The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant (1884), is a captivating story of Mathilde Loisel dream of a wealthy life which instead leads to her losing everything. It all began when she and her husband get an invite to a high-end ball. She forces her husband to use his savings to buy her an expensive dress and borrows an expensive diamond necklace as she had thought from her rich friend Madame Forestier, all to seek the approval and happiness brought to her by material possessions.The storyline is well brought out to an unfolding mystery of her quest for happiness which ends in dire misery when she loses the necklace and she spends 10 years toiling to pay for it.
The story teaches us that being ungrateful and taking for granted what you have can lead you to lose everything. A moral lesson on honesty is a major part of this story, if Mathilde had been honest with Madam Forestier, it would have saved her and her husband the trouble they went through and painful toiling trying to conceal a lie.The author shows us that it is important to appreciate and be happy in life. Mathilde Loisel discontent is shown right from the very beginning of the story, where she settles for marrying a government clerk as opposed to the rich wealthy men in the city (Maupassant 1884 p1)Characterization has been used by putting together Mathilde and Madame Forestier different characters to portray and stress the importance of appreciating what you have in life. Although she knows the necklace is not made of real diamonds she loves and treasures it, whereas Mathilde would probably not care or even want it had she known it was a fake.Her husband is trying to please his wife by getting her an invitation to a ball. His generosity is shown when he buys his wife a dress to wear to the occasion with his personal savings despite there struggle in middle class.
Symbolism has brought out by use of the necklace. The necklace symbolizes fake rich life that Mathilde is trying to portray in the ball. It also symbolizes desire of what you cannot have which comes out as greed. The wrap shows us how Mathilde is embarrassed by her own life and she is not proud of it and shows her insecurity. The dress shows us her husband commitment and love for her to the extent of using all his savings to please her.
Irony has been used by the author in that Mathilde borrowed a necklace to look and mingle with the rich, but the loss of the same necklace caused her to end up in much pain and poorer.Conflict is a main point in the story, Mathilde is in conflict with herself, she feels deprived of life’s niceties and cheated in life for being in a middle-class family. She clearly has not accepted this and she is suffering emotionally. Status and pride are brought by Mathilde desire to look rich to the extent she declines going to the ball with her husband unless she gets a new dress and expensive jewelry. As the story begins the author explains how distinguished men only loved and married wealthy women. The theme of suffering is shown by Mathilde when she goes through a lot of suffering and pain for ten years to pay for the lost necklace. Her husband too suffers as he is in huge debt from loan sharks and they both live a life of poverty.Guy de Maupassant has managed to create a believable story, the purpose of this story has been achieved in that it is entertaining and educative.
various life lessons as explained can be drawn from this captivating story.The mood in this story is dynamic. as the story begins the mood is depressing as we are introduced to Mathilde’s life of poverty, she feels deprived. she is distressed by the condition of her house. later on, she dresses up and goes to the ball and she is very excited and has a good time in the party. After the necklace goes missing, the mood changes to tragic.In the end, she is living a worse life than she had before and she looks for miserable that Madam Forestier could barely recognize her.
similar to the mood, the plot rises and falls, as the story begins we meet Mathilde who is unhappy with her status in society. she gets an invitation to a ball there is rising action, her husband buys her a new dress and borrows a necklace to attend the ball, later they go to debt after losing the chain and having to pay for it and lives a life of poverty. The story climax was when madam Forestier tells her the necklace was a fake ten years later.
