisfied when it comes to having valuables but they also care about the possession of others. Mathilde took advantage of her husband, having him loan her a mass of money to buy a dress. “I don’t know exactly, but I can manage it with four hundred francs.”