The Necklace

            
             "The Necklace," by Guy de Maupassant, shows the importance of being an honest person. Even though the story was about a necklace, it showed the character of Mathilde. The story reflects on how dishonest she was not only to herself but to her friend and husband as well.
             From the beginning Mathilde was not straightforward with herself. She polluted her mind with lies of being rich. The author says, "She daydreamed of large, silent anterooms, decorated with oriental tapestries and lighted by high bronze floor lamps"(Maupassant 5). She was her own depressant. The author mentioned, "she suffered because of her grim apartment with its drab walls, threadbare furniture, ugly curtains" which most women probably wouldn't have noticed. It was not the apartment that made her unhappy but her own dreams of being rich. Little things that anyone would have disregarded tortured her because she wanted to be more than what she was. I think that she taunted herself with dreams of being something she really wasn't. She was born into a family of clerks and copyists, which the author implies as lower middle class. She obviously never was rich and it would have been impossible for her to get rich unless she married a rich man. Mathilde would dream of wealth and thought that other women would envy her if she had all these material possessions. "She dreamed of the perfume of dainty private rooms, which were designed only for intimate tete-a-tetes with the closest friends, who because of their achievements and fame would make her the envy of all other women"(Maupassant 5). Instead of being honest with herself and keeping her thoughts with things she did have, she would have been better off. In her mind being wealthy meant having all material things and associating with rich people. These are some of the characters that made her dishonest with herself.
             Another way that Maupassant portrays her as being dishonest is with her husband.