"The Jewels"
What are your overall impressions of this couple's relationship? Who is more responsible for the problems that they encounter--even if they don't know that they have problems? What do you think of her, and what do you think of him--before and/or after she dies?
Post your reaction; we will have a discussion in class on Friday.
My overall impression of the relationship is that the two people complement each other. They seem like they're a happy, normal couple. I believe the woman is the more responsible of the two when it comes to being responsible and prepared. After her death, Monsieur Lantin is surprised how he lived so comfortably on such a "modest" paycheck when she was managing the budget (I'm still not completely convinced that she was just a good budgeter. How did you just purchase 190,000 Francs worth of jewels on a 3,500 Franc budget... kinda shady). But if she did do all this on purpose (buy the jewels), then that's a pretty smart way to invest your money I guess. About them individually, like I said she's slightly shady and maybe doesn't have great morals; but I think she has good intentions and really loved him. As for him, I think he felt like the bread-winner when he was actually oblivious to their money problems... Sweet and kind but a little dim. However, after Madame Lantin died he turned into a jerk. He sold all her stuff (which is understandable I guess) but then he began to live lavishly, lie about his wealth, and go out with women. His morals are shady and I'm glad he is now unhappily married.
ReplyDeleteOverall, I believe the two of them truly loved each other. Though there are things about each other they dislike, that is to be expected; and they love each other and make an effort to accept each other regardless. Before her death, I thought that Monsieur Lantin was being moderately ungrateful considering his wife was willing to accept jewelry that was less costly. I perceived her to be selfless and responsible to be delighted to acquire jewelry that was not real but would not prevent them from remaining stable financial. After her death, I am left to question her ethics. It seemed unusual for her to be content lying to her husband about something so expensive and drastic, but ultimately her actions had benefits. Unfortunately, I do not like Monsieur Lantin's personality after he receives money from all her jewelry. He seems to quickly forget about her and allows the wealth to go to his head. I have to conclude that he is responsible for the problems they encounter considering she was able to maintain financial stability in their lives while purchasing large amounts of expensive jewels. Considering his funds seem to diminish rapidly when they are not under her control, I am inclined to think he is not very responsible financially.
ReplyDeleteI believe that in the beginning, they were a generally happy and loving couple. However, once she started going to the theater alone and saw that her husband wasn't willing to give and take equally in the relationship, that is probably where things started to go awry. After her death, the truth about the jewelry's worth being a lot more than Monsieur Lantin was led on to believe. He realized that just like the jewelry, he failed to apprehend the truth about her or realize that all is not what it seems to be. They both had their problems and can both be considered at fault for the problems they encounter. The wife does care for her husband and takes care of the finances, making sure they live comfortably, but lied to her husband about the worth of the jewels and overall was shady. The husband was unwilling to show support or interest in his wife's love of theater or in her jewelry, despite her expressing her love for them, and called her jewels "trash". Madame Lantin was made out to be a wonderful, flawless woman coming from a poor family. However, it was brought forth that she has been affording to buy tons of expensive jewelry, which is kinda sus. My first impressions of her were, as expected, wrong; as I lost all respect for her. From the beginning, on the other end of the spectrum, I did not really like Monsieur Lantin due to his lack of support and approval of his wife's favorite things. My dislike was solidified once his very first thought was to sell the items that his wife "seemed to like best" then let his new acquired wealth get to his head. At the end of the day, I believe that, even if the wife was unfaithful to her husband, they needed each other. Once she was gone, Monsieur Lantin spiraled downhill and will probably never make it back.
