The Necklace

             "The Necklace-, by Guy de Maupassant, has a title that has a significantly symbolic meaning when comparing it to the actual events of this story. The main character, Mme Mathilde Loisel, is unhappy with the life that she had. According to the narrator, "she was as unhappy as though she had really fallen from her proper station- (2, 177). She desperately wanted to be a person of upper class, or at least be accepted by them as one of their own. "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all of the luxuries-, also included by the narrator (3, 178). It was very plain for the reader to see that her happiness was directly proportional to her material possessions and social classification. .
             When Mme. Loisel barrowed the necklace, she choose it because it seemed to her to best that her friend, Mme Forester, had. When describing the discovery of this necklace, after Mme Loisel searched through pretty much all of the jewelry Mme. Forester had, the narrator said, "All of a sudden she discovered, in a black satin box, a superb necklace of diamonds, and her heart began to beat with an immoderate desire- (48, 180). The necklace seemed to complete the fazade that she was creating when she went to the upscale, high society party with her husband, M. Loisel.
             At the party, she felt like she fit in. She had the best time of her life and it seemed that everyone accepted, if not admired, her (54, 180). To Mme Loisel, this necklace represented the life that she didn't have and so desperately wanted. After she discovered the necklace had been lost, her whole life was changed. She now was exactly what she didn't want to be, a normal, average, working citizen. Even though Mme Loisel didn't find out until the end of the story, the necklace was a fake. It wasn't the necklace that made her feel that she truly fit in; it was her frame of mind. The necklace, even though merely worth anything, had allowed Mme.