The Necklace, By Guy De Maupassant

In life, there will always be something treasured that might just be the most important thing in life itself. Something that is owned that is very expensive may be something valuable, but it does not mean it is a treasure in life.There is a difference between something valued and something treasured.

In the short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant we learned that what is had should not be taken for granted and not to desire something so far out of reach. For example, in the story Mathilde longed for living a life of luxury; and when she finally borrowed the beautiful necklace that helped in filling that void in her life, it caused her life to go downhill from losing that “expensive” necklace. “Madame Loisel came to know the awful life of the poverty stricken.” Only wanting something valuable and materialistic can cause a sad life, not realizing that instead things should be treasured and be a cause for happiness while they are there. The things we’ve owned do not need to be valuable, they can just be things that are treasured.

The short story “Civil Peace” by Chinua Achebe teaches us that the greatest treasure one can have is a family and they should be the ones people should feel the most grateful for.

Family is the people who have been around through thick and thin; and that we are willing to protect with all of life. For example, when Jonathan was extremely grateful that most of his family had come out of the war alive. “He had come out of war with five inestimable blessing━his head, his wife Maria’s head, and the heads of three out of their four children.” Also, when the thieves went to his house and demanded for money, Jonathan gave them everything he had so that they would not hurt his family. What we can learn from this is that if we are ever in that type of situation we should be like Jonathan and give something of value over something

treasured.
From the photo essay of King Tut's tomb we discover that the Egyptians would put valuable items in their kings tombs when they died. Although the items put in the tomb were very valuable, they are also things that would be treasured in the afterlife. For example, the Egyptians would put some of their internal organs in the tomb because they believed the dead would need their organs in the afterlife shown in Photo 5. This shows that what we own can be both treasured and valuable. This should not be confused by saying everything we treasure have to be valuable because what we treasure can be worth no money at all, or all the money in the world.
In closing, something that is of value and something that is treasured are not the same things. Something valuable is something worth a lot of money while something treasured is something cared deeply about and cherished. In the long run possessions that are treasured should always be chosen things of value.