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THE NECKLACE

Guy De Maupassant

Page No: 39 Read and Find Out

1. What kind of a person is Mme. Loisel − why is she always unhappy?

Ans: Matilda was the kind of person who was not content with what life had given. She felt
that her beauty and grace deserved delicacies and luxuries. She was unhappy to live a simple
life within the limited means provided by her husband who was a petty clerk.
2. What kind of a person is her husband?
Ans: Her husband is a very simple and kind- hearted person. He is an ordinary man, a clerk in
the office of the Board of Education. Just like other husbands, he is caring and wants his wife
to be happy.

Page No: 41 Read and Find Out

1. What fresh problem now disturbs Mme. Loisel?

Ans: After buying a pretty dress, Mme. Loisel was bothered by yet another problem. She had no
jewels to adorn herself with. She said she would feel inferior and have a poverty-stricken look.
Her husband suggested that she should wear some natural flowers. However, she refused and
said that there was nothing more humiliating than to have a shabby appearance in the midst of
rich women.
2. How is the problem solved?
Ans: Mme. Loisel’s husband solved this problem. He told his wife to request her friend, Mme.
Forestier, to lend her some jewels. When she went to Mme. Forestier, the latter brought a jewel
case for Mme. Loisel so that she could choose whichever jewels she liked.

Page No: 42 Read and Find Out

1. What do M. and Mme. Loisel do next?

Ans: When M. and Mme. Loisel realized that the necklace was missing, they tried finding out
where she could have possibly lost it. They concluded that it might have dropped in the cab they
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were traveling in. But they did not remember its number. So, in an attempt to find the necklace,
Loisel went over the track where they had walked. When he found nothing, he went to the
police and to the cab offices. He even put an advertisement in the newspapers, offering a
reward. Meanwhile he asked Matilda to write a letter to Mme Forestier, explaining that she had
broken the clasp of the necklace and would get it repaired and return it soon.
This gave them time to find the necklace. However, they eventually decided to replace the
necklace with a new one.
Page no: 46 Thinking about the text

1. The course of the Loisels’ life changed due to the necklace. Comment.
Ans: The course of the Loisel’s life changed due to the necklace. After replacing the lost
necklace with a new one, they had to repay all the money that they had borrowed to buy the new
necklace. They sent away the maid and changed their lodgings. They rented some rooms in an
attic. Matilda learnt the odious work of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, soiled linen, their
clothes and dishcloths. She even took down the refuse to the street each morning and brought up
the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. She went to the grocer’s, the butcher’s, and
the fruiter’s, with a basket on her arm, shopping, haggling to save her money. Loisel worked in
the evenings, putting the books of some merchants in order. At night, he did copy work at five
sou a page. This lasted for ten years, and at the end of the said period, they were finally able to
repay their lenders.
2. What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?
Ans: The cause of Matilda’s ruin was her dissatisfaction with whatever life offered her. She was
always unhappy. She felt that she was born for all the delicacies and luxuries of life. She disliked
being in her current circumstances. She could have avoided this ruin by being content with
whatever she had.
3. What would have happened to Matilda if she had confessed to her friend that she had

lost her necklace?

Ans: If Matilda would have confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace, she might have
been in lesser trouble than what she had to face after having replaced the necklace. Her friend
would have definitely been angry with her. Most likely, she would also have asked Matilda to
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replace it and given her the details from where she had bought the necklace and how much it had
cost her. Matilda would have thus known that the jewels in the necklace were actually not real
diamonds. It would have cost her a far lesser amount to replace it.
Matilda would thus have saved herself and her husband of all the trouble they went through and
life would have been much better and easier for them.
EXTRA QUESTIONS

Read the extracts given below carefully and answer the questions that follow:

