Many Americans today are well acquainted with the seven deadly sins.  Envy, the desire to obtain something that someone else may have, is one of the more prominent sins in today's society.  "The Necklace", a short story written by Guy de Maupassant, entails the life of a woman named Mathilde, a poor wife living in the 19th century that simply envies the lives of the upper class.  While focusing on the wrong things, Mathilde gets tied up in lies, loses her beauty and money, and loses sight of what she really has.  Although the setting of the writing dates back to the 1800's, the overall meaning and interpretation can appeal to a modern audience as well. After analyzing the narrator within the writing, characterization of people and events, and the symbolism further, the interpretation the author was trying to give to the audience was to be thankful for what one has without being envious, and to stay honest.  

First and foremost, the narrator excels in conveying the central theme of being thankful for what one has, not being envious, and being truthful during the course of the entire story. The story starts off with the narrator providing the audience with a brief background of Mathilde's life prior to what actually happens in the writing. The narrator gives the reader the impression of sympathy for the poor woman, "She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if by a mistake or destiny, born in a family of clerks," (Maupassant, 33). This automatically gives me the intuition that the main character is a very fragile character that the audience should sympathize.  Toward the middle of the story, the narrator continues to show how envious the low class woman is, "She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing.  And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that," (Maupassant, 34).  This references conveys just how much she longs to be rich. Later in the story, just as the main character's dreams are fulfilled by getting to experience a wonderful evening at a ball put on by the infamous upper class, Mathilde misplaces the precious piece of jewelry she borrows from one of her friends while she returning from the ball.  Instead of telling her friend exactly what happened at the ball, Mathilde then has her husband borrow a great deal of money in order to replace the lost necklace, putting them further and further in debt.  Along with the loss of the necklace, the poor woman loses her beauty on the outside as well as on the inside as her appearance ages greatly, and she becomes a very bitter woman. By this point in the story, the narrator begins to ask the audience questions about how Mathilde could have solved her issue, "What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? How life is strange and changeful! How little a thing is needed for us to be lost or to be saved!" (Maupassant, 38).  The narrator explains how things could have turned out entirely different had the main character not lied about the necklace, and that little things can affect our lives at great lengths. The storyteller further describes that had she been thankful for the things has and not envious of what other people have, Mathilde would not have been in the situation in the first place.  Throughout the whole short story, the narrator efficiently conveys the theme of envy and honesty in "The Necklace". 

Secondly, the characterization of people and events in this composition properly shows the central theme conveyed. Mathilde's dialogue conveys that she is selfish and just wants to fit in with the rich crowd.  An example of this would be when Mathilde cries in rage and despair to her husband when he brings news of going to the ball, "Nothing.  Only I have no dress, and therefore I can't go to the ball.  Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I.  There's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich," (Maupassant, 34-35). In the middle of the story when Mathilde loses the very expensive necklace, the wife continues to want the sympathy card as she cries to her husband, seeking him for the solution to the problem she causes.  She has her husband look all over for the necklace while she cries in despair, "I shall go back on foot over the whole route which we have taken, to see if I can find it," (Maupassant, 37). This again shows Mathilde's thought of entitlement to everything in the story.  At the very end of the story, the theme of honesty became prevalent as the main character's friend explains that the necklace was an imitation necklace, not worth nearly as much as Mathilde's husband had borrowed for it.  Had the poor woman been truthful about the whole situation, she would have avoided the despair and debt. 

Lastly, the symbolism of the actual necklace in the story relates very well to the central interpretation of the novel. As explained in the previous paragraphs, Mathilde wants nothing more than exactly what the upper class women in society have.  Once she receives the beautiful necklace, the lower class woman feels like she fits in with the rest of the rich women, and she acts as if the necklace is like a sense of power.  After losing that necklace, Mathilde feels as if she is nothing, causing the lost necklace to completely downgrade her and her husband's life.  Both the husband and wife compromise their whole life for the sake of that necklace, taking the hard way out rather than telling the truth. The necklace acts as a symbol of power in the story and in real life, conveying that people rely on material objects and wanting to possess things they cannot have, causing them to envy, lie, and sometimes not realize how thankful they should be for what they do have. Before the necklace incident, Mathilde never had to work, she lived a decent life with her husband.  Since her longing for an upward shift in class and envious ways drove her to get involved with the necklace, the poor woman now has to work for the rest of her life in order to pay off the debt that the cheap necklace cost her. Overall, the symbolism of the necklace as power conveys the central theme of envy and being thankful for what one has.

In conclusion, the overall interpretation of "The Necklace" is presented throughout the narrator's writing, the characterization of people and events, and the symbolism of the actual necklace itself.  The narrator within the story brings up Mathilde's selfishness and entitlement while giving the audience background information on the main character's life before the actual story gets started.  The storyteller also hints toward the theme of the short story at the end, making the central theme more established.  The characterization of Mathilde through her dialogue throughout the writing portrays her envy of the upper class and longing to be rich.  Her envious ways drive her to lie and lose sight of the things she does have, making things worse for the woman in the end.  The symbolism of the necklace and its power over the main character's life also ties to the central point of the composition.  The necklace was seen as power to her feeling as if she belonged to a higher class, and losing that necklace stripped the power away physically and emotionally.  As seen through the further analyzation of this short story, the interpretation of being thankful for what one has without being envious and being honest is predominant throughout "The Necklace".

