Short Story Analysis: "The Necklace" By Guy De Maupassant

Short Story Analysis: "The Necklace" By Guy De Maupassant

Whether we want or not, our life usually changes independently, immediately and we even don’t see how fast it goes and how fast we become the elderly. Who or what decides about our life will always be for us an indefinite mystery. In his story, “The necklace”, Guy de Maupassant tries to tell us, that sometimes it is better to tell a truth and face the consequences than to protect our pride by telling the lie. He uses characterization, conflict, irony and symbolism to express his theme.
The story takes place in the late 19th century, in Paris, France, in the house of     some clerks. One day mr Loisel somes home from work with the happy news that they have been invited to a big ball. However, She didn’t have any jewelry, so she borrowed a necklace from her good, rich friend. Unfortunately, she lost the beautiful, precious piece of jewelry. After hours of searching, the young wife and her husband gave up and decided to buy a new necklace to replace the lost one. However, it cost them 10 years of hard working and living in poverty to pay for it. After all this time, Mme Loisel, already old and bad looking, met her friend from whom she borrowed the necklace and found out that it was not real, and that it hadn’t even been worth more than few francs.
The story begins with the characterization of Mme. Loisel, which is a very important part of theme. “She was one of those pretty and charming girls (…) born in the family of clerks”(37), but she would really like to be rich, live in a big house and have everything she wants. Her envy is a reason for her eternal sadness, unhappiness and complaining about everything she doesn’t like. The story also says: “She has no dowry, no expectation, no means of being known, understood, loved”(38), but she has really everything that a lot of women would like to have. Her husband loves her, she is a beautiful person, she gets a lot from her life, but she cannot appreciate these things because of her selfish desire...