“The Jewelry” Online Discussion Questions

1.) What parts of  “The Jewelry” correspond to the five traditional phases of plot?

In the exposition of “The Jewelry” we are introduced to the characters, M. Lantin and the woman he is in love with and will eventually marry. Then we are introduced to the background of the future Madame Lantin. She is a poor girl whose mother is trying to find a suitable husband for her daughter. Luckily, M. Lantin was able to step in and take her hand in marriage. The action begins to rise when Madame Lantin suddenly dies of pneumonia.  Then M. Lantin is left with only his grief and his dead wife’s fake jewelry. He slowly begins to run out of money, and then he realizes that it is time to put the horrible jewelry that he never liked to good use.  The story takes a shocking turn when he finds out that the jewelry is not fake, and in fact, worth a lot of money. He cannot understand how this could be true, unless, his wife was using other means besides her faithful husband to get her jewelry fix. He was overcome with grief for days because of his revelation that his wife may not have been faithful to him. The falling action begins when M. Lantin finally accepts what his wife has done to him and goes to sell all of the jewelry. He was happy to be rich, and he wanted everyone to know how rich he was. In the end he may have been rich and moved on with his life and even remarried, but without the love of his life, he was quite miserable.

2.) Once the secret of Madame Lantin’s jewelry is revealed, what details from earlier in the story take on a different significance?

Early on in the story the narrator tells us that before she and M. Lantin became married, Madame Lantin’s mother made visits to several families trying to find someone to marry her daughter. The narrator also tells us that every young man was after her, so maybe, since she chose to marry a man that could not afford to keep up with her love for expensive jewels, she found other ways to get it. If there were still men that were interested in her, they very well could have bought her all of these expensive gifts.

3.) How and why might the story’s end – especially its last paragraph – defy expectations? How does it once again change your interpretation of earlier events and of Lantin’s first marriage?

The way the author describes M. Lantin’s love for his first wife, you would not expect him to remarry so quickly. I still believe that M. Lantin really did love his first wife, but when he discovered her secret, I think it changed the way he felt about her. I also think that before he found out he didn’t care for money, he only cared about his wife, but when he discovered her betrayal, he wanted revenge, so he sold all her jewelry, remarried and forgot about her.