Problemas sociales

The Jewels is a story that takes place in Paris and talks about two main characters, M. Lantin, who is the chief clerk at the office of Minister of Interior, and his wife, who remains nameless throughout the story. The story begins by telling us how M. Lantin meet his wife at the house of the office-superintendent, and how he immediately fell in love with this young innocent girl who "seemed tobe the very ideal of that pure good woman to whom every young man dreams of entrusting his future"
The story's plot is very interesting and can be thought of as two different stories combined into one. The writer first walks us through the six years of happiness they lived together and clearly notes Mr. Lantin's wife's passion for theaters and fake jewelry. She was a good housewife who maintainedher household very well and provided her husband with a luxurious life style.
On one cold winter night, his wife went to the opera and came back home freezing, she had a "bad cough and died eight days later from pneumonia" (635). Mr. Lantin was heart broken and spent endless nights remembering his good wife. He wouldn't touch or change any of her belongings as they reminded him of her. The storycould have ended here and would have made a sad ending; however the writer goes on describing the change in Mr. Lantin's life.
The author explains to us that Mr. Lantin was unable to continue living comfortably on his income. I found this very odd since his wife was able to manage the household for both of them and that they lived a very luxurious life. This was the first warning sign thatstruck me as a reader and got me to think more about Mr. Lantin's wife. The part that interests me the most was the "one morning that he happened to find himself without a cent in his pocket and [that he had to wait] a whole week before he could draw his monthly salary" (635). This clearly shows the reader that the wife had some kind of income coming in besides the income from Mr. Lantin's.
Broke andin debt, Mr. Lantin finds no other alternative but to sell his deceased wife's fake jewelry. After going through her belongings he decides to take her favorite piece of jewelry, the big pearl necklace that she use to tease him with and tries to sell it. He goes shamefully into a jewelry store to sell what he believes is an exquisitely well made fake pearl necklace. To his surprise the jewelertells him that the necklace is worth between twelve and fifteen thousand francs. This came as a huge shock to Mr. Lantin has he thought that the jeweler's estimate was inept, and moved on to the next store. This is another clue since the author clearly tells us that Mr. Lantin's yearly salary was only three thousand and five hundred francs; a typical midlevel bureaucratic wage.
As Mr. Lantin goesinto the next store the jeweler confirms that the necklace is real by telling him that it was sold from his store for twenty five thousand francs and would buy it from him for eighteen thousand francs. The jeweler looks up his register and affirms it by telling him that it was "sent to the address of Madame Lantin, 16 Rue des Martyrs, on July 20th, 1876." (636). The jeweler asks that he keep thenecklace for a day for inspection.
It becomes clear that Madam Lantin was a courtesan; even though the writer does not clarify that, but he begins to describe Mr. Lantin's feelings as being betrayed by his love of his life and the suffering he went through.
On the next day, Mr. Lantin wanders around the streets in grief and the thought of becoming rich begins to fiddle his mind. Being broke andrealizing he had not eaten since his shock at the jeweler's, his feet carries him back to the jeweler's to sell the necklace and collect the money. The jeweler welcomes him with a smile and offers him the money. On his way out he turns back and tells the jeweler that he has some other jewelry to sell, right when the jeweler acknowledges and accepts the offer "one of the clerks rushed out to laugh at...