The objects you own and the things you wear do not define your wealth. In "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant, Mathilde is a money-obsessed person who has no means of being known. As a result, she has no connection for becoming someone wealthy or someone who posses a lot of money. She is unfilled with her life and continues to want more, but is unable to achieve the kind of standard she is looking for. Her husband, who is always willing to accommodate her in any means necessary, is struck upon an unhappy life due to his wife's bad decisions. When Mathilde is invited to an exclusive party, she makes it her mission to look as rich as possible. She borrows a necklace from a good friend and ends up losing it. However, Mathilde and the necklace she borrows both have a desire to be something greater than they really are. Mathilde goes to this event dressed up as something she is not, wearing a necklace that she assumes makes her richer, but is really just as fake as she is. Guy de Maupassant uses descending diction to reveal Mathilde's true connection with the necklace. In the beginning of the story he uses meaningful and powerful words to describe the feelings Mathilde has, and towards the end he descends by using the words more accurate to Mathilde's new lifestyle. However, those who try and reach social perfection just backlash and end up descending.

It is easy to fall into a desire for luxurious things. However, it is hard to tell if something is as luxurious as you truly think it is. Many things in life may come off as expensive. You see things with a brand name and a pricy tag, but are they actually worth what you are going to pay? Probably not. The problem with luxury is that people become accustom to brand names, and the look of things rather than their true worth. The moment Mathilde laid eyes on the necklace she borrowed, she knew she had to have it because of the way it looked, "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" (Maupassant, 35). The words Maupassant uses in this quote describe Mathilde's desire for wealth. The "black satin box" illustrates something classy and rich. The adjective "superb" describes the excellent and impressively splendid necklace covered in diamonds. Her "immoderate desire" illustrates her excessive dreams of wealth. Mathilde desired to be wealthy, and the idea of her owning something so marvelous enchanted her.  She trembled as she held it because she was so nervous to be holding something so valuable. Lastly, she was lost in ecstasy, which highlights her lost in intense joy and happiness. This overwhelming feeling of euphoria surrounded her in this moment, because she felt like she was so powerful and special with this one piece of jewelry. This sense of luxury overwhelmed her because all she cared about was becoming someone richer than the she was. These words demonstrate high class and her potential for wealth. When arriving to her event, Mathilde was elegant and glamorous. She tried so hard to fit in with the crowd that she some how managed to do so. However deep down she was not better than anyone else in that room. This shows that Mathilde is the type of character that looks at her physical appearance and her material items as things of wealth. Although her physical appearance made her feel like she was actually worth something, she really was not, because once she left that party she was just going to go back to her mediocre life of being unsatisfied. 

Perfection is not always attainable. In this sense, Mathilde and the necklace are two in the same. They both try to be something outstanding and rich, but they really just stand for something that can never achieve their full potential. Mathilde strived in life to be something greater than she was, and she ended up putting herself in a position where she owned even less than she originally did. Since she was so focused on being absolutely perfect for the event that her husband so graciously got her tickets to, she ended up losing herself in the process. The loss of the necklace was the loss of Mathilde's life. Because she was so worked up over how she looked, and gaining that sense of perfection, she lost connection to things truly important in life. She did not care for her husband while she was at the event. He was off sleeping in a corner while he let her enjoy the night. She should have been grateful that he got her into this party, but instead she was drinking, dancing, and soaking up her beauty too much to even pay attention to him. After losing the necklace, Mathilde lost all hope of becoming remotely wealthy. She put her and her husband in debt for ten years, for something that was not even worth close to the amount they paid for the replacement necklace. She lost everything that was slightly luxurious in her life, and began to learn what it was truly like to live with nothing: "She came to know what heavy housework meant and the odious cares of the kitchen. She washed the dishes, using her rosy nails on the greasy pots and pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts, and the dish-cloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning, and carried up the water ."(Maupassant, 38). Maupassant transitions from the idea of a luxurious life to a laborious life. He describes Mathilde as doing heavy housework, things of great weight that are strenuous to her. He also illustrates the odious cares of the kitchen, or in other words the extremely unpleasant and repulsive work she had to do. She washed dishes with her light pink nails on greasy pots and pans. Lastly, she carried the slops down to the street and brought the clean water up. This sentence strongly adds to the example of the descending diction. She rose up in wealth and social status when she went out for that one night, but then went crashing down after the loss of the necklace. Before her night out, she was not used to any of this hardcore labor around the house, and because of all this, she aged quickly, "Mme. Louisel looked old now. She had become the woman of impoverished households   strong and hard and rough. With frowsy hair, skirts askew, and red hands ." (Maupassant, 38). These words are also referring to those of a lower status. Since she was not used to all this manual labor her physical nature was changing. She started to look older; she became stronger, and rougher. Her hair was scruffy and dingy, and her skirts were not in a straight line or position. She lost her whole life because of one night. Pursuing wealth comes with consequences. Mathilde had an inability to be satisfied, and for the night that she was, without even realizing it, she was giving away the rest of her life. She was so obsessed with the necklace that it cost her the next ten years of her life. However, if she had confessed to losing the necklace, she would have been able to pay it off without destroying herself. This illustrates that wealth cannot buy your happiness. Owning expensive things does not make you any more special or important then you were before. 

Throughout this story, it is clear that through the descending diction Mathilde went from her one night of fame to her low life of having nothing. Mathilde and the necklace both strived for perfection. Mathilde hoped her whole life that she would get an opportunity to become something greater than herself, but on the night where she thought she could achieve that, she actually faced her downfall. The necklace, which was thought to represent wealth and something prosperous, was nothing more than a fake piece of costume jewelry. It is easy to dream about having a perfect life with tons of money and things you desire. However, it is not healthy to set your life on just gaining wealth. It is important to set goals, and strive for things but not if it is solely based on money. This is where Mathilde misunderstood. True wealth is not based on money, but about having an amplitude of experiences rather than possesses 

