     "The Necklace" is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant. It is about a woman who was born into poverty, but believed she was destined to be wealthy because of her beauty. This woman starts to face more and more conflict throughout the story and ends up in a poor situation, poorer than what she was already in. After close reading this short story, it can be interpreted from the imagery and irony that it is about how people need to be more grateful for what they already have because life could be worse.

     The first sentence of the story is "She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born into a family of clerks" (Maupassant 33). This introduces the readers to the main character, later in the story found out to be named Mathilde Loisel. This also introduces us to her own story and why she is so upset with her life. "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains. All of those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry" (Maupassant 33). From this quote, the readers can see that Mathilde makes a big deal about little things in her house and that she is very self-conscious of her lifestyle. When she makes such a big deal about the little things, it shows how ungrateful Mathilde is for what she has because other women like her could care less about the decor of their house.

     One day Mathilde's husband brought her an invitation to a ball of some sort because he thinks that she would be delighted to go, but he was wrong. She did not want to go after he had gone through a lot of trouble to get her that invitation. She told her husband "'Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I'" (Maupassant 34). This is an example of how ungrateful Mathilde is. She was only thinking about herself and rank that she did not even think to thank her husband for the invitation. A reason for why Mathilde did not want to go to the event was because she was poor and did not want to feel poor around the other rich guests. She explained to her husband that "'there's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich'" (Maupassant 35).

     Mathilde's husband gave her money to buy a nice dress and suggested that she borrow a piece of jewelry from her wealthy friend, Mme. Forestier. She went to her friend and Mme. Forestier let Mathilde look at her jewelry box. "She saw first of all some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a Venetian cross, gold and precious stones of admirable workmanship. She tried on the ornaments before the glass, hesitated, could not make up her mind to part with them, to give them back. She kept asking, 'Haven't you any more?'" (Maupassant 35). This is another example of how ungrateful Mathilde is. Her friend offered her any jewel of her choice, but she was not satisfied. "She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that" (Maupassant 34). Because she felt that she had nothing, it is understandable why Mathilde thought that her friend would have more jewels; she had high, sometimes too high, expectations for those richer than her. 

     Mathilde ended up borrowing her friend's diamond necklace and went to the ball. "She danced with intoxication, with passion, made drunk by pleasure, forgetting all, in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness composed of all this homage, of all this admiration, of all these awakened desires, and of that sense of complete victory which is so sweet to woman's heart" (Maupassant 36). From this quote, the readers can tell that she was loving all the attention she received at the ball and felt that she fooled everyone with her beauty to the point where no one could tell that she was even close to poor.

     Mathilde may have had the best night of her life, until she notices that she lost the necklace from Mme. Forestier. Mathilde's husband looked all over for the necklace and could not find it anywhere, so they decided they would buy the same necklace to give back to Mme. Forestier. The cost of the necklace caused them to go into debt and they had to work their way out of it for ten years. "She came to know what heavy housework meant  And, dressed like a woman of the people  Mme. Loisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households strong and hard and rough" (Maupassant 38). This imagery brings it back to how this story shows how people should be grateful for what they have because Mathilde lost her beauty and had become even more poor than she was in the first place. 

     There's irony in this story as well. Apparently Maupassant was born into a wealthy family, but his parents lost most of their fortune when he was young; therefore, "The Necklace" could be based on how Maupassant craved wealth and beauty (The Carolina Reader 33). At the end of the story the readers find out that the necklace that Mme. Forestier had was actually a fake diamond necklace, while Mathilde and her husband bought a real diamond necklace to replace the fake one. The irony in this is that Mathilde was beautiful like the necklace, but was just as poor as the fake necklace. 

     Maupassant's "The Necklace" is just a short story about a poor woman that ends up in a poorer situation. It can be interpreted as a story about a woman that is ungrateful for what she already has and is so insecure of her poor lifestyle that her bad decisions dig her deeper into poverty. Mathilde's life was not as bad as she thought it was; she just complained so much and her jealousy of other women that were rich consumed her own life. After reading the short story, people can see that Maupassant may or may not be trying to tell the reader that they should be more appreciative for what they already have because their lives could be worse.

