The Necklace By Guy De Maupassant

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The short story “The Necklace” by Guy de Maupassant screams the theme that we should be grateful for what we have. This story is all about Mathilde, who lives in Paris with her husband, and how she constantly dreads her life because she’s not rich. When her husband came home with an invitation to a ball, she insisted on buying a brand new dress and borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend. Only to find out, after the ball, that she had lost the beautiful diamond necklace. They searched non-stop for the necklace but never found it; consequently, they bought another diamond necklace similar to the one they’d lost, putting them immensely into debt. After ten years of working hard to pay off their debt, Mathilde runs into her old friend and tells her about the incident, but her friend proclaims that the necklace was fake.…show more content…
One good example of the theme that we should be grateful for what we have is when Mathilde puts her shawl on. Towards the middle of the story, when the ball ended, Guy de Maupassant tells us what Mathilde thinks. He says, “He threw over her shoulder the wraps he had brought, the modest wraps of common life, the poverty of which contrasted with the elegance of the ball dress. She felt this and wished to escape so as not to be remarked by the other women, who were enveloping themselves in costly furs”(4). Instead of being grateful for what she had, she was worried about what other people would think when she put the shawl on. If she just appreciated the fact that she had a coat, I don’t think she’d be as depressed. Another good example of this theme is when Mathilde’s husband brings home the invitation to the ball. Towards the beginning of the story, when Mathilde's husband brings home the invitation, Mathilde complains. She says, “I have no gown, and , therefore, I can’t go to this ball. Give your card to some colleague whose wife is better equipped than I
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