The Necklace written by Guy de Maupassant is a short story where Mathilde Loisel's life is affected due to the fact that she has the constant desire for materialistic items, which in return leads to a life destroyed and centered on one crucial lie. In the story, Mathilde Loisel is part of the lower class; however, Mathilde Loisel surrounds her life with the idea and aspiration of being in the middle class, which to her is a life filled with new dresses and expensive jewelry. Mathilde Loisel, an unhappy person who lacks self-confidence becomes a woman who is temporarily happy and beautiful at a party where she is wearing a brand new dress and a borrowed necklace filled with diamonds. After the party, Mathilde Loisel's life with her husband dwindles and becomes problematic as they work hard and borrow money in order to buy a replacement necklace for the one that Mathilde Loisel loses. Throughout the story, the reader is given an image of Mathilde Loisel in the lower class, struggling to be like the middle class, while not willing to admit her wrongdoings in life and her lack of wealth. Through applying a Marxist lens on The Necklace and using imagery, diction, and situational irony, we can see the deficit between perception and reality, which causes the breakdown of the human psyche. 

Marxism is the view on society, which explains that people are driven by what they do not have, what others do have, and what they strive to have. This view is seen through Mathilde Loisel continuously throughout the story when she focuses on what she has, or a lack there of, and what other people in different social classes have. Mathilde Loisel is explained as a woman who is pretty and charming, but was destined to be the wife of a clerk. In the story, the reader sees a deficit between Mathilde Loisel and her husband. After her husband gave her the invitation to the party, Mathilde Loisel says, "What do you want me to do with that?"(Maupassant 34). Her husband then responds to her by saying, "But, my dear, I thought you would be glad. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity" (34). This conversation between the two shows the severe disconnect between the two and Mathilde's desire to have more and be the most beautiful, which her husband is unaware of. The narrator explains her as being unhappy and envious of her friend Mme. Forestier. By borrowing a necklace and buying a new dress, Mathilde Loisel is striving to become a part of a higher social class. Guy de Maupassant uses diction to describe Mathilde Loisel and at the party, she is described as "elegant," "smiling," and "crazy with joy," while all of the men look at her and some even waltz with her. This scene shows that Mathilde Loisel uses her new dress and necklace in order to conceal her emotions and her true identity. Ultimately, this portrays that the people at the party accept her for who she is there and her appearance, yet by the end of the night, she is reminded that her husband had to use his saved money to buy her that dress and that her necklace was borrowed from a friend. Mathilde Loisel is accepted by the middle class at the party in her new attire, but is reminded of her social class when the necklace she had to borrow goes missing.  By the end of the ten long years spent paying back the money that they borrowed to replace the necklace, Mathilde Loisel is described as, "the woman of impoverished households," "hard," and "rough." Through the diction at the beginning of the story compared to the end, the reader ultimately sees how Mathilde Loisel's desire for materialistic items destroyed her psyche and her image. By having to borrow and work hard for what she wore to the party, Mathilde Loisel's position and lack of wealth and power is made evident, which makes her defenseless. 

Guy de Maupassant shows the actions of society and the acts involved with being superficial. As a lower class wife, Mathilde Loisel is not commonly acknowledged for her beauty and her style, yet at the party, everyone was focused on her because she had more. This situation exposes society in a negative view because it is showing that people are not focused and do not accept her for what she looks like during the day as the wife of a clerk, yet when she is wearing something nice, they are all focused on her. This shows society's fixation on materialistic items and appearances. Mathilde Loisel's new dress and borrowed necklace signify false impressions and the idea of hiding your true identity. Just like makeup, Guy de Maupassant uses veil imagery, this article of clothing, and accessory in order to show that Mathilde Loisel hid her real character to feel beautiful and desired for a night. In the end, Mathilde Loisel reflects on the party and the narrator says, " and she thought of that gay evening of long ago, of that ball where she had been so beautiful and so feted" (38). Through the tense "had been," the reader is able to see how Mathilde Loisel used the imagery of makeup to make herself "beautiful" and "feted" by using the dress and the necklace to hide who she actually is. Guy de Maupassant ultimately uses this example in order to show that in life, society's main focus is materialistic objects and the continuous need for more.

Situational irony plays a significant role in the Marxist lens of this short story with regards to being deceitful and the negative side effects that are caused by such actions. By lying to Mme. Forestier about her necklace, Mathilde Loisel is living a life that is not true and cannot be trusted. Mathilde Loisel and her loyal husband use all of their savings and take on debt in order to pay for a brand new necklace. After the necklace is bought, the narrator says, "Mme. Loisel now knew the horrible existence of the needy. She took her part, moreover, all on a sudden, with heroism. That dreadful debt must be paid. She would pay it. They dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof" (38).  Mathilde Loisel's life would have been substantially easier if she had just told Mme. Forestier the truth instead of spending all of her energy on buying a new one, paying back her debt, and misleading Mme. Forestier. In the end Mme. Forestier says, "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!" (39). Guy de Maupassant uses this situational irony in order to portray that Mathilde Loisel was seen at the party as a beautiful woman and still had the best time of her life, unknowing that her diamond necklace was not really made out of diamonds. He shows that society should continue to have self-worth and accept people for who they are because in the end, that is who they are and they do not need materialistic things in order to feel special.

The Necklace depicts a society in a different time period, fixated on materialistic items and beauty solely on the surface. It shows that even in a different time period, society focuses on the shallow aspects of life, rather than the meaningful ones, such as being truthful to your friends. Through the paste necklace, Mathilde Loisel is used to show the readers that materialistic items are not a necessity in life and that there are better things in life that time should be devoted to. Ultimately, Guy de Maupassant proves that as a society, we tend to focus on the superficial aspects of life and what we lack, rather than focusing on the important things in life and what we do have.  

