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By reading about Mathilde, readers discover that people need to appreciate the life they have. At the start of the story Mathilde is suffering from the "poverty of her dwelling" (Mapassant 1). Mathilde did not realize it was this "suffering" that would cause her to lose her dwelling. If Mathilde had been happy with her life as it was, she would've never ended up in poverty.
Mathilde is closest with her husband. Mathilde's husband loves his wife enough that he suffers greatly for her selfish decisions. Readers see the husband's first sacrifice for his wife when he agrees to give her his rifle savings for a dress. He says, "All right. I will give you four hundred francs. And try to have a pretty dress" (Mapassant 1). Mathilde continues to cost her husband greater sacrifices throughout the story.
Mathilde's dream is to be admired for her beauty and her wealth. Mathilde spent hours daydreaming about what it would be like "to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after" (Mapassant 1).
Mathilde is best described as shallow or materialistic. She is lucky to have a husband who adores her, but she is so focused on material possessions that she does not appreciate him. Mathilde reveals her shallowness when she declares, "There is nothing so humiliating as looking poor among rich women"( Mapassant 2). If Mathilde was more appreciative, she would have seen how lucky she was and saved herself and her husband from suffering.