"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant is a story of a relatively poor French couple in the 19th century. At the beginning of the story, M. Loisel, the husband, works as a clerk and his wife, Mathilde Loisel, does not have any responsibilities. She spends all of her time feeling sorry for herself about the things she does not have. One night when the couple sits down for dinner, she tells her husband, "Ah, the good pot-au-feu! I don't know anything better than that" (Maupassant 33). Cheap food is just one example of the things she complains about at the beginning of the story. The theme of this story is that in order to enjoy our lives, we must be ourselves. The background of the author, symbolism used and the plot twist all contribute to this theme. The necklace is a symbol for the artificial wealth Mathilde chases. The plot twist at the end of the story proves how artificial the necklace really is because the necklace turns out to be worth a lot less than Mathilde thought it was. 

Maupassant was born into a wealthy family, but his family lost their fortune when he was still young. As a child, he saw both sides of life, wealthy and poor. He wrote this story for anyone trying to be someone they are not and people who blame their disparity on their circumstance in life. He is attempting to teach the reader what he learned through that experience of going from a rich child to a poor child. Evidence of this is that Maupassant's mother was in the same situation as Mathilde after his family became poor. Maupassant's mother had fallen from her position in society. Maupasssant writes about Mathilde, "she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station" (Maupassant 33). There is a strong resemblance in Mathilde and Maupassant's mother in the fact that even though Mathilde was never wealthy, she acts like she was. So, he learned through his mother's attempt to act wealthy after she was not anymore that in order to enjoy your life, you have to accept the situation you are in. He saw that and learned from it. 

At the beginning of the story, Mathilde is desperately trying to be someone she is not; a wealthy woman who is admired by everyone. Maupassant writes about her, "She would so have liked to please, to be envied, to be charming, to be sought after" (Maupassant 34). She is a very sad character at the beginning because she always focuses on things she cannot have. This idea is very obvious when she spends all of her husband's extra money on a dress and then borrows a necklace from her friend for the ball. She assumes the necklaces is diamond, which would value it at about 40,000 francs. 40,000 francs is more than her husband earns in an entire year of work. After she lost the necklace, she and her husband have to work very hard for ten years to pay for a new one. Had she not tried to pretend to be someone she was not, a wealthy woman with lots of money to spend on expensive necklaces, she and her husband would have never been in that terrible situation. 

Mathilde got everything she wanted in life at the ball. She had a beautiful dress, jewelry, and admiration from everyone. The necklace is the main symbol Maupassant uses to communicate his point. The necklace represents that perfect night and all of the money and respect Mathilde desired. It is an accurate representation of her materialistic dreams because like her materialistic dreams, the necklace made her life a lot harder. At the ball, "She was prettier than them all, elegant, gracious, smiling, and crazy with joy. All the men looked at her, asked her name, endeavored to be introduced" (Mauassant 36). However, that night never improved her life, it actually made her life a lot harder because she had to work for ten years to pay off the necklace she lost that night. Maupassant used this to prove his point that Mathilde was focusing on the wrong things and trying to be someone that she was not. 

The surprise ending of the story shows how foolish Mathilde was for focusing on such materialistic things at the beginning. Her materialism led her to believe the necklace was diamond, although she was never told it was diamond. Her assumption caused her and her husband to spend ten years working for a necklace which turned out to only be worth five hundred francs. She just assumed it was diamond because she was so materialistic. Maupassant used the plot twist to prove that all the materialistic things she focused on were actually worth exponentially less than she thought, although not necessarily monetarily. The plot twist exposes the fact that her dreams of being rich are actually worthless.  

Maupassant was attempting to communicate that we must be ourselves in order to enjoy our lives. He uses Mathilde as an example to get his point across. It is clear that Mathilde prevents herself from enjoying her life throughout the story because she tries to be someone she is not. In the end, her attempt to show everyone she is wealthy only makes her life worse and worse. There are a lot of similarities in this story and Maupassant's real life, specifically the similarities in Maupassant's mother and Mathilde. That is why there is strong reason to believe that Maupassant learned this lesson from his mother and possibly even described her through Mathilde. He is attempting to tell the readers that we do not need to try to be someone we are not. 

