Questions for Guy de Maupassant’s “The Necklace”

For each of the following questions, use at least 1 quote from the story to support your
answer:
1. Why was Mathilde unhappy with her life at the opening of the story? Do you think Mr. Loisel
was more content with his life? Why or why not?

2. Describe Mme. Loisel's reaction on reading the invitation. Why does she feel this way?

3. Do you think M. Loisel enjoyed the ball? What evidence is there?

4. Why was Mme Loisel anxious to hurry away from the ball? What does this reveal about her?

5. What efforts were made to find Mme Forestier's necklace?

6. Describe in your own words how the Loisels' life changed after they had paid for the new
necklace. What effect does this have on Mathilde?

7. What was Mme Forestier's reaction when she finds out what happened to Mathilde’s life? Why
is this an effective way to end the story? (Think, how is this ending ironic?)

8. Discuss whether the Loisels’ chose the right course of action when they found the necklace was
missing? What other choices were open to them and why were these not chosen?
PARAGRAPH ASSIGNMENT (at least 8 sentences): Using at least 2 examples from the story,
explain how de Maupassant uses irony to enhance the story.

Remember, there are three kinds of irony:

Situational: the action or situation is the opposite of what one might expect

Dramatic irony: the audience/reader knows something the characters do not

Verbal irony: what is said is the opposite of what is meant

Be sure to integrate at least two quotes into your paragraph. A literary analysis paragraph should be
structured as follows:

I. Topic Sentence/Thesis: Identify what you are trying to demonstrate or prove in the paragraph. Be sure to
introduce the author and title in the topic sentence.

II. Support and Quotes: Introduce the first example of irony from the story. Do not summarize plot. Then
use a quote to demonstrate the first example. Be sure to use a speaker tag to tell who is speaking. Set the
quote off by a comma and be sure to place the quote in quotation marks. Use present tense for literary
analysis. Then analyze why the quote/quotes help answer the question. When analyzing, do not say, “This
quote means…”

EXAMPLE 1:

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EXAMPLE 2:

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III. Concluding sentence: End with a sentence that helps prove the thesis.

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