"The Necklace," written by Guy de Maupassant, features only two main characters and how they go about their life. While it gives insight to other townspeople and their daily lives, the two characters, Mathilde Loisel and Monsieur Loisel, compare there lives to their community's. This story opens talking about Mathilde, and she drastically changes over the story. Monsieur however, remains faithful to his wife throughout it. This short narrative has the theme of materialism throughout it, because of the first impression of Mathilde Loisel, her shallowness during the story, and the irony at the end. 

In the beginning of the story, de Maupassant does not mention any names of the characters, but instead refers to Mathilde Loisel by using "she." By using third person pronouns, it can be interpreted that the author wanted to keep the story simple in the first couple paragraphs and not name the character. The opening sentence, "She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks," immediately mentions how the main character looks and that she was not born into a wealthy family (de Maupassant, 33). The story starts out talking about materialistic things such as money and what she owns, but also talks about her appearance because that is the only thing she has. The narrator uses "she" in replace of her name, because the woman does not have any fancy belongings even if she longs to have some. The author portrays Mathilde Loisel as a simple character by using the third person pronoun rather than her name to tell the readers she does not have an impact in society other than her appearance herself. The first several paragraphs explain how Mathilde was unhappy with the life she was living, because she did not have luxuries like the other members of her community. While she was obsessed with wanting more and having as much as the other women of the town, she was stuck without fancy dresses or jewels and was plain.

The idea of materialism is shown through Mathilde Loisel, but it is not however displayed through her husband. In many times, Monsieur Loisel is content with his earnings and tries anything to make his wife happy. For example, Mathilde Loisel was given an invitation to a fancy event, and "instead of being delighted, as her husband hoped, she threw the invitation on the table with disdain," showing how selfish she is (de Maupassant, 34). She was angry because she knew she had nothing to wear to an event like this, and could not go out in something that would be of embarrassment to her. Her caring husband offered to give his savings so she could be happy and fit in with the crowd. However, she still wanted more. She wanted jewelry to wear with her dress, but her husband offered an alternative solution: flowers (de Maupassant, 35). Because Mathilde Loisel was greedy and shallow, she was not amused by the idea of flowers. She did not want to look like the poor, and she wanted to seem like she fit in with the other extravagantly dressed women. After Mathilde Loisel borrowed a necklace from her upper class friend, she could then fit in at the event. Her desire to want jewels and elegant belongings did not stop until after the event.

At the end of this short narrative, Mathilde Loisel spends her time working endlessly to pay everyone they borrowed money from off. She ran into her old friend whom she borrowed the necklace from in the first place. The irony at the end when her friend said, "Oh, my poor Mathilde! Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs," shows that she spent her last ten years working and growing old to repay people for the thirty-six thousand francs, when it was not even worth that amount (de Maupassant, 39). Because Mathilde borrowed a necklace from an upper class woman, she instantly assumed that the necklace was worth very much. She wanted to believe that she was wearing something expensive and that she could fit in with the other elegant women at the event. However, even if someone is wealthy it does not mean everything they own is expensive. Mathilde was so absorbed in trying to be wealthy and obtaining luxuries, that she did not even stop to think that the necklace might not even be worth thirty-six thousand francs. Because she spent the ten years working exhausting hours, she lost the only thing she truly had. She did not have money or jewels, but she had beauty. If she did not spend her time obsessing over wealth, she would still be left with something valuable. 

"The Necklace" teaches a valuable lesson, and Mathilde could have been saved a lot of trouble if she was honest about losing her friends necklace. She was too worried about having fancy possessions and wanting people to view her as wealthy, that she could never admit to her friend she lost it. It would be too humiliating to her to tell her friend she lost it and did not have the money to buy a new one. The idea of materialism in "The Necklace" is observed in the character Mathilde Loisel, when she is simple and has nothing but desires to be wealthy. Her shallowness is apparent throughout the whole story until she learns her lesson through irony at the end. 

