Pages: 351-358 Short Story: “The Necklace” Author: Guy de Maupassant

Short Story Analysis

Conflict
What is the conflict? Is it internal or external? Explain.
Mme. Loisel vs. self—She wants to be more affluent than she is. She also is too prideful to tell her friend she loses the necklace; therefore, she spends ten years working off the price of a
real diamond necklace.
Mme. Loisel vs. nature (fate)—She loses the necklace she borrows from Mme. Forestier.
Events in the Plot (List the major events of the story on the lines below.)
Mme. Loisel desperately wants a better social life.
Monsieur Loisel gets his wife an invitation to the party.
Mme. Loisel wants a new dress for the party.
Mme. Loisel asks her friend to borrow a necklace for the party.
When the party is over, Mme. Loisel loses the necklace.
Mme. Loisel replaces the necklace.
The Loisels work very hard to pay off the necklace.
Mme. Loisel runs into her old friend Mme. Forestier after ten years.
Mme. Loisel learns the original necklace was a fake.
Inciting Incident, Climax, and Resolution
Inciting Incident: What event introduces the action in the story?
p. 354--Mme. Loisel borrows a necklace in order to attend a ball.
Climax: What event is the high point of interest or suspense in the story?
p. 355--Mme. Loisel realizes she lost the necklace.
Resolution: What event ends, or resolves, the conflict?
p. 358--The necklace she lost and worked hard to replace is fake.

Setting
In what place does the story occur?
Paris
At what time does the story occur?
Late 1880s
What mood is created by the descriptions of the setting?
Stressful, grieving, depressing, ironic

Character
Who is the protagonist in the story?
Mme. Loisel
What do we know about the character through direct or indirect characterization?
Mme. Loisel was pretty and charming and born to a family of clerks. She likes expensive and elegant things even though she can’t afford them. Mme. Loisel complains often and is rude to
her husband. She likes to imagine herself as a wealthy or rich person.
What conflict, or problem, does this character face?
Mme. Loisel has to replace the necklace she loses.
What motivates this character? In other words, what causes the character to act as he or she does?
She wants to appear to be of the upper, wealthy class, though she belongs to the middle class. She is preoccupied with her appearance and her wishes to be like the women in the upper
class.
Does the character change in the course of the story? If so, in what way? What causes the character to change?
Mme. Loisel is dynamic because she learns how to be proud of what she can earn from hard work instead of being greedy. She learns the downside of pride.
Are there any other important characters? If so, are they flat, round, static, and/or dynamic characters?
Monsieur Loisel and Mme. Forestier are static because neither of them under go a change throughout the story.

Point of View and Theme

Is this story told from the first-person subjective, first person detached, first person observer, third person limited, third
person omniscient, or the third person objective point of view?
Third-person limited point of view (The narrator is outside the story and focuses on Mme. Loisel’s thoughts and feelings)
What important idea about life or human nature is shown by this story?
People should be happy with what they have.
It is important to be upfront and honest.
Pride can be dangerous.
 Short Story Devices
(Look for the following devices at work in the story. When found, write the page number, the abbreviated passage, and a brief explanation.)
Framework story Flashback/ Flash-forward Foreshadow
SF SF SF
“But sometimes, while her husband was at work, she would “’I didn’t sell that necklace, Madame,’ he said. ‘I only
sit near the window and think of that long ago evening supplied the case.’”-p. 356—Our only hint something with
when, at the dance, she had been so beautiful and the necklace is not as it seems.
admired.”-p. 357

Irony Ambiguity Allusion

V/MM/I V/MM/I MM
“Oh, my poor Mathilde. But mine was fake. Why, at most it
was worth only five hundred francs.”—p. 358--situational
irony—The necklace was fake all along.
Tone Diction Connotation
V/MM V/MM V/MM
Stressful, grieving, depressing, ironic plain

Repetition Metaphors & Similes Personification

MM/SD FL FL
“She was as unhappy as a woman who has come down in
the world; for women have no family rank or social
class.”—p. 351—This is before she loses the necklace.
Imagery Symbolism Additional
FL I (oxymoron, pun, hyperbole, alliteration etc.)
“Her hair untended, her skirts askew, her hands red, her Fake jewels=beautiful and simple life “He had had no luck.” –p. 356- alliteration
voice shrill, she even sloped water on her floors and real=greed “You’ll catch a cold outside, I’ll call a cab.”—p.355--
scrubbed them herself.”-- p. 357 fake necklace=Mathilde’s desire to be something she is alliteration
“She washed dishes, wearing down her pink-shell nails not
scouring grease from pots and pans; she scrubbed dirty
linen, shirts, and cleaning rags; she hung on a line to
dry.”—p.357

KEY : SF (story form), V (voice), MM (mood, meaning), FL (figurative language), I (interpretation), SD (sound devices)
 Short Story Devices
(Look for the following devices at work in the story. When found, write the page number, the abbreviated passage, and a brief explanation.)

Plot Model

Climax: p.355--Mme.
p.355--Mme.
Loisel
Loisel replaces
replaces the
the necklace.
necklace.

Rising Action: Mme.

Mme. Loisel
Loisel loses
loses the
the
necklace.
necklace.
Falling Action: Mme.
Mme. Loisel
Loisel and
and her
her husband
husband
work
work very
very hard
hard for
for ten
ten years
years to
to pay
pay off
off the
the loan
loan they
they
took
took out
out to
to replace
replace thethe necklace.
necklace.

Inciting incident: p. 354--Mme. Loisel

borrows a necklace from her friend, Mme.
Forestier.
Resolution: p. 358--
Mme. Forestier reveals the
original necklace was a fake. Denouement:
Exposition: Mme. Loisel feels that she is It was only worth 500 francs.
born into the wrong class of society. She is
invited to a ball.