Short Stories

In The Necklace, Eveline, and A Soldier's Home we find one overarching lesson: live fully and honestly to be happy. In The Necklace Mathilde ruins her life by coveting the lives of those she believes have it better than her. In Eveline, Eveline is so wracked by guilt and fear that she loses her chance for true love and happiness. In A Soldier's Home, Harold Krebs believes in nothing and seeks the courage to live honestly rather than live a lie. All three main characters have a hard life; Mathilde is mired in poverty, Eveline is poor and suffers the abuses of her father, and Harold has been disillusioned by the realities of war. Despite these conditions, personal choices made by each of the characters prevent them from living a full and happy existence.

The story of Mathilde is a classic case of thinking the grass is always greener on the o

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