Diamond necklace

The story written Guy de Maupassant tells you about a life of middle class woman who lived in France. Mathilde is a beautiful woman who lives an ordinary life with a maid and her husband who works as a clerk. They live a normal life not so rich or  poor. But Mathilde is not satisfied. She longs for more wealth, lovely dresses and attractiveness. One day her husband comes home with an invitation from the Minister of Education. He expects Mathilde to be pleased because the high society of the town is most likely to be present. Mathilde is not happy because she feels that none of her dresses fits for such an occasion. Her husband had planned to buy a gun for his weekend hunting but he offers to spend their saved money on a new dress. The date of the invitation comes closer but even with the new dress at hand Mathilde is not satisfied. She has no jewelry and refuses to go to the banquet. Her husband suggests she should visit her old school friend whom Mathilde had not visited for a while because of jealousy. Madam Forestier was delighted by the visit and offered to lend Mathilde the necklace she likes best and after some hesitation she picks the most expensive looking diamond necklace. The awaited evening comes and Mathilde is delighted. She feels admired and enjoys every moment of her appearance. At the end of the party she and her husband leave to catch one of the night carriages. At home, taking a last look at her beauty in the mirror, Mathilde finds out that the borrowed necklace has disappeared. Mr. Loisel walks back to all the places they had been that night but cannot find it. The next day they try to take some time, telling Madame Forestier that they had brought the necklace to a jeweler to get the clasp fixed, but this lie does not help either. Not even the jeweler who had made the necklace was found. Finally the Loisels decide to buy a replacement. They got together all their saved money and borrowed from everybody they know. Madame Forestier gets the new necklace and does not realize that it is a replacement. In order to be able to pay all the loans back Mathilde has to fire the maid and do all house chores by herself. They live through ten years of poverty in a small house. After these long years of poorness Mathilde meets Madame Forestier in the street and decides to tell her the truth about the necklace and how she had to suffer. At first Madam Forestier does not even recognize Mathilde whose beauty has gone. She was surprised and feels pity for her after she heard the story and tells her that it wasn’t diamond but just a replica which costs five hundred francs.           

            This story tells you about that greed is bad and lying too. If Mathilde told Madam Forestier about the lost necklace she would have told them that it was a cheap copy. They wouldn’t have to suffer for ten years.