The necklace short story annotation. The Necklace: Full Plot Summary 2022-10-14

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"The Necklace" is a short story by Guy de Maupassant that was first published in 1884. It tells the story of a young woman named Mathilde who borrows a luxurious necklace from a wealthy friend in order to impress her husband's boss at a fancy ball. However, she loses the necklace and is unable to replace it, leading to a series of unfortunate events that eventually lead to her financial ruin.

The story begins by introducing Mathilde, a beautiful but impoverished woman who dreams of a more luxurious lifestyle. She is married to a clerk named Monsieur Loisel, who is content with their modest circumstances but Mathilde yearns for more. When they receive an invitation to a fancy ball at the Ministry of Education, Mathilde becomes determined to impress and seeks out a way to obtain a beautiful necklace to wear.

Her husband is unable to afford such a luxurious item, so Mathilde turns to her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier, for help. Madame Forestier loans Mathilde a valuable necklace made of diamonds, which Mathilde eagerly accepts and wears to the ball.

At the ball, Mathilde is the center of attention and feels like a true princess. However, as the night wears on, she becomes careless and loses the necklace. When she realizes it is gone, she is devastated and tells her husband the truth about the borrowed necklace.

Monsieur Loisel works hard to try and find the necklace, but it is nowhere to be found. They are forced to borrow money to replace the necklace, which they do at great cost. Mathilde and her husband are forced to live a life of poverty in order to pay off the debt, and Mathilde becomes ill and aged from the strain.

Ten years later, Mathilde and her husband finally pay off the debt, but their lives are forever changed by the loss of the necklace. When they finally see Madame Forestier again, she reveals that the necklace was actually a fake and not worth nearly as much as they had paid to replace it.

"The Necklace" is a cautionary tale about the dangers of greed and the consequences of trying to live beyond one's means. It also serves as a commentary on the expectations and pressure placed on women in society to be fashionable and impress others. Mathilde's desire for a more luxurious lifestyle leads to her downfall, as she is unable to see the value in the simple and content life she already had.

The Necklace Summary & Analysis

the necklace short story annotation

Her hands trembled as she took it. And now that she had paid, she would tell her all about it. They could have it for thirty-six. Would she not have taken Madame Loisel for a thief? At last Loisel put on his clothes. She danced with rapture, with passion, intoxicated by pleasure, forgetting all in the triumph of her beauty, in the glory of her success, in a sort of cloud of happiness comprised of all this homage, admiration, these awakened desires and of that sense of triumph which is so sweet to woman's heart. Her husband came back about seven o'clock.

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The Necklace

the necklace short story annotation

And now that she had paid, she was going to tell her all about it. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts, and the dish-cloths, which she dried upon a line; she carried the slops down to the street every morning, and carried up the water, stopping for breath at every landing. All was ended for her. He would borrow the rest. . She kept asking: "Haven't you any more? The sight of the little Breton girl who came to do the work in her little house aroused heart-broken regrets and hopeless dreams in her mind.

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The Necklace annotation

the necklace short story annotation

I never thought of it. As they are leaving the party, M. But he said: "Very well. And try to have a pretty gown. The first kind of oppression, in the first section of the short story, comes from within Matilda herself because of her unrealistic dreams and expectations for her life.

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“The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant, Essay Example

the necklace short story annotation

Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. They found, in a shop at the Palais Royal, a string of diamonds that seemed to them exactly like the one they had lost. Though they had enough money to buy a new dress. Everyone wants to go; it is very select, and they are not giving many invitations to clerks. Mathilde has schemed and strived to get to this moment: she wheedled money from Monsieur Loisel so that she could buy a new dress and borrowed jewels from Madame Forestier so that she would not look poor among the other women. Every month they had to meet some notes, renew others, obtain more time. And Loisel, who had aged five years, declared: "We must consider how to replace that ornament.

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The Necklace (Annotations).docx

the necklace short story annotation

With frowsy hair, skirts askew and red hands, she talked loud while washing the floor with great swishes of water. He cloaks her bare shoulders in a wrap and cautions her to wait inside, away from the cold night air, while he fetches a cab. These beginning paragraphs are important to the story because they show from the very first that Matilda is a woman whose oppression comes from within herself: she oppresses herself by longing for a life that she cannot have; she oppresses herself by being unhappy and discontented with the life that she does have. You never go out, and this is such a fine opportunity. The day of the ball arrived. Would she not have taken Mme. The twist ending also exposes the deceptiveness of appearances and the dangers of attributing too much power to material possessions, since their value may be illusory.

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The Necklace Annotations opportunities.alumdev.columbia.edu

the necklace short story annotation

At the end of her story, Madame Forestier clasps her hands and tells Mathilde the original necklace was just costume jewelry and not worth anything. This sudden shift in mood demonstrates the power that Mathilde invests in objects, since for her the wraps represent everything that she finds lacking in her life. She felt this and wanted to escape so as not to be remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs. One night, her husband returns home proudly bearing an invitation to a formal party hosted by the Ministry of Education. Finally she replied hesitating: "I don't know exactly, but I think I could manage it with four hundred francs.

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The Necklace: Important Quotes Explained

the necklace short story annotation

She suffered endlessly, feeling herself born for every delicacy and luxury. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I am. They went toward the Seine in despair, shivering with cold. Monsieur Loisel suggests that she wear flowers, but she refuses. Loisel took back the necklace, Mme. Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels. Why, my necklace was paste.

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Guy de Maupassant

the necklace short story annotation

And it has taken us ten years to pay for it. She seems to have a big ego Does her husband marry her just because she's beautiful Do he really love her? You brought it back. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing. When they reached the street they could not find a carriage and began to look for one, shouting after the cabmen passing at a distance. Her husband quietly balks at the sum but agrees that she may have the money.

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The Necklace Full Text and Analysis

the necklace short story annotation

Then she said: Have you nothing more? She and her husband go into great debt to buy a replacement, living a life of great poverty for a decade to pay off the debt they incurred to do this. It's very stylish at this time of the year. He stammered: "Why, the gown you go to the theatre in. That dreadful debt must be paid. Did you take his number? It must be in the cab. Benitez 1 Gabriel Benitez Mr. She tried on the ornaments before the mirror, hesitated and could not make up her mind to part with them, to give them back.

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The Necklace: Full Plot Summary

the necklace short story annotation

They dismiss their servant and move into an even smaller apartment. She is very shallow and ungrateful for what she has Does her narrow mindset come from her background or how did she become like that? I don't know what you like. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry. Sometime during the night of the ball, the necklace is lost. At last they found on the quay one of those ancient noctambulent coupés which, exactly as if they were ashamed to show their misery during the day, are never seen round Paris until after nightfall. She waited all day, in the same condition of mad fear before this terrible calamity. At the party, Mathilde is the most beautiful woman in attendance, and everyone notices her.

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