The title is the first indication that the whole text is revolved around a necklace, but it is also about how it impacts Mathilde Loisel's perspective of her life. It is not only a necklace but according to Guy de Maupassant, it is "The Necklace" (1). The title of his piece confirms that the night Mathilde Loisel wears and loses the necklace is a very significant shift in her life. The moment she loses the necklace causes the plot of the whole story to change. The reason the title is so concise is because that moment when her life completely transforms is so short and abrupt. She is so concerned with her misfortunate social standing, but the second she loses the necklace she knows that every second from then on will be dedicated to paying for a similar necklace to give back to her friend. The tone of the text shifts in just one short sentence that states, "All was ended for her" (4). This statement is surrounded by two longer sentences that put emphasis on the middle sentence to accentuate the unfortunate moment that defines the rest of her life. 

Repetition is used to emphasize how little she feels she has compared to others that live a lifestyle she longs for. The author repeats the words "no" and "not" followed by the word "nothing" to give the reader clarity of what she wants compared to what she does not have. After her husband presents an invitation for a fancy ball, she reacts by saying, "she has no dresses, no jewels, nothing" (2). By stating what she does not have then following it by the word, nothing, it emphasizes how misfortunate she thinks she is not to have the expensive, unnecessary items that wealthy people have. After she addresses what she does not have, she uses repetition again and conveys that she wants, "to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after" (2). The repetition accentuates just some of the many things she desires. Once she finally finds a dress, she complains, "It annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone, nothing to put on" (3). Again, there is repetition used in a negative connotation to accentuate how disappointed she is that she does not have those things. By saying "nothing" after repetition, it emphasizes that not only does she not have those things but she actually has nothing, when she really does have other things she should be appreciative for. It shows her negative attributes in her character and that she is not appreciative for anything that she has. 

Mathilde Loisel's social standing makes her view herself very poorly. The author uses long sentences such as, "When she sat down to dinner of a trout or the wings of a quail" to emphasize her lust for more money (1). The longer and more repetitive the sentence, the more the reader can understand and resent her desire. The list of the many different things Mathilde Loisel admires but does not have proves to the reader how badly she wants the specific lifestyle that she has always craved. The long, drawn out sentence and list portrays how long and drawn out her lust has been. When she finally experiences a night with all the things listed that she has wanted, the author includes another long sentence that states, "She danced with intoxication, with passion victory which is so sweet to a woman's heart" (4). This sentence depicts all the perfect things she thinks come with a wealthy lifestyle and shows the reader how exhilarated she is to be at a fancy ball surrounded by others that have money.  Both long, repetitive sentences help the reader understand how badly she wants to be wealthy and how happy she is to experience a night among those that are. 

Her feelings are meant to annoy the reader. Mathilde is intended to be thought of as unappreciative and greedy so, the long sentences used to describe her feelings are appropriate. They cause the reader to become impatient and irritated with her feelings. The paragraph that describes her experience at the ball with short sentences states, "The day of the ball has arrived was remarked by the minister himself" (4). It is not normal when Mathilde dresses and looks similar to those with wealth, so when the author uses short sentences to describe how she presents herself at the ball, he is also contrasting the structure of this specific paragraph with the other paragraphs that describe how she feels inferior to others. It is intended to catch the reader's attention because the author is using a different technique to show the difference in the lifestyle she fakes at the ball and her daily lifestyle. 

Mathilde Loisel and her husband are not poor until she becomes so concerned with being wealthy that she makes a huge mistake that she spends the next several years working to pay off. After losing the necklace, they struggle constantly to buy her friend a new one and to pay for their daily expenses. Before, they had money saved for the future and enough money pay for necessities. She claims, however, that she feels poor because she does not have the expensive, nice things that other women have. She says that there is "nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich" (3). By saying to "look poor" she is admitting that they are not actually poor. Readers are made clear that Mathilde is very unappreciative of what she has, so she ends up working to save them from having nothing. She finally becomes proud of the little she has instead of longing for what she does not have.

The irony that the necklace is not worth nearly as much as they replace it for is introduced by questioning the what if.  Questions such as, "What would've happened if she had not lost that necklace?" foreshadow the ironic situation of all the things that could have been different if she had not misplaced the necklace or if her and her husband would have been honest with her friend and told her Mathilde lost it (6). They could have paid the small amount for it instead of working so hard over next several years to get rid of their debt. The repetition of the two questions, "Who knows? Who knows?" poke fun at the fact that their biggest mistake is not losing the necklace, but actually not being honest about what happened (6). Because they are not honest, they lose so much but also gain good characteristics and change their personalities positively. Instead of achieving wealth, Mathilde actually becomes poor and loses everything but gains a better perspective on her life.

