In Guy De Maupassant's, "The Necklace" he uses symbolism, imagery and irony to show how arrogance and greed make us blind to what is of real importance. In Guy de Maupassant's lifetime, there was the caste system and you were either at the top of the system enjoying luxury dinners or at the bottom fighting for leftover scraps. "The Necklace" is a story that shows the harsh truth of what some think it takes to be "acceptable" in today's society. Throughout this story, Guy de Maupassant does a great job of portraying the importance of truth and honesty through his characters actions. If you cant seem to accept yourself for who you are because of what other people have, you only beat yourself.  Our main character Mathilde has dug herself a hole due to her greediness and now has to dig her way out for the next ten years. Guy's use of symbolism shows that evil comes in many forms. 

Wealth is an empowering force that gives what people think are reasons to be awful, selfish and greedy. Mathilde idolizes money the most and money is the most beautiful thing to her. Mme. Forestier is someone that Mathilde looks up to and respects because of her money and belongings.  In this story money is used as a symbol of arrogance. Mathilde is blind to see how fortunate she already is.  Although the necklace symbolizes beauty, it brings out the ugly in Mathilde. Influences like social media cloud what the meaning of being beautiful is. Mathilde is farsighted to the things and people who are really important to her. Greed and arrogance pushed Mathilde to get the necklace by any means, even disregarding her husband. After all of the deceit and stubbornness she finally gets what she wants only to lose it.  Mathilde and her husband had to work for the next ten years to pay back all of their debts; at the end of it, Mathilde had become too old and no longer beautiful.  In this situation I know that the truth will set you free but through Guy's imagery you can see that Mathilde has an ugly side. 

Greed can make a monster out of all of us. Mathilde is an attractive young lady who is apart of the middle to lower class, and is very caught up in what other people think of her. Once Mathilde gets what she wants of course she wants more. I believe that Mathilde herself is a symbol of greed or false pride. Mathilde asks, "Haven't you any more?" (De Maupassant 35) showing that with a taste of wealth she already has been consumed with false pride or greed. Greed is by far the most prevalent of the seven deadly sins, and it shines bright in this work. Mathilde is obsessed with being monetarily wealthy at one point she even says, "There's nothing more humiliating than to look poor among other women who are rich." (De Maupassant 35) depicting all she wants is to be like the rest of the people attending the ball. This ball was a big deal to Mathilde and her husband because it wasn't every day they were invited to gatherings such as this one. The reader has to think about his or her own lives and that all of this nonsense could have been avoided with the truth.  

As a Catholic reading this story makes my mind run straight to (Genesis 37: 15-36), Joseph and the coat of many colors. This bible story is when Joseph the youngest son receives a beautiful coat from his father, which upsets all of his older brothers. They plan on killing him but decide to steal the coat and sell him into a slave trade. After hearing that, Mathilde could be comparable to Joseph's brothers, do to being jealous of all the ladies that have more than she does. In the bible Joseph ends up being rewarded for telling the truth to the pharaoh.  If Mathilde was honest with Mme. Forestier from the start she would have figured out that the necklace wasn't worth anything, and been able to live her normal life that she had become accustomed to. I'm sure most of the readers can all agree that Mathilde is in the wrong but would act very similar to hers in this situation. Life is not all about impressing others and trying to get them to like you, if they don't like you for who you are then forget them. 

Maupassant uses irony through Mathilde and the necklace to show how unimportant material things are.  Is working for ten years worth one night of being so called beautiful? Apparently Mathilde thought so.  Mathilde does everything in her power to obtain this beautiful necklace and then she loses it.  She wastes her beauty and youth away after spending so many years trying to find the necklace that she longed for so long. Greed is the root of all evil, without having to pay the thirty-six thousand francs to replace the misplaced necklace Mathilde and her family would have had a much better life.  Because of Mathilde's selfishness she put every person down only to become old and ugly herself in the end.  At the end of this story I believe that everything from money to the greediness was put into perspective for Mathilde.    

"The Necklace" shows the many important qualities our society presents as necessities such as beauty, jealousy, greed, and wealth. Through Guy de Maupassant's usage of symbolism, imagery and irony he connects with our era showing the many similarities between his generation and ours.  A big lesson in this story and something that Mathilde should have been told at a younger age is that what goes around comes around. No matter how vein or bitter one might become, we are all people and we are all equal. 

