Throughout life, people talk about their social class and that they are above other people because they have more money than them.  The people who then hear that they are lower than another usually feel worse about themselves.  Materialistic social order cannot and should not define a person's self worth.  This ideal is portrayed in the work of Guy de Maupassant titled "The Necklace".  Maupassant uses an array of diction and imagery to compare a materialistic social order with a non-materialistic one in order to emphasize the value of focusing on the more important matters in life.

A person is who they are because of their actions, not their material items.  Maupassant shows this ideal through his extensive change of diction as the text develops. He uses diction such as "tortured" and "suffered" when he describes Mathilde thinking about how she deserves the better things in life (Maupassant 33).  This language suggests that focusing on materialistic items harms a person's outlook on life.  Mathilde is obsessed with getting what she thinks she deserves, which is the luxuries of a wealthier life.  She believes that she has "fallen from her proper station" of the higher class when she chose to marry a little clerk (Maupassant 33).  She constantly brings up how this has ruined her life and that she deserves the finer things because that is who she is and she believes that the nicer things will make her happier.  All of the better materialistic items define who Mathilde is, and because of this, she sees her life as a horrible one because she doesn't have these materialistic items.  Her husband tries to surprise her with an invitation for a ball for the two of them to go to, but this is not good enough for Mathilde.  She becomes completely upset as she "wiped her wet cheeks" because she is not "equipped" with the proper dress for this ball (Maupassant 34).  All of this diction points out how she is so sad with her life that has no materialistic items in it, that she feels she has no self worth.  She is absolutely delighted though when she convinces her husband to give her his money that he's saved up, so she can buy a new dress for the ball.  However, as the ball draws near, the diction describing Mathilde turns back to "sad" and "anxious" because she realizes she doesn't have any fancy jewelry to wear with her new dress (Maupassant 35).  She starts this depressed attitude again when she realizes she does not have the materialistic item of a nicer necklace to go with her ball gown.  Once Mathilde receives a necklace to borrow from her friend Jeanne, her attitude does another 180 back to feeling better about herself.  She has everything she wanted that is nice and fancy, making it seem like she is of a higher class, so Mathilde feels better about herself because of her new found ownership of these classier items. 

After the loss of the necklace, Mathilde has to work towards something since her and her husband had to take out such large loans to pay for a replacement necklace.  She starts to work for something she needs and feeling she did it with "heroism" (Maupassant 38).  She begins to sacrifice the higher quality things she has, such as her servant and the nicer house they live in.  She learns the way of the "needy" and "came to know what heavy housework meant" (Maupassant 38).  The materialistic things no longer seem important to her, as the diction changes in the work to a sense of pride and happiness with her new found carelessness of materialistic items.  As she begins to see a different side of life, she sees her self worth as something much more than materialistic items.  Mathilde ends up being "glad" she had to work to pay off the debt she caused her husband and herself to have (Maupassant 39).  In the end she learns that the necklace she lost did not cost even half of what she pays for the replacement, which shocked her greatly.  This proves to her just because you have an expensive, better looking item, does not mean you are better than anyone else or in a higher social class. Maupassant uses these changes in diction to reflect Mathilde's feelings towards her self and her life.

Maupassant begins his journey with imagery to show that nicer material items are not the defining factor of your life in the beginning of the piece.  He begins by describing the women who are known to be of the higher class as full of "grace" and "charm" (Maupassant 33).  Mathilde sees herself as lower class because she lacks "all the delicacies and all the luxuries" such as the nicer curtains and the better furniture (Maupassant 33).  Whenever Maupassant begins to talk about those who Mathilde believes is of the higher class, they always have the materialistic items that are known to be nicer.  Mathilde wishes she had the "two great footmen in knee breeches" but instead was left with her poor life and the marriage of a little clerk (Maupassant 33).  Maupassant describes Mathilde as she looked at the necklace her friend would loan her for the ball.  Mathilde's "heart began to beat with an immoderate desire" because she thinks wearing this necklace will make her appear to be of a higher class than she thinks she is (Maupassant 35).  After she loses the necklace at the ball, the imagery becomes simpler, as her life should be.  Mathilde has to use her "rosy nails on the greasy pots" since they had to fire their servant at their home to pay back the debt (Maupassant 38).  She learns that with work comes reward, and that a material item does not determine your social status. But with work, also comes tiredness.  Maupassant describes Mathilde after the loss of the necklace as a "woman of impoverished households   strong and hard and rough" (Maupassant 38).  The imagery Maupassant uses shows the contrast between a life of holding all the value on materialistic items and a life of holding value in hard work.  The imagery he uses shows it is not easy, but that the life based around real values and not worthless, fancy things is a more satisfying one.

Maupassant wanted to emphasize in this piece that fancier items do not increase your social class or your value of life.  He showed how it could hinder a person's outlook on life if they focus on wanting things solely for the sake of having them with his use diction and imagery.  He also showed how a life of hard work could be difficult, it is work of course, but it is worth it in the end.  Mathilde felt accomplished after she finally paid of the debt that she brought upon her family with the loss of the necklace.  Maupassant depicted the message of what a life could be like when a person does not focus solely on the materialistic items but instead on their personal self with imagery and diction.

