Close reading a story can be very challenging, but it can also be very interesting. When you analyze a text you can see many different ways a word can mean something. It can help you understand the story better as well as the author. "The Necklace" is a story about a very charming lady named Mme. Loisel who does not have very much money. She was invited to attend The Palace of Ministry but was very concerned with what she was going to wear. There are many different things that happen in this story and some of them are, her personality changes, the word choice compared to the storyline, and the overall message of the story.

At the beginning of the story they express Mme. Loisel's personality. They say she is a very charming sweet lady who has no expectations. Of course when she get the invite to the Ministry that all changes. All of a sudden she has expectations and begins to get worried about what she is going to wear and how it is going to compare to all the other women. She states: "And what do you want me to put on my back." (Maupassant, 23) This shows her personality change because she is not trying to find a way to make it work best for her. Although the end of the story her personality changes back. When she realizes she has lost the expensive necklace she does everything she can in order to return it in the condition that she borrowed it in.

The word choice in this story was very elegant and elaborate. The elegant words matched with the elegant ball that Mme. Loisel was invited too. She had explained how she really needed a nice dress to fit it. Although the words are not big and hard to understand, it is elegant because of the setting that they are in and where she is attending. Although they used elegant words they did a very good job of elaborating so the reader could understand. 

There were many different parts of the story that were elaborated to make the reader understand why some things were so important and such a big deal. One of the things they said was how the necklace looked. They elaborated on that so that the reader understood why it was such a big deal when they lost the necklace. They said 

"All of a sudden she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with an immoderate desire. Her hands trembled as she took it. She fastened it around her throat, outside her high-necked dress, and remained lost in ecstasy at the sight of herself. They showed how big of a deal it was to Mme. Loisel to wear this necklace because she was so excited when she first saw it." (Maupassant, 24)

The other way they elaborated throughout the story was 10 years later when Mme. Loisel had worked to pay all the money back for the necklace. They explained how she looked worn out and she had aged a lot. Mme. Forestier did not even recognize who she was. Using these techniques to explain the story gives you a sense of what was really going on and how some of these things were a big deal and it really did have an impact on the characters lifes.

The overall goal of an author is to tell a story. They always have some type of lesson or something that they want the reader to get out of this story. In this particular story they want the reader to get certain aspect out of it such as, if some people have nothing there are solutions to getting what they want, honesty is the best policy, and even if things are not extremely expensive they can still be nice.

If a person has nothing there are solutions and even if things are not extremely expensive they can still be nice are two that go hand in hand. If you do not have a lot of cash to spend but still want something nice, there is a way. Although it might not be real diamonds and the best quality, you can still find a way to get something nice. Mme. Forestier had a necklace that Mme. Loisel thought was very expensive. Although it was not, it still looked nice and it was possible to own something that looked very nice.

The last one is honesty. Everyone always says honesty is the best policy and its true. If Mme. Forestier had told Mme. Loisel that the necklace was a fake and cheaper version she would never have spent most of her life trying to pay back what she thought was a very expensive piece of jewelry. Also is Mme. Loisel had told Mme. Forestier right away that she lost the necklace then she would have understood it was not a huge deal because it was not extremely expensive. 

Close reading can be done in many different ways. It is challenging to pick out those ways but some of them are, to pick apart each line of the story, to understand what the authors meaning of the story is, and to be able to put the story together as a whole and understand what it is they are talking about. In order to really understand a story and be able to explain it to someone else, you should really be able to explain what it is about and give examples. 
