The Necklace

Stephania Pierre
April 8, 2013
English Comp II
Dezarae Allbritton

In The Story “The Necklace “ written by Guy De Maupassant we read of a couple who was invited to a ball, but due to the magnitude of the event Mme Loisel desired to have the finest apparel, and portrayed the lifestyle of a rich clerk. While Mme Loisel prepared for the event her husband purchased a new dress and borrowed necklace from her neighbor. In the meantime, due to her dishonesty she lost the necklace, and spent the next ten years of her life working to pay off the value of the borrowed necklace, in reality the necklace was plastic and of little regard to the loaner. In the End Mme Loisel covetous desperation to walk through life draped in luxuries, caused her a miserable life, unnecessary debt.
It begins with Mm loisel frequent daydreaming. She is a beautiful and charming woman who feels “herself born for all delicacies and all luxuries” however she was placed amongst the middle class where life was very simple. She often dreamed of “silent antechambers, expensive silks and of achievement and fame that would make her envy of all other women” What she failed to realize was that these daydreams only make her more dissatisfied with her real life. As a result, she became more focused on what she does not have rather than what she already owns.
Mme Loisel was very discontent with her lifestyle and found nothing to be thankful about, unlike her husband. “ Ah the good pot-au-feu! I do not know of anything better” He was always trying to make his wife satisfied but she never appreciated him or their way of life. De Maupassant makes this clear in the beginning by stating, “She let herself be married to a little clerk”. The word let indicates her unhappiness with her marriage. Mme loisels’ husband works hard to get an invitation to the Ministers Ball and his wife only gets upset because she has nothing fancy to wear. He uses his money he had saved for a vacation with friends to buy her a fancy dress. However, the dresso was not enough for Mme loisel; she needed jewelry. She explained that without jewelry she would appear “poor among other women who are rich”. In her quest to present herself as a wealthy woman she decided to borrow a “ superb diamond necklace” from a friend. Unfortunately upon arriving home Mme loisel noticed that the necklace was lost. When the necklace cannot be found, Mme loisel and her husband have no choice but to replace it. In a shop, the Palias-Royal they found a necklace that “which seemed to them exactly like the one they looked for” they secure the thirty-six thousand francs for the necklace from Mr. Loisel inheritance and in the forms of loans.
They struggled and live in poverty for ten years to pay back the necklace. By now, she had “become the woman of impoverished households- strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew, and red hands, she talked loud washing the floor with great swishes of water. Mme loisel is walking along the Champs- Elysess when she encounters the friend who loaned her the necklace. Her friend is shocked when Mme loisel finally tells her about the necklace. It is then that Mm loisel learns that the necklace she and her husband toiled to replace was only worth five hundred francs. Without a doubt, the most ironic part of the story is the Loisel’s unnecessary sacrifice, which caused them a miserable life.