The Necklace Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis of “The Necklace” A person’s social status along with the luxury goods/items that come along with the higher class rank are an important part of today’s society. We judge people and items/goods based on their exterior, which can cause us to be deceived. In the story “The Necklace”, Guy de Maupassant, a French writer, demonstrates how people get deceived by a person’s or an items appearance. Maupassant uses allegory/symbolism and characterization to show that appearance causes us to determine an object’s value or the class rank of a person. Throughout the story the author describes Mathilde’s appearance to show how a person’s appearance and the goods that they have can deceive the outside world. The author lets us know from the beginning of the story that Mathilde is a very pretty young woman.
Madame Loisel was a great success. She was prettier than any other woman present, elegant, graceful, smiling and wild with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, sought to be introduced. All the attaches of the Cabinet wished to waltz with her. She was remarked by the minister himself. (3) Her beauty along with her luxury gown and jewelry give her the appearance of being rich and belonging to a higher social class. She portrays herself as someone who has the finest, most expensive, and high quality items. This causes the outside world to see her as someone of very high standing and importance grabbing everyone’s attention and therefore making them want to socially interact with her. In reality she really is part of the middle class and is married to a clerk, but no one realizes this fact because they are too focused on her appearance and therefore are