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 nineteenth 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 because of the various people that struggle with envy in the twenty-first century. Within the text, the author successfully conveys the message of being thankful and not being envious. 

First and foremost, the narrator excels in conveying the central theme of being thankful for what one has rather than 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. The narrator gives the reader the impression of sympathy for the poor woman as he writes, "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 statement automatically gives the impression that the main character is a very fragile character that the audience should sympathize with. The audience gets a sense of weakness of the character from the very start. The narrator uses specific words when talking about Mathilde such as longing and desiring. (Maupassant 34-35). Toward the middle of the story, the narrator shows a sympathetic and envious tone within the text by stating, "She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing.  And she loved nothing but that; she felt made for that," (Maupassant, 34).  These references conveys just how much she longs to be rich. The audience receives clear knowledge of how envious Mathilde acts within the text. Later in the novel when Mathilde loses the necklace, the narrator uses a different approach in the format of the writing within the text and questions Mathilde's actions, "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).  Maupassant gives off a negative tone when questioning Mathilde's actions, causing the reader to think badly of the main character as well.  The storyteller further describes that had she been thankful for the things she had 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 how the central theme of thankfulness and honesty is 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 stating, "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). Mathilde's negative tone and language puts an effect on her husband, causing him to go poor in order to please his ungrateful wife.  Mathilde really puts a damper on the tone of the story, making her husband and the audience feel sorry for her.  The effect the main character has on her husband functions as a way to show her ungraciousness.  In the middle of the story when Mathilde loses the very expensive necklace, the wife continues to want sympathy as she weeps to her husband. 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 is fake.  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 her longing to be rich.  Her jealous 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".

