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Short Story Protagonists

The protagonists in The Necklace, Eveline, and The Hand all learn important lessons in the unfolding of their stories.

Perhaps Mathilde must learn the most tragic lesson in The Necklace. Mathilde is a pretty woman and is married to a man who would do anything for her. Nevertheless, she is unhappy with her life because she feels she is entitled to much more, especially material possessions. Mathilde thinks she deserves the luxuries of the “highest lady” in the land but the “mean walls”, “worn chairs” and “ugly curtains” of her house stand in stark contrast to her desires (32). How Mathilde would probably cling to those chairs and curtains in joy if she could undo the damage she does to her and her husband’s life after borrowing a necklace so she can look as rich as all the other ladies at a ball she is invited to. After becoming worn and haggard from years of her and her husband’s sacrifices to repay for the diamond necklace, Mathilde discovers the one she borrowed was a fake. She learns she should have been content with the riches she had (home, love, etc.) instead of yearning for material things that robbed her of a decent life. The words at the end of the story from the friend she borrowed the necklace from haunt us long after reading the tale: “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs!” (38).

In The Hand, the newlywed bride learns the painful lesson that in male-female relationships the male retains power and control if for no other reason than sheer brute force. So it is that the hand of her sleeping husband becomes menacing to her as a symbol of this power. She thinks at one point, “It’s so big! It is really bigger than my whole head” (197). The newlywed begins to view her new husband as a threatening kind of animal, “It’s as if I were laying on some animal”, while her husband’s hand is ref

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Short Story Protagonists. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:12, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1686299.html