The Necklace
Mathilde Loisel is a middle-class girl. She has got looks and charm, but had the bad luck to be born into a family of clerks. She was married off to a lowly clerk in the ministry of education, who can afford to provide her only with a modest though not uncomfortable lifestyle. Mathilde feels the burden of her poverty intensely. She regrets her luck in life and spends endless hours imagining more extravagant existence. While her husband expresses his pleasure at supper she has prepared for him, she dreams of an elaborate feast served on fancy China and eaten in the company of wealthy friends. She possesses no fancy jewels and clothing. Without them, she feels she is not desirable. She has one wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, but refuses to visit her because of her poverty.
The night the husband returns home proudly bearing an invitation and hopes that Mathilde will be happy with the chance to attend but she becomes angry and begins to cry. Through her fears, she tells him that she has nothing to wear so she does not go. Her husband is upset and asks how much a suitable dress would cost. She tells him that 400 francs would be enough. He agrees to give the money.
As the day of party approaches, she feels lack of jewels. They decide to borrow a diamond necklace form madam Forestier. She is overcome with gratitude at madam Forestier’s generosity.
At the party, Mathilde is the most beautiful woman and everyone notices her. At 4 am. she finally looks her husband and he fetches a cab. They walk for a while before hailing a cab. When they finally return home, she discovers that her necklace is no longer around her neck. In a panic, Monstier Loisel goes outside to find the necklace but returns without it. He instructs her to write to Madam Forestier and say that she has broken the clasp of the necklace and is getting it mended.
They continue to look for the necklace. After a week, the husband says that they have to see about buying a new one. They find a necklace which costs 36000. They spend a week scraping up money from all kind of sources, mortgaging the rest of their existence. After three days, they purchase the necklace and return to Madam Forestier but she is annoyed at how long it has taken to get it back. However she does not open the case to inspect it.
The Loisels began to live a life of crippling poverty. Monsieur Loisel works three jobs and Mathilde spends all her time doing the heavy housework. After ten years, they repair their financial debts. Mathilde’s extraordinary beauty is now gone. They are both tired and irrevocably damaged from these years of hardship.
One Sunday, while Mathilde is out for a walk, she spots Madam Forestier. Madam Forestier does not recognize her so Mathilde identifies herself. Madam Forestier exclaims that she looks different. Mathilde explains her the long story of losing the necklace, replacing it, and working for ten years to repay the debts. At that point, Mme Forestier, aghast, and reveals to Mathilde that the necklace she lost was just a fake. It was worth only five hundred franc.
Question answer
a)What does the expression ‘error of destiny ‘ mean in the story ?
Ans. ‘ Error of destiny ‘ means bad luck of the lady Mathilde. She was pretty, charming young lady but born into a poor family of clerks, who marries her to another poor clerk. She detests her life. Being very beautiful but getting birth in a poor family is her bad luck.
b)Why does Matilda weep whole day ?
Ans. Matilda weeps whole day from chagrin, regret, despair, and disappointment seeing her rich friends and school mates whom she did not like to visit due to her poverty.
c)Why does she refuse to go to the party?
Ans. She is poor. She has no dress and jewels to wear although she is very beautiful. So she refuses to go to the party where very rich people attend to.
d)How much money did her husband give her to buy cloths and why ?
Ans. Her husband gave her four hundred francs only because he had saved just this sum to buy a gun.
e)How did the husband suggest to his wife to have the jewelers for the party?
Ans. The husband first suggests to his wife to wear some natural flowers. But later he suggests to her to go and ask her friend Mme to lend her jewels.
f)What did Mme. Loisel borrow from her friend ?
And. Mme. Loisel borrowed a superb necklace of diamonds from her friend.
g) What did Loisel loose when she returned from the party ?
Ans. Loisel lost a diamond necklace when she returned from the party.
h)How did they replace the necklace?
Ans. They took the box which has enclosed the necklace, to the jeweler whose name was on the inside. But he had not sold the necklace but only furnished the casket. So they went from jeweler to jeweler seeking a necklace like the other one. In a shop of the Palaic Royal, they found a chaplet of diamonds which seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. They agreed to by in thirty-six thousand francs. They begged the jeweler not to sell it for three days . Collecting money with a great hardship, they bought the necklace and returned to Mme. Forestier.
i)How long did it take to compensate the loss of the necklace?
Ans. It took ten years to compensate the loss of the necklace.
j) Why didn’t Mme. Forestier recognize Mme. Loisel?
Ans. Mme. Loisel worked very hard. She had to spend all her time doing the heavy housework to repair their financial debts. Her extraordinary beauty went. She was quite different because of ten years’ hardship. She looked very poor. So Mme. Forestier didn’t recognize her.
K) Describes the message of the story " The Necklace" .
Ans. The Necklace’ is a mild satire but with a strong message. It is ridiculous for people of ordinary means to copy the rich. One should live within one’s means. Otherwise, he or she invites unnecessary problems, anxieties and confusion in his or her life. The main theme of this story is that one must be happy with what they have . Mathilde loses everything, including her comfortable home and her beauty, because she is unable to appreciate her situation in life and believes that she is deserving of more.
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