1. He went to the police and to the cab offices, and put an advertisement in the newspapers,
offering a reward. She waited all day in a state of bewilderment before this frightful
disaster. Loisel returned in the evening, his face pale; he had discovered nothing.
(a) What did he do?
(b) For what did he offer a reward?
(c) What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin?
(d) How could she have avoided it?
Ans. (a) He went to the police and to the cab offices and put an advertisement in the newspapers.
(b) He offered a reward to find the lost necklace.
(c) Her weakness for admiration, pleasure and vanity became the cause of her ruin.
(d) Matilda could have avoided this entire suffering if’ she had tried to live within her means and
controlled her wild desires for short-lived pleasure.
2. And she responded, “I am vexed not to have a jewel, nothing to adorn myself with. I shall
have such a poverty-stricken look. I would prefer not to go to this party.” He replied, “You
can wear some natural flowers. In this season they look very chic.”
(a) Why was she vexed then?
(b) Which party is she referring to?
(c) Who is ‘she’ in the above lines?
(d) Why did she not want to go to the party?
Ans. (a) She was vexed because she did not have any jewel to adorn herself with.
(b) She is referring to the party hosted by The Minister of Public Instruction for which her husband
got an invitation.
(c) Matilda Loisel
(d) She was grieved for her poverty-stricken look. She felt that she did not have a proper Party
dress and a jewel for the party.
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Q.) Why did Matilda not like to visit her friend Madame Forestier?
Ans. Mme. Loisel avoided visiting her friend Madame Forestier because her riches made her
experience despair and disappointment over her own mediocre life. Every visit to her rich friend’s
place made her unhappy and she wept on returning home.

Q.) What did M. Loisel bring home one day? What was Matilda’s reaction?
Ans. One day M. Loisel brought an invitation card to a prestigious Ball party organized by the
Ministry of Public Instruction thinking that his wife would be happy as she was fond of moving
about in such high class gatherings. But contrary to his expectation, his wife took a brief look at
the invitation, threw it on the table and started weeping profusely. This was an unexpected
reaction for the simple clerk and he was stupefied.

Q.) Why did Madam Loisel leave the ball in hurry? What does it show about her character?
Ans. Madam Loisel left the ball in a hurry because her husband threw the modest wraps around
her shoulders, whose poverty clashed with the elegance of the ball costume. She did not want to
be noticed by the other women who were wrapping themselves in rich furs. It shows the hypocrisy
and showoff life of Mme. Loisel. It shows her dissatisfaction, anger and frustration with life.

Q.) What role does fate play in the story ‘The Necklace’?
Ans. Fate plays a significant role in the story ‘The Necklace’. The first stroke of irony is played
by fate when a pretty and charming Matilda, who is worthy of palaces, riches, luxury and comforts
is born in a family of clerks.
Fate strikes again when on growing up she gets a petty clerk for a husband. But the worst stroke
of fate is yet to come. The ‘diamond’ necklace she borrows for a moment’s glory at the ball is
lost and she and her husband are forced to live a lifetime of poverty, want and misery as they
repay the loans they had to raise to return the necklace. Yet again fate has the last laugh. When
Madame Forestier reveals to her that the necklace for which the couple ruined ten precious years
of their life was imitation jewellery worth not more than five hundred francs.

THEME OF THE STORY

The first part of the story deals with the theme, ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would ride’.
Fate plays such a vital role in our lives that those who try to spend beyond their means, land up
in deep trouble. Unrealistic aspirations bring frustration and discontentment.
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The latter half of the story brings out how adversity shapes an individual into a stronger and
mature human being. The choice to uphold her dignity motivates Matilda to repay the debt and
live a hard life. But this experience makes her develop a sense of pride about her abilities and
enhances her self-esteem.

MESSAGE OF THE STORY

The story conveys the message of contentment. It is advisable to count one’s blessings instead of
yearning for false glory. Unreasonable desires can prove to be disastrous as it is in the case of
Matilda Loisel. Matilda had enough to live with dignity but her desire for the delicacies and
luxuries deprived her even of the little she had. Therefore, her story gives us a message that one
should live within one’s means.

JUSTIFICATION OF THE TITLE

The story's title ‘The Necklace,’ is justified, because the entire story revolves around the
necklace. It reveals the true character and nature of all the main characters in the story- Matilda’s
dissatisfaction and greed, Loisel’s kind and understanding nature and Mme. Forestier’s large
heartedness. The necklace, after it is lost, becomes the central focus of the Loisels’ life. Finally,
it is through the loss of the necklace, the writer is able to convey the message of the story that
being dissatisfied with what you have and running after what is not yours, can ruin your life.
Therefore, the title is fully justified.

CHARACTER SKETCHES

MONSIEUR LOISEL

Monsieur Loisel, Matilda’s husband was a simple and poor clerk in the Ministry of Education.
He was content with the small pleasures of his life and loved his wife immensely. When he came
home bearing the invitation to the party, he expected Matilda to be excited and was shocked when
she was devastated. He made every effort and sacrifice to make his wife happy. He sacrificed his
400 francs that he had saved to buy a gun for himself in order to buy a new party dress for his
wife. When she complained she had no proper jewelry, he urged her to visit Madame Forestier to
borrow some jewels. When she danced all night at the party, he dozed in an adjoining salon and
allowed her to enjoy herself.

