The Necklace

Guy de Maupassant

translated by Andrew MacAndrew

ANCHOR TEXT | SHORT STORY

The heroine of this story, Mathilde Loisel1, was not born to wealth. What she lacks in money and status, however, she makes up for in beauty and charm, elegance and wit. But because she has no dowry—money and goods to be given by a bride’s family to a groom—she marries a minor civil servant of her own social class.

She suffered constantly, feeling that all the attributes of a gracious life, every luxury, should rightly have been hers. The poverty of her rooms—the shabby walls, the worn furniture, the ugly upholstery—caused her pain.

Mathilde Loisel has one rich friend, Madame Forestier,2 but the contrast between their lives is so great she cannot bear to visit her. Mathilde Loisel is forever dreaming of the luxurious furniture and dresses and jewelry that might have been hers. Then, one day her husband comes home and gives her a large envelope, which she opens and reads eagerly.

“The Minister of Education and Madame Georges Ramponneau3 request the pleasure of the company of M. and Mme. Loisel at an evening reception at the Ministry on Monday, January 18th.”

Rather than rejoicing over this invitation to a great ball, Madame Loisel is in despair. She tears up the invitation. Her husband doesn’t understand. This ball is a grand society occasion, and he had trouble getting them an invitation. Madame Loisel responds that she has nothing to wear to the ball. She begins to cry. She tells her husband to give away the invitation. Loisel feels terrible and wants to know how much a simple evening gown would cost.

Loisel gives Madame Loisel the four hundred francs4, his whole savings. She buys the dress, but as the date of the ball grows closer she becomes anxious. When her husband asks why, she says she has no jewelry and will look so plain that she would rather stay home. Her husband has an idea.

Why don’t you go and see Madame Forestier2 and ask her to lend you some jewelry. You certainly know her well enough for that, don’t you think?”

She let out a joyful cry.

“You’re right. It never occurred to me.”

The next day, Madame Loisel visits Madame Forestier and tells her friend her problem. Madame Forestier immediately opens her jewel case and tells Mathilde to choose whatever she likes. Mathilde tries on several pieces, but none seem quite right. She asks Madame Forestier if she has anything else.

1. Loisel (lwah ZEHL)

2. Forestier (fawr ehs TYAY)

3. Georges Ramponneau (ZHAWRZH ram puh NOH)

4. franc (fraynk) n. basic unit of money in France, before the Euro.

This version of the selection alternates original text with summarized passages. Dotted lines appear next to the summarized passages.

NOTES

GRADE 10 • UNIT 4 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Necklace1

All at once, in a box lined with black satin, she came upon a superb diamond necklace, and her heart started beating with overwhelming desire. Her hands trembled as she picked it up.

Her friend agrees to lend her the necklace. Madame Loisel is thrilled. Later, at the ball, she is the prettiest woman among the guests. She attracts the attention of all the men. She dances for hours. All the admiration she attracts is a dream come true. She does not leave until four in the morning. Her husband, who has been sleeping in a distant sitting room, brings her coat. She wants only to escape before the other women see the shabby thing. Because they cannot get a cab, they begin to walk.

They walked toward the Seine,5 shivering and miserable. Finally, on the embankment, they found one of those ancient nocturnal broughams6 which are only to be seen in Paris at night. …

Home again, Madame Loisel looks at herself in the mirror one last time. That’s when she discovers the necklace is gone. They are in a panic. She is sure she had it when they left the ball. She remembers touching it just before they left. She and her husband search the folds of her dress and the pockets of her coat.

“I’m going to retrace the whole distance we covered on foot,” he said, “and see if I can’t find it.”

And he left the house. She remained in her evening dress, too weak to go to bed, sitting crushed on a chair, lifeless and blank.

At seven that morning, Loisel returns, having found nothing. He had made every possible effort, going to the police station and even newspaper offices to offer an award. Madame Loisel is paralyzed with despair. She spends the whole next day waiting for her husband to return from work. He returns as usual, but has heard nothing from the police or the newspapers.

“You must write to your friend,” he said, “and tell her that you’ve broken the clasp of the necklace and that you’re getting it mended. That’ll give us time to decide what to do.”

Madame sends the letter. A week goes by but the necklace has not been found. Madame Loisel tells her husband that they must replace it. The next day they go to the jeweler whose name is marked on the case. He tells them that though he provided the case, he did not sell Madame Forestier the necklace. They go to other jewelers. They are in a terrible state of anxiety. Finally, in a shop in fashionable section of Paris, they find the match of the necklace. It costs 36,000 francs.

“They asked the jeweler to hold it for them for three days, and they stipulated that he should take it back for 34,000 francs if the other necklace was found before the end of February.

Loisel possessed 18,000 francs left him by his father. He would borrow the rest.

5. Seine (sayn) river flowing through Paris.

6. broughams (broomz) n. horse-drawn carriages.

NOTES

GRADE 10 • UNIT 4 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Necklace2

Loisel borrows small amounts from many men. For each, he signs a note promising to return the money. He also borrows from usurers.7 He is a highly honorable man, but the truth is he is not sure he can return to the money as promised. By the time he gives the jeweler 36,000 francs for the necklace, he is in complete despair. His wife goes to return the necklace to Madame Forestier.

“You could have brought it back a little sooner! I might have needed it.” She didn’t open the case as her friend had feared she might. If she had

noticed the substitution, what would she have thought?

The debt has left the Loisels poverty-stricken. In the face of this, Madame Loisel shows surprising strength. She dismisses the maid and the Loisels move to an attic apartment. She begins to do heavy housework and laundry. Every morning she takes the garbage out and carries water upstairs. She dresses in shabby clothes and carries a basket to the markets, where she bargains for everything she purchases.

And it went on like that for ten years.

After ten years, they had made good on everything, including the usurious rates and the compound interest.

Years of hard work have made Madame Loisel old. One Sunday, taking a walk in a fashionable area of Paris, she catches sight of Madame Forestier, looking much younger than she. Nervous, she approaches her. Madame Forestier is shaken by how her old friend has changed. Madame Loisel tells her the story of the lost necklace, the borrowed money to replace it, and how hard they’ve worked to repay their debt.

Madame Forestier, profoundly moved, took Mathilde’s hands in her own. “Oh, my poor, poor Mathilde! Mine was false. It was worth five hundred

francs at the most!”

7. usurer (YOO zhur ur) n. person who lends money at a high rate of interest

“The Necklace” from Boule de Suif and Selected Stories by Guy de Maupassant, translated by Andrew MacAndrew. Reprinted with permission of Ann MacAndew and Guy MacAndrew.

NOTES

GRADE 10 • UNIT 4 • Accessible Leveled Text • The Necklace3