ENG 058
March 21, 2014
“The Necklace”
"The Necklace" is a short story, written by Guy de Maupassant. His story describes the life of Madame Mathilde Loisel. When Mathilde was little, she always dreamed she’d be rich and have fancy things. Unfortunately, she was born poor and as a result ended up marrying a clerk. They don’t have anything, but her husband is obsessed with making her happy. He is able to get two invitations to the Ministry of Education's party in order to please her. However, Mathilde is upset, because she has nothing to wear. Using money that he was saving, he lets Mathilde buy a fancy dress, but Mathilde wants jewelry as well. Her husband suggests that she borrow something from her friend, Madame Forestier; she picks out the fanciest jewel necklace that she can find. However, after attending the Ministry of Education's party, Mathilde finds out that she's lost the necklace. Mathilde and her husband then have to work for ten years to come up with the thirty-six thousand francs to buy a replacement for the necklace. After losing everything and realizing that she lived a comfortable life despite the fact that she was poor, Mathilde sees Madame Forestier walking down the street. She tells her that the necklace she returned to her was actually a replacement worth thirty six thousand francs. However, Madame Forestier is surprised and tells Mathilde that the original necklace was actually a fake worth only five hundred francs. The moral of the story is to be happy with who you are and what you have.
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