TOW #23: The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

            Written in the late 1800s of France, a time period often called “Belle Époque” (Lovely Age/Grand Years), “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant explores the human tendency to desire much more than one could afford. This short story specifically revolves around an attractive yet dissatisfied young woman named Mathilde Loisel, who longs for a better change of fate. Mathilde deplores her poverty while her modest husband, Monsieur Loisel, expresses his pleasure at the little things in life. This contrast between the two characters foreshadows the impending conflict.

            Mathilde flaunts extraordinary beauty regardless of her unsatisfying financial status. She is “pretty and charming,” however her life as a wife of a lowly clerk in the Ministry of Education leaves more to be desired. Although she is very aware of her husband’s economic situation, she begs for a large sum of money to buy formalwear for a grand party they’ve both been invited to. As selfless as he is, Monsieur speaks no more and hands over the hard-earned money. Despite this, she craves more, reaching out to her wealthy friend to lend her diamond necklace. This greed eventually results in a tragic mistake: Mathilde loses the luxurious jewels on the way home from the ball. Again, although it was solely Mathilde’s fault, Monsieur searches high and low for the necklace that his wife lost. When they realize that they can never find the necklace, they attempt to buy a similar necklace of the same value, beginning to live a life of crippling poverty. Without complaining, Monsieur faces the dark future that his wife had induced, displaying his unchanging love for Mathilde. They then spend ten years of hardship to pay off their financial debt, Mathilde losing her youthful beauty in the process. She wonders, “What would have happened if she had never lost those jewels? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is, how fickle! How little is needed to ruin or to save!” Despite the life of struggles that she had commenced for both she and her husband, Mathilde fails to learn from her mistakes. She should be regretting her greed and desire to borrow the jewels in the first place instead of asking herself what would have happened if she hadn’t lost them. Life is not fickle; it is Mathilde who made life seem fickle. At the end, she meets her friend, Madame Forestier, whom she had lost the jewels from. Mathilde learns that the diamond necklace that she had lost was not worth anything; she and her husband spent ten years of their life replacing a necklace that was only fraction of what they paid off.