In Guy de Maupassant's short story, The Necklace, he tells a story of a woman whose greed and unhappiness ends up ruining her life. The story is told in the third person point of view and portrays the struggles that the main character Mathilde faces with both her husband and Mme. Forestier. In the text you also view Mathildes own mental conflict throughout the short story. My first impression of the text was that I felt bad for Mathilde because she seemed in low spirits but then towards the end of the text I realized she let her greed overwhelm her life and when she believed she was unhappy it only became worse than she could've imagined. I also realized that her husband was too good of a man and with him pleasing her it only lead to things becoming worse for himself. In the text the author reveals that we should always be content with what we have in our lives because others in the world could be worse of than we are, or that you could find yourself in a worse off position from wanting something out of your reach. 

Maupassant reveals her tragedy well through the use of his vocabulary and diction. In his short story his choice of vocabulary in the beginning describes luxurious items in which Mathilde doesn't poses. As he said she felt "herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries" which showed her unhappiness with her lifestyle. She was not satisfied with the life she lived and that can be seen through the gloomy vocabulary. This is evident when her husband returned home with tickets to the ball and instead of being joyous she immediately begins stating how she is not "fit" to attend the ball. She states that "there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich" which directly shows her insecurities and frustration. She is all wrapped up in her outward appearance instead of focusing of how people would perceive her without the elegant dress or jewels. Her husband shows his simplistic mindset when he asks her why she could not wear natural flowers when she referred to not having any jewels. The imagery of the necklace and the night at the ball portrays a scene where Mathilde was living in a fantasy.

The author utilizes the literary devices of repetition and punctuation to emphasize how unhappy Mathilde is with her life, due to her middle class status. For example, multiple times in the story the author notes how Mathilde was beautiful and charming despite the fact that she was not born with status. The constant repetition of this fact suggest that it is an important theme of the short story. Furthermore, the author uses commas to make list which emphasize Mathilde's desire for a life beyond her means. This is shown when the author said "she would so have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after". Mathilde is incredibly unhappy with the life she lives and the commas used to separate her desires. 

The author utilizes the third person point of view to help build the characterization of the characters. Mathilde is portrayed as an unhappy middle class woman who is married to her husband Loisel who is depicted as a kind man who would do anything for his wife. His generosity is shown when he first acquires the tickets for him and his wife to attend the ball and then once again when he allows his wife to buy a new dress for the ball with the money he had saved up to spend on himself. When she then demanded she needed jewels it showed the depth of her selfishness. In the end Mathilde end up borrowing a necklace from Mme. Forestier which was the last piece to her fulfilling her fantasy of being perceived as a high class woman. Once Mathilde enjoyed her night at the ball and had lost the necklace her characterization changed. She changed into a desperate woman who ironically ended up in a position worse off than she had begun. She then had to work off the debt she had acquired from purchasing a brand new necklace to replace the one she believed she had lost. 

In the short story, the necklace symbolizes to Mathilde a piece of wealth and a position in the high society but results in a symbol of debt and disappointment. In the beginning Mathilde had implied to her husband that in order for her to be happy she wanted "to be envied" for having wealth which they didn't have. In order to earn that status, she believed having the expensive new gown and nice jewels would be enough. The necklace represented her greed. When she lost it at the end of the ball the greed continued because then she needed to search for the funds to replace the necklace. Her husband should've told her to confront Mme. Forestier and owned up to it but instead they dug themselves into a deeper situation. The author describes her as becoming "the woman of impoverished households" due to her dedication to earn back the money she had lost to pay off her debt. All of the extravagant items were figments of her imagination which would not have caused her any problems if she had not been greedy and was satisfied with the life she lived.

Guy de Maupassant reveals through his use of diction, repetition, and symbolism that without Mathildes desire to become someone she was not, she would have never gone through the life problems she had to have faced. What we can learn from this short story is that we should never pretend to be something we aren't because in the end it results in unhappiness. In society people too often try to impress people by doing things and buying things they wouldn't normally do. In Mathildes case, her entire plan of becoming someone who was sought after almost ruined her. For the 10 years she worked off the debt she fought both mentally and physically with herself. Mentally she had to face the fact that she was the reason her husband and herself lost their savings because of her dumb mistake. She physically destroyed her image as she had aged due to her hard work. This story also shows we should never take what we have for granted because someone else might have it worse off or you could end up in a worse situation than you began in.

