In this article, I have given the summary, Theme, and important questions of the short story The Necklace by Maupassant. This is a beautiful story that has a great lesson that we should live according to our resources and capacity. This story is included in the syllabus of my B.A. at Punjab University.
The Necklace ( Maupassant)
The Necklace by (Maupassant)
Introduction of the Writer
Maupassant is a French story writer novelist and poet. He presents naturalist writers. He describes human life in a pessimistic way. He wrote many stories in his life poems and novels in his life.
The theme of the story
The message of the story is that we should live a life according to our limits. We should not try to follow others. We should be content in our life. Most of us want to lead a luxurious life but we do not have enough money so we use the wrong ways to lead a luxurious life.
Summary
The story " The Necklace deals with human nature and lust for luxury life. The writer points out that life is a mystery. A chance or small event produces a tremendous influence on the lives of men and women. it brings joy or disaster in Human life. Matilda is right when she thinks about How singular is life. Matilda is right when she thinks " How is life and how full of changes" How a small thing will ruin or save me.
Let us see how a small incident brings unending misery. Matilda is born in a poor family but she wants to lead a rich life. She is wended to the clerk of the ministry of education. She wants to lead a life of luxury fashion and style.
This is not possible in the salary of a clerk. Her husband happened to bring an invitation card to the ball. She feels unhappy when she knows that she lacks rich clothes. Her husband decides to give her four hundred francs which he has collected to buy a gun. She gets very rich clothes for that money. However, she has to borrow a costly necklace for her friend Mrs. Forestier.
At the ball, she is judged to be the masterpiece of beauty. She feels elevated at that moment. At the end of the ball, both husband and wife move to their home in an ordinary manner. She discovers to her sorrow that the necklace is lost somewhere. They search for it everywhere but do not find it. Her husband has to borrow money in order to buy a necklace for Madam Forestier.
Both the husband and wife work very hard to buy a new necklace. But this incident changes their life to the backbone. They become poor in this struggle. They have to face many difficulties in this regard. At last, they get a necklace which they are to give Mrs. Foriester.
Her tragedy becomes very intense when she comes to know that the necklace which she has borrowed is just an imitation. The story points out that only a slight event makes her life miserable and unhappy.
Important Questions
Q. 1 What price had Mathilda had to pay for her show of one night?
Q. 2 How strange is life? How little is needed to ruin or to save? Explain
Q. 3 What statement does the story make on pride and materialism.?
"The Necklace" is an interesting story. It shows his remarkable grip on social issues. His stores present such situations as may be experienced by any of us in life. In this story, he highlights how one may have to [pay for a slight mistake. At the same time, the story presents accentuate the need of preferring reality to artificiality. Pride and materialism always bring disaster.
Mathilda was an unusually beautiful girl. She was born into a middle-class family. Consequently, she was married to a middle-class man. Loisel, who is a poor servent. Mathilda had high ideals and felt sorry for not having what she considered the most precious. She was proud of her beauty but felt sorry for the lack of materialistic necessities needed to enhance her beauty. She desperately desires to be loved. But she did not present herself in society because of her poor outlook.
Her husband did all he could to make her happy. But his efforts went in vain. One day, he brought an invitation card to a grand party at the Ministers. Instead of becoming as joyful as he had hoped, Mathilda became sad. She refused to go to the party under the excuse that she had nothing noticeable to wear to the party. , Her husband gave him some money for a dress which was both suitable and economical. Still, she was not happy.
Loisel asked her the reason, and she said that she had no jewels to wear for the party. Loisel suggested to her that she would borrow something from her wealthy friend, madame Forestier. Mathilda went to her friend who lent her a diamond necklace. Mathilde was very happy at the party and she enjoyed herself as much as she could. Everybody at ht party paid special attention to her.
After the party, when they came back home, Mathilda found that she had lost the necklace. Loisel tried his best to find it but failed. Finally, they decided to replace the necklace. They found an identical necklace at a very high price. Loisel paid for it out of all his savings and a huge amount that he had to borrow. it changed the life of this couple entirely.
Loisel had to work overtime. He took some part-time jobs so as to earn more to pay them back. They grew older. Once Madame Forestier met Mathilda in a park and could not recognize her. When Mathilda introduced her and told her the reason for her present condition. Madame Forestier felt sorry for her. She told Mathilda that her necklace was an artificial one. It was not that costly. Here Mathilda said, How strange life is how little is needed to ruin or to save She had to pay a heavy price for her pride and unusual desires.
May you like
The KillersRappaccini's DaughterThe New ConstitutionBreakfastTake PityThe Happy PrinceSummary of The Araby
Post a Comment