ReplyDeleteMy overall impression of this couple's relationship is that they were actually happy with each other and were in love. It's obvious that Monsieur Lantin had love at first sight with her, and that love exponentially grew over the years. I had my suspicions about his wife, however, just because her feelings about the relationship were not discussed nearly as much. I must say that the scene where she puts her necklace on Lantin and kisses him did show me that his feelings were reciprocated. Not only that but just the simple fact that she married him knowing he was not the richest man and keeps them financially stable shows some genuine emotion from her. I believe they both could be at fault for the problems they encounter. Though seemingly innocent on the outside, the nights where the wife went to the theater and came back with jewels are very questionable. Especially after it is revealed that she lied about the worth of the jewels (she obviously had another man in her life which caused indirect problems). As for the direct problems in the relationship, Lantin caused the majority of them. He disapproved of the little things she enjoyed like theater and jewels (not because he knew she was up to something, just because it annoyed him) even though she consistently takes care of him. I thought I liked the wife, but my opinion has changed. I personally thought Lantin was an overall good husband and there was no reason to be with another man. Even though he has low income, it's not like she was using the expensive jewels given to her for anything other than her own luxury. Before the wife died, I thought Lantin was an okay character. After, however, I did not like how he flaunted his newly found money and even exaggerated the value of the money he got. Overall, I'm satisfied with him being unhappily married.
ReplyDeleteWell, I thought their relationship was pretty healthy at first. I mean they seemed to love eachother even if there were things they didn't always like. No couple likes 100% of things about their partner, and that's fine. But after he found out the jewels were real, I don't really know how I feel about them. He grief seemed genuine, which is good, but as soon as he got money he easily forgot about his grief. And then he let it go to his head. Which makes em not like him at all. As far as the wife goes though, i'm just confused. I imagine she could have had a rich sutor. But she didn't seem the type. So I was just a little unsatisfied with the lack of confirmation of how she acquired the jewelry. Overall, having a couple annoying traits is okay in a relationship. But if she was in fact cheating that would be unacceptable, si I'm glad their relationship ended because if the ing=formation came out it would quickly become unhealthy. I don't know how I feel about the husband remarrying and being unhappy. I wouldn't say I feel bad for him, but I also don't with the unhappiness on him either. I think it makes sense though. It shows that money cannot buy happiness. Which is clearly his vice.
ReplyDeleteWhat a comical tale. I thought their relationship was honestly great. Perfect marriage simply doesn't exist and they were obviously very happy with each other. If the jewels were the only problem he had with her then that's pretty good. The wife is to blame for the problems. She obviously has an issue with greed and lust for material possession. Monsieur Lantin was overall reasonable with why he was upset with the jewels. I'd be upset too if my wife took all my money and spent it on useless possessions that only exist to boost your ego and outward appearance to others. If she was a good wife, she'd recognize that her husband thinks she's beautiful so she doesn't need all the jewelry. I overall think she's fine. She loved him and took care of the house and the money (yeah she took care of the money alright). In regards to Mr. Lantin, I thought he was good before she died. He was nice and reasonable. After she died, he mourned like a mad man and respected the death of his wife. When you're desperate for money, you need to do what you have to do. So I think it's fine that he sold the jewelry. It was that or he'd just die or start robbing people. But after he got all this wealth, I thought he was trash and useless to society. He found himself more superior than others and strutted around town like a king, totally forgetting his wife. So yeah he sucks for that. I'm glad he became miserable with the second wife because he didn't deserve joy. I hope they had a tumultuous marriage and it ended in divorce where she took most of his possessions and money. I think that would bring him back to reality.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the couple loved each other a lot, especially since the man said he loved her more than when they first met. They seem like a completely normal couple. They disagree about some stuff; nevertheless, they still love each other. I'm not completely sure if either characters are at fault for their problems. I don't believe it is possible to budget for two people then be unable to budget for only one person. I believe that the theater played a part in the lady getting real jewels and what not. Perhaps she found a rich man there. I think before the lady died, they were both average people but good people. After she died, the guy was devastated which was to be expected. When he sold all of the jewelry, however, he completely changed. He was never a "bad" person in the story, but he obviously turned into a worse person than what he was.
