Norton Introduction to Literature

Reading Response

The secret of Madame Lantins jewelry is revealed near the end of the story. She loved

jewelry too much to be spending money on the real jewelry and she admired the work that went

into making the jewelry look so real. In the middle of the story it states that M. Lantin had two

faults or things he didnt understand with his new wife, which were, her love of theatre and

passion for false jewelry. She wore big cut pebbles that resembled diamonds, false pearls and

fake gold, to dress up and look as fancy as she could when she attended the theatre. Once the

woman was deceased, her husband had to result into selling her most prize possessions to get

some money. He ended up taking the fake pearl necklace that she adored and wore all the time to

a jeweler; that is when he discovered that there were actually real pearls. He was so surprised and

overcome with happiness. Happy that he has money now and that he knew the truth about why

his beloved wife adored her jewelry so much. The story doesnt really state how she could have

afforded all that jewelry, just stated that the jeweler mentioned she would have to put all her

wealth into that jewelry collection.

The storys end was not expected. As a reader, I expected the man, M. Lantin, to either

die or do something with all his money he inherited. It ends abruptly with him all of sudden

getting married and saying he was unhappy. The story talks about his happiness and admiration

for his first wife, and then, continues to speak of how happy he was to sell the jewelry and gain

money and then ends with him getting married. I didnt expect him to get married again because

he seemed unhappy after her death, and the story kept mentioning how he would sob and cry

himself to sleep. It was an odd ending to change his happiness, one moment he is happy to

discover the truth and become rich and the next moment he is miserable. As I read, I expected the

story to end on a happy note, right after him having that dinner with the man in the restaurant or
fast forwards to his death. It does not change my interpretations of earlier events, just makes me

question why did the story end that way and why did he marry again? Maybe its possible he

spent all that jewelry inheritance money and had to marry again.