Fashion! This seven-letter word plays a huge role in the modern society. From a salesperson to a designer, every human being has a sense of individualized fashion. 'The Necklace' written by Guy de Maupassant is a short story, which is situated in Paris. Paris is known as the capital of fashion and just the fact that this story in situated in Paris gives the readers an insight into what the story is about. This story tells a tale of a Mme. Loisel, a middle class woman who dreams of being wealthy and glamorous, but her determined desires end in disaster. By analyzing characterization, and diction in the third paragraph in 'The Necklace' one can better understand the moral and themes present within the story. 

In this short story, the third paragraph is very significant as it gives a detail description of about Mme. Loisel's desires. Repetition is an important aspect of literature as its main focus is to stress on something important. From the beginning, we see that Mme. Loisel constantly complains about "wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains" (De Maupassant 22). Usually, we say the curtains are ugly but here, the curtains show so much disgust to Mme. Loisel that she uses the word ugliness. The repetition of these hatred feelings and complains creates a mood of distress and hence gives an insight to what the story is about. Repetition of these negative words also help readers understand Mme. Loisel' better, that she does not know the value of money and hard work. The concept of hard work in introduced to Mme. Loisel later on in the story. Here by mentioning, "the sight of the little Breton peasant" in the exposition, it creates a foreshadowing element (De Maupassant 22). Over here, Mme. Loisel is trivial towards the peasant who apparently reminds her of her despairing dreams. However, Mme. Loisel will be seen doing all the household work after having to forcefully dismisses the peasant due to an unfortunate misunderstood incident. At this point, Mme. Loisel will comprehend the true efforts present behind hard work. Through repetition, we understand how dissatisfied Mme. Loisel is and how much she desires her and her house to be equally fashionable to her friends and thus giving an aristocratic look. This unhealthy, and obsessed desire brings about the significance of money in women's lives.

Diction is another important feature of a short story. Through diction, we become aware of gender roles in 19th century. As readers, we should be able to sympathize a little with Mme. Loisel as she has to stay at home alone and do nothing where as her husband gets to go on a trip with his friends as he says he wants to go to "the plain of Nanterre, with several friends" (De Maupassant 23).  Men's lives revolves around everything outside the house whereas women's' lives revolves within in the house. This is probably one reason why Mme. Loisel is tired of being a part of middle class society. Even then, Mr. Loisel wants to keep his wife happy and does everything he can to please her. However, she throws a fit about not having anything to wear instead of being excited when her husband tried so hard to get the invitation to the fancy ball. By this, we can define Mme. Loisel as a greedy person. The words, "suffered," and "dwelling" show that she never seems satisfied with anything she gets, and she intentionally overstates everything boring in her life (De Maupassant 22). It is as if she is convinced that she is "born for all the delicacies", and it was just a mistake by destiny that she does not have a luxurious life (De Maupassant 22). This allows readers to notice how much Mme. Loisel gives importance to money and being rich in the society. 

When it comes to characterization, Mme. Loisel is considered as a materialistic girl. She doesn't only want to be fancy lady; she feels that she deserves to be fancy. She fanaticizes about the "antechambers hung with oriental tapestry, lit by bronze candelabra...coquettish perfume's boudoirs" (De Maupassant 22). As all these materialistic objects are mentioned, it is obvious that Mme. Loisel is not money-obsessed, but she is more interested in the life of the rich. Comparing the word choice she uses to describe of her own house and her imaginary life, we see the extent to which desire has captured her. She sees the wealthy life as being glamorous, exciting, beautiful because "of dainty dinners, of shining silverware, of tapestry which peopled the walls with ancient personages" (De Maupassant 22). Principally, she is trying to convey that middle-class people have a boring life whereas all affluent people have exciting lives. Mme. Loisel's character not only suggests of being greedy but also as a dissatisfied wife. If she were not dissatisfied, she would not be fanaticizing about having another perfect life. Thinking about this further, Mme. Loisel is discontent with a quite a number of things in her life, including marriage, her house, her clothes, and jewelry. Other than being greedy and materialistic, Mme. Loisel also wants men who are rich and attractive. She quotes, "intimate friends, with men famous and sought after" to explain that she hopes to attract men and feel wanted (De Maupassant 22). Mme. Loisel is aware that she has got the beauty and charm in her, but it is only that she cannot afford clothes and jewelry required for the ball. If she could obtain a complete package, she would be out to experience everything to the fullest, exactly like how she does in the ball.

Throughout the story, it is noticeable that she is interested in all the expensive stuff. She exaggerates the description of all overpriced objects, as though she is detailing a fairy tale. The most significant symbol is the title itself 'The Necklace', which holds a lot of value and has great worthiness. This necklace gives Mme. Loisel the best night of her life, as she whole-heartily enjoys the ball. On the other hand, the necklace completely wrecks her life unimaginably as she misplaces her friend, Mme. Forestier's necklace. This brings us to the themes of the story that contribute to conveying the moral of a story. According to this story, pride and greed cause suffering in the future. If Mme. Loisel could have just worn flowers instead of borrowing pearls; she wouldn't have had work so much the rest of her life to repay her debt. Mme. Forestier necklace was worth of only 500 francs but Mme. Loisel spent a majority of her life repaying 36,000 francs to find out in the end that she replaces a fake necklace. Thus wastes the most precious years of her life that could have been spent enjoying with her husband and doing less work by retaining her "humble peasant" (De Maupassant 22). This unexpected twist thrills the readers as Mme. Loisel was working her whole life trying work because of Mme. Forestier's fake necklace. The twist also can change the readers overall view on the story as the reader's do not expect Mme. Loisel to work for so many years for the fake necklace. Through this, we as readers also learn the moral of story to always be honest and truthful to people around you.  

This Mme. Loisel gives more importance to materialistic self and forgets her true personality. Moreover, her main aim is to be rich to look nice. From this story, we learn that physical appearance is not that important as inner personality so it is always better to be true at heart than to be blinded by desires. Therefore, by analyzing characterization and diction of Mme. Loisel's we should suppress the excessive desires and demands, as they are most likely to lead into dreadful situation.  Another important aspect we learn from this story is that we should be satisfied with what we have and we should never demand more than what we should have. 
