The Necklace

The Necklace
By Guy de Maupassant Everything happens for a reason, for which there is some good behind it; as one shall say. Mathilde Loisel, a fictional character who doesn’t fit into this quote and is an example of a person who does the exact opposite. A poor women living with regret in her life for not having what she wants. She hates everything she has and thinks she deserves much more, and not being grateful for what she does have. She doesn’t take the correct actions which brings her to more of an unhappy life. The inability to be contented with one’s life can lead to unexpected consequences. Madame Loisel is very judgemental; she compares herself for what she doesn’t have with the rich where she sees them having everything she desires. But with the things she does have, where others can be in a whole worse situation, she is not one bit grateful. As in the passage it explains: She had a rich friend, an old school friend whom she refused to visit, because she suffered so keenly when she returned home. She would weep whole says, with grief, regret, despair, and misery (1). She wants to be someone who she isn’t, live another life, and start over basically. But she can’t, she wishes for things that she isn’t capable of attaining and she is critical of her life she is living. When the chance is giving she uses it to gain more than the needed. As her husband has asked her about her mood due to her being somewhat odd in the past few days, she answered “I’m utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear,” she replied. “I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party.” (2) She had reacted saying that she would almost not go, basically telling her husband that if she doesn’t get what she wants, she would not attend the ball, (which is a big deal in the story). Finally she doesn’t look at opportunities as an option. Her husband had brought an envelope one evening and she had opened it, read it. Instead of being pleased, she threw that card which came from the envelope on the table resentfully, not what her husband was hoping to see, and said “What do you want me to do with this?” (2) Her husband had brought her something that would change her mood from not being sad and depressed all the time, but she took it in the wrong way, not knowing what it could have done for her and gave away the chance of change. The actions she had taking were generally wrong, but she was afraid which forced her of making these mistakes. Madame Loisel was having a good time at the ball until she had arrived home, where she realized she had lost Madame Forestier’s necklace. She began to make the mistakes as she goes on, trying to figure out how to find the necklace or get it replaced. She had sent a letter to her friend telling her she is getting the necklace mended due to a broken clasp.
Instead of telling her friend the truth, but again, she was petrified of the consequences. By the end of the week they had lost all hope so Madame Luisel declared “We must see about replacing the diamonds.” (4) They managed to get the necklace replaced, but had to go through a tough path of getting the money need to get Madame Forestier her necklace back. Madame
Luisel had given the necklace back and she accepted it back after a period of time. But now she was going through a more of a difficult time, her and her husband, of getting the money back which they had borrowed. Not knowing in the first place, if she had told her friend that she had lost it she wouldn’t have been in this place. And that was the case. Years had gone and she had meet her old friend again, and decided to talk to her about how she had lost her necklace and her life after returning it back to her. She was in for a surprise, “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs! ...” Madame Forestier responded. The Necklace was a fake, and if only Madame Luisel had told the truth, this whole story would have been totally different. Madame Luisel had been thought a lesson in this short story, about telling the truth and being grateful. She had made many mistakes which had a huge effect on her later on. Not knowing small things can lead to big things, in her case the necklace and the invitation to the party. The moral has been brought out explaining many things, overall what this passage has to say is that honesty is the best policy and basically don’t be greedy toward the things you have, be happy for what you do!