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the story, I thought that it seemed as if the man and woman were truly in love. It started out as if it was going to be some sort of fairy tale story -- a beautiful, poor woman falls in love with a man who has more money than her and they get married. However, as I read more of the story, my impressions of their relationship changed. I think that the husband could have sucked it up and gone to the theater with her or just not have said anything about her jewelry since she had loved it so much. I also think that the wife put more into her relationship that she was getting out but, I cannot figure out why she would have lied about the jewelry being real, or how she even had the money to purchase it. Was some other man buying it for her? Did it come from one of her richer friends. What did she think her husband would do if he found out the jewelry was real? Lantin seemed vindictive when the first thing he wanted to do was sell the items his wife treasured most after her death. I'm sure he had other objects he could have sold to hold him over. He also started acting like a rich, obnoxious snob after he got the money. I definitely favored the wife over the husband, however, I think they were both to blame a little for the problems that arose post her death.
ReplyDeleteOverall impressions of the couple’s relationship: it’s fine because they both seemed happy until she died, though, obviously. Lantin because he probably could’ve learned how his wife saved money, which would probably let him continue to live fine after she died. I think she was fine, but she could’ve taught Lantin how to save money. I think Lantin was kinda mean, but he also could’ve asked to be taught how to save money. After she died, I thought it was weird that he’d be fine with selling his dead wife’s valuables rather than just figuring out how to save money.
ReplyDeleteMy overall impression of the couple's relationship is that they seem happy. Madame Lantin being a beautiful and also intelligent woman. They did not seem to have any problems as a couple at all. Though, it does seem that any problem that did occur would have Monsieur Lantin to blame. After her death, I feel Madame Lantin is an incredibly smart woman for investing her money in jewelry her husband disliked, almost as if she knew he'd sell it once she was gone. She is incredibly smart in doing this. It seems both characters care greatly about each other but are also morally wrong. The woman was clearly unfaithful and hence where she received her money. Yet, her husband who did not fully know this (or at least did not admit it to himself) went to sell his late wife's jewelry. Deceit is a theme throughout the story as well as irony.
ReplyDeleteI'll approach this more from a more broad angle. I believe they did love each other, then money introduced itself. Thematically, the entrance of greed marks the end of good things. Fruit of the poisonous tree and all that razzmatazz. To me, she held more of the burden of the relationship and sought an out. Thus enters rich man. Rich man buys nice things. Rich man causes a rift of sorts. Original man does not realize. Wife dies, bro is suffering. Then he is poor, cashes in, and the "fruit" (massive riches from a probable affair) leads to his own unhappiness/ not as good as his original marriage. Really everyone has covered it, and thematically I'm sure there is more to explore, but that's not what you asked for so yeah.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the couple were genuinely in love and shared a deep connection with each other. I definitely think the husband was most at blame for any unhappiness in the relationship. All he would do, while she kept the house nice, was complain about the two things she enjoyed. Additionally, after death, I think it is funny that he completely changed when he got money. Unlike him, the wife NEVER let money change who she was and I feel like that's a part of why they were so financially stable. The fact that this man was willing to sell something important to his wife because he did not think it was expensive enough is quite disgusting and the fact that it actually financially helped him makes it even worse>:/ Overarching theme of my opinion, Lantin is an ungrateful idiot who deserves 3340392 STD's from his prostitutes and new wife.
ReplyDeleteThis story was very underwhelming, in my opinion. There was a lot of build up and it just kept going on and on about the jewelry prices, so I was expecting a twist of some sort (or at least an explanation), yet there was none. Lantin was very annoying as well. Firstly, he acknowledged the greatness of his wife, yet disliked her interests and refused to take part in them. She tried to share the things she loves with the man she loves, but he just shut her down and ridiculed her. I was hoping he would change his mind about the theater and jewelry after his wife had died, but that never happened -- at least until he could gain something from them, that is. In conclusion, Lantin is shallow and ungrateful; his wife (even if he DID love her) was treated as a trophy in the same way the money was.
ReplyDeleteThis couple did not strike me as false, I think they did love each other, but I think Lantin is at fault for the issues they encountered. All of the issues he finds with his wife are related with her sense of self. She has a hobby? He finds it irritating. She likes to make herself look nice? He makes fun of her because it looks fake and it is 'trashy.' Even after her death he does not find comfort in what made her happy, he still looks down on it because it wasn't good enough for his tastes, ironically enough. The only reason he has a 'good' life after his wife dies is because of that which he regarded as garbage.
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