Guy de Maupassant's short story is an ironic, didactic tale about Mathilde Loisel, a discontent working-class woman who lives very poorly with her husband, but loves nothing more than fancy dresses, jewelry and balls. One day her husband brings home an invitation to a ball. She convinces him to spend 400 francs on a ball gown, and then complains that she must have fine jewelry to wear as well. She borrows an elaborate diamond necklace from her well off acquaintance, Madame Forestier.
The ball is rapturously lovely, but when she arrives home, she discovers in horror, that the necklace is gone. She delays Mdm. with an excuse, but a week later, the couple finds a necklace that seems the exact same. They scrape together thirty-six thousand francs in loans and inheritance to buy the replacement, which they return to a unsuspecting Mdm. Forestier. Because of the loans, Mathilde and her husband learn the “horrible existence of the needy,” reduced to menial labor for the 10 years it takes to pay it all off, and at now she and her husband look old. She wonders what her life would have been if it were not for that accident.
One day she runs into a still young and beautiful Mdm. Forestier in the park, who doesn’t even recognize Mathilde, who admits her deception. Mdm. Forestier is shocked and reveals that the necklace Mathilde borrowed was made of paste and only worth 500 francs. She has spent her life paying a debt that didn't exist, and all for vanity.
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