After the necklace was lost, he was the one to venture back into the cold night to search for the
necklace in the streets, even though he was already undressed and had to be at work in a few short
hours. He was the one who devised a plan for purchasing a replacement necklace and takes the
loans and mortgages that help them pay for it. Although this decision cost him ten years of hard
work doing three shifts a day, he did not complain even once as if his own desires did not exist.
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Rather than force Matilda to be accountable for her actions, he protected her, ultimately giving
up his life so that she could relish her one moment of well-dressed happiness.

MATILDA LOISEL

Matilda is the young and beautiful wife of Mr.Loisel, a clerk in the board of Education. She is
proud of her elegant beauty. She is unhappy with her poor lot. She thinks she is a victim of social
injustice and irony of fate. She is unhappy with her husband’s small house and old furniture. She
feels she has been deprived of the comforts and luxuries which she might have enjoyed by
marrying a rich man.

In short she is sick and ashamed of her present miserable life. Matilda is a simple, childlike
immature girl until she finds herself face to face with the bitter consequences of her folly. The
loss of the necklace proves a turning point in the development of her character. It makes her a
careful and responsible woman. Matilda thus plays two different roles in the story. Before the
loss of the necklace she is a thoughtless, ungrateful, proud beauty, unhappy with the poverty of
her husband. After the loss she becomes a mature, humble and grateful wife who can gladly
sacrifice every pleasure to get her husband out of his financial misery. This change in her
character makes her a lovable character in spite of all her faults and follies.

MADAME FORESTIER - Madame Forestier was Matilda’s school mate and was very
wealthy. Matilda avoided visiting her as she was bitterly jealous of Madame Forestier’s wealth.
However, when she was in trouble she went to ask her for help. Madame Forestier’s large
heartedness and kind nature is revealed when without thinking even for a second, she
immediately took out her jewellery box and asked Matilda to take whatever she wanted. Here
Madame Forestier lasped by not letting Matilda know that it was a fake necklace that she was
borrowing and also did not inspect it when Matilda returned it. In the end she was horrified to
realize that Matilda had wasted her life trying to pay for a replacement necklace, when the
original necklace had actually been worth nothing.
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LONG ANSWER TYPE

Q. The story The Necklace’ teaches us many lessons which form the crux of human
values. Discuss.
Ans. The story ‘The Necklace’ teaches us many lessons which form the crux of human values.
The very first thing it teaches us is the need to be content in life. Matilda, though born into a
family of clerks and married to a petty clerk with the Board of Education, remains unhappy. She
suffers from the feeling that she is born for all delicacies and luxuries, but has to live miserably
in ‘poverty’. So, when she has to attend the office party with her husband, she asks him for money
to get a new dress. Her husband sacrifices the money he has saved to buy a gun to get her the
dress. Then also she is not content. She feels that she could look still more beautiful with a jewel.
She thus borrows a necklace from her friend, thinking that it is made of diamonds. At the party,
she remains elegant, gracious, smiling and absolutely happy. She was thus the prettiest of all. But
this vanity is short-lived and is the beginning of all troubles in her life. She loses the necklace and
she gets a new diamond necklace as its replacement by borrowing heavily. Subsequently, she is
pushed to live in poverty as she slogs for ten years to save money to pay back the huge debt. Then
the horrible reality frightens her. She realizes how her false pride has taken away her otherwise
happy contented life. The story thus discusses the negative effects of pride and vanity and stresses
the importance of being satisfied with what one has honesty, love and sacrifice.

EXTRAPOLATIVE

Imagine you are Madame Loisel. Make a diary entry about your sorrow and grief after you
discovered that the diamond necklace which cost your life was fake.

Saturday, 12th March, 2020 09:00 pm

What a sheer waste of ten long years! My beauty, my youth, my everything gone! And it could
have been avoided had luck let us know that the necklace was fake. My love for glamour and a
craving for being admired cost us very dearly. We were happily married and were leading a
normal life, but due to my romantic disposition and greed, we had to suffer a lot. Our luck did
not help us either.

Alas! We could have guessed that the lost necklace was ‘fake!’ How hard I had to work- like an
ordinary woman! I carried water, cooked, cleaned, saved every sou for the sake of that fake
necklace. We should have told Madame Forestier about the loss. But we made it a prestige issue
and have learnt a lesson in life, the very hard way-we can’t live forever in our dreams. And we
must never aspire for more than we have, for it can ruin us! I hope we see better days!!!!!