The Necklace

Guy de Maupassant

Anne Riley Green

Breanne Jones

Blayne Newsome

Catherine

Guy de Maupassant
Maupassant grew up with wealthy parents in
North-West France. He spent almost every
Sunday with the great French novelist, Gustave
Flaubert, who inspired him to begin writing. In
his teenage years, he served in the FrancoPrussian War. He got promoted to become a
government clerk and he spent most of his free
time writing. Between 1880 and 1890,
Maupassant had successfully written 300 short
stories, 6 novels, 3 travel books, and his only
volume of verse. A lot of his stories were about
inexplicable, illogical, and contradictory
catastrophes. Also, many of his stories were
humorous and warm-hearted. Guy de
Maupassant is one of the most indispensible
authors of French Literature, thanks to his many
great short stories like this one, The Necklace.

Vocabulary
Incessantly - endlessly; constantly
- Phil incessantly played his
guitar while Jeremy was
trying to sleep.
Disconsolate - so unhappy that nothing can comfort; hopeless and
depressed
-The team was disconsolate
because they lost the
championship game.

Aghast - filled with fear, horror, or amazement

-The chimpanzee was aghast
when he discovered that
there were no more bananas
left.

Gamut - the entire range or series of something

-There is a gamut of
colors in the rainbow.

Privation - the lack of the comforts or basic necessities

of life
-The

privation the people have in Haiti is

upsetting to the people who have everything.

Theme
The theme of the Necklace is about honesty and
telling the truth. The author is trying to stress
the importance of telling the truth. For example,
in the story when Mme. Loisel loses her friends
necklace. If she would have been honest with
her friend in the first place, instead of trying to
cover it up by buying a new necklace it would
have saved her and her husband a lot of time,
money, and effort. If we lie, the truth will
eventually come out and the author is saying it
is always easier to tell the truth the first time,
and you will save yourself a lot of trouble.

Elements
of the
Storys
Plot

Characters : Madame
Mathilde Loisel, Madame
Jeanne Forestier, Cabinet
Officials, Madame Loisels
Husband, and the Jeweler.
Setting : Set in Paris,
France, in the late 1800s.

 Basic Situation: Madame Loisel loses the

diamond necklace that her friend, Madame
Forestier, lent her when she was invited to a
ball.
Internal Conflict: Madame Loisel has to decide
whether or not to tell Mme. Forestier the truth.
Complications: The couple doesnt have enough
money to buy a replacement necklace.
Climax: When Mme. Loisel loses the necklace.
Resolution: Mme. Loisel and her husband
borrow money to buy a new necklace.

 Protagonist: Mathilde Loisel

Dynamic Character: Mathilde Loisel.
Static Character: Mme. Forestier, Mme.
Loisels Husband.

Literary Element
Point of view- refers the relationship of the
narrator to the story.
In a story with third- person omniscient, the
narrator is not a character in the story but
someone who stands outside the story and
comments on the action. A third- person
omniscient narrator knows about everything that
is going on in the story that the characters
themselves could not reveal. The point of view
helps shape the story.

Dig Deeper
Guy de Maupassant wrote about middle-class
strivers, peasants, soldiers, and ordinary people
caught in disastrous situations. He was a warmhearted man and many of his stories reflected
that. Maupassant grew up among peasants and
sailors which helped his understanding in writing
about Mathilde. Also, he lived during the 1800s
in France which was the setting of this story. The
reader can relate with the betrayal and
secretiveness of Madame Forestier. There is also
a sense of humor at the end when Mathilde finds
out that the necklace was fake all along.