Chapter 7 The Necklace

Mme. Loisel is pretty young lady who was born an error of destiny into a family of clerks. She is a dreamy woman, simple but unhappy. By not accepting the realities of life she thinks that she born for all the delicacies and luxuries but in reality her dreams can’t be true.

Her husband is a very simple heated and an ordinary person. He is a very caring husband and wants to see mine loisel happy.

Firstly, she was irritated to see the invitation card that is given by her husband. She didn’t have a dress to wear. Eventually, she bought a new dress and after buying a pretty dress mme loisel was bothered by an another problem. She was worried and disturbed as she had no jewel too adorn herself with. She said they would have a poverty stricken look. Her husband recommended that she should wear some natural flowers. However, she refused to wear and said that there was nothing humiliating than to have a shabby air in the midst of rich women. 

At first, they had no idea that what do to. Her husband suggested her to wear some fresh natural flowers but she denied to wear. Mme loisel’s husband solved the problem. He told his wife to request her friend mme forestier to give her some jewels. When she went to mme forestier, she showcased her all the jewellery to mme loisel and asked her to select whatever she liked.

When M. and mme loisel came home they realized that the necklace was not on the place. They freaked out and tried finding out where she could have lost it. They concluded that it could have been dropped in the cab because if they dropped it on the streets they must have heard the sound of fall but they did not know the cab’s number. Therefore, loisel dressed himself up again and went over the track where they had walked but he did not find anything. They went to the police and the cab offices. He even put an advertisement in the newspapers with offering a reward. He then asked Matilda to write a letter to mme forestier by telling her that she had broken the clasp of the necklace and would get it repaired. This gave them time to find the missing necklace. However, they eventually decided to replace the necklace with a new one.

To return the lost necklace, both of them had to work hard. They borrowed money and even used the money which was left by Mr. loisel’s father. The necklace was bought for about 36000 francs and given back to Mrs. Forestier.

The course of the loisel’s life changed due to the necklace. After replacing the missing necklace with a new one, they had to return all the money which they had borrowed from all the lenders to buy the new necklace. He had borrowed eighteen thousand francs. They had sent away the maid and changed their lodge and rented some rooms in an attic. Matilda learnt the extremely unpleasent work of a kitchen. She washed the dishes soiled linen, their clothes and dishcloths. She took down the refuse to the street each morning and brought up the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. Dressed like women of people she went to the grocer’s, the butcher’s and the fruiter’s with her basked on her arm, shopping, bargaining to save the money. Loisel worked in the evenings by putting the books of some merchants in order and at night he did copying at five sous a page.

Cause of Matilda’s ruin was her dissatisfaction with whatever she had in her life. Matilda was a dreamy woman and believed that she deserved all the delicacies and luxuries in life. She was always unhappy and disliked her circumstances. She could have avoided the ruin by being content with what she had. Her desire to wear the jewel which she could never afford in her life, had ruined everything.

If Matilda would have confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace, she might have been in the trouble by which she was going through. She had to face more troubles than what she was facing after the necklace have replaced. Her friend would certainly have been annoyed with her. Most probably she would have asked Matilda to replace the necklace. She would have given her all the details from where she had purchased the necklace and how much it costs. Matilda thus, would have known that the jewels in the necklace were not the real diamonds. Matilda thus have saved herself and her husband from all the troubles they had gone through.

If we caught in a situation like this, we would not act blindly but would rather try to find ifs and buts of the situation. After knowing the complete reality, we would take decision.