Question

What is the effect on Madame Loisel of the ten years of labor?

Answer 1

She learns how to work hard and to be proud of what you can earn from that hard work. At the beginning of the story, we see a petulant, whiny woman who is dissatisfied with everything around her, and always wanting more. But, she does little more than whine about it, and never thinks of using her own ingenuity to better her station in life. At the end of the story, she has spent ten years of her adult life living a much altered lifestyle. She "came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen...and dressed like a woman of the people." Of her hard work, she is proud, and "she smiled with a joy that was at once proud and ingenuous" when she discovers that Madame Forestier was none the wiser about the necklace.

Another change in Madame Loisel is that she learns humility. She lived the life of a spoiled and proud woman before the necklace, and sat at ever meal and "thought of dainty dinners, of shining silverware". She pines to be with great people, at great balls, and to have a great house. At the end though, she is just a person working hard to earn her bread. Only once in a while does she pine, but more maturely. Instead of moping and whining she thinks, "What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? who knows? How strange and changeful is life!" She thinks of it as a life lesson, and goes about her work. She is humbled by her experiences, and no longer the materialistic woman she used to be.