Analyzing ;The Necklace;

The short story “The Necklace” by Guy Maupassant, is about a poor girl who gets an invitation to a party. But she doesn’t want to go, because she had nothing to wear. Her husband gets her a dress and her friend lets her borrow a necklace. She loses the necklace and has many years in debt.

“The Necklace” uses imagery and conflict to help the theme of, the want of money and goods can lead to a life of stress. Imagery helps lead to the theme. One way in the text it leads to a theme is when Mathilde goes to barrow a necklace “[saw] it at first braclets then the necklace of pearls, then venetian cross of gold set with prelious workmanship”(p.3). This quote uses imagery to describe the necklace that she would lose and cause her so much trouble for many years.

Another example of imagery was when, “Lois was a success, she was the prettiest of them all, elegant, gracious, simply mad with joy. All the men were inquiring her name, asking to be introduced”(p.3). This is showing how much fun she’s having at the ball, but this relates back to the theme by, showing that she got her goods and jewels, but she will suffer over those jewels for many years to come. Conflict helps the reader understand the theme. One way is showing the first problem that happened.

Mathilde refused to go to the ball because she had no dress saying, “Nothing, only I have no clothes, and in consequence I cannot go to this party. Give it to some college whose wife has a better outfit than I”(p.2). This is showing her want of goods. And because of this she “want” she is under a lot of stress.

The Mathilde had no jewels which lead to the next big conflict. Even after she got a dress she still didn’t want to go because she had no jewels. “It annoys me not to have a single jewel, not a single stone, to put on, I shall look distressed. I would almost rather not go to this party”(p.2). Here Mathilde is complaining that they don’t have the money to get a good, which is jewels in this case.

These two examples lead to the theme by showing her want of money and goods. Both imagery and conflict had a major part in the story. Imagery helped let the reader “see” what was happening, while conflict helped the reader know the problems. Both of these literary devices helped with the theme of, the want of money and goods can lead to a life of stress.