The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant) — graded reader B1–B2

The Necklace

A graded reader · Guy de Maupassant · B1–B2

Warm-up

• Do you enjoy dressing up for special occasions, or do you prefer casual clothes?

• What's the best party or celebration you've ever been to?

• Have you ever borrowed something valuable from a friend? How did it feel?

• What's something you have always dreamed of owning?

The author and the book

Guy de Maupassant (1850–1893)

Guy de Maupassant was born in Normandy, in the north of France, in 1850. As a young man, he fought as a volunteer in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

After the war, he moved to Paris and spent about ten years as a government clerk, much of it at the Ministry of Public Instruction. That was France's ministry of education, the same ministry where Monsieur Loisel works in this story. His one escape was boating on the River Seine on Sundays and holidays.

His mentor was the great novelist Gustave Flaubert, the author of Madame Bovary. In 1880, Maupassant's story "Boule de Suif" made his name, and Flaubert called it a masterpiece. In all, he wrote about 300 short stories. In 1887, he signed a famous public protest against the Eiffel Tower.

He died in Paris in 1893, aged only 42. "La Parure" ("The Necklace") first appeared in the Paris newspaper Le Gaulois on 17 February 1884.

Key words

clerk

ministry

ball

a person who works in an office, keeping records and doing written work

a government department, such as the Ministry of Education

a large, formal party where people dance

franc

debt

the money used in France at the time of the story

money that you owe to someone

Let's talk

• Maupassant spent ten years as a clerk in an office. How might that help him write about clerks?

• Do people today spend money they don't have, just to look rich? Why?

• How much does it matter to you what other people think of how you look?

• The story is called "The Necklace". How could one necklace change someone's life?

PART 1 OF 4

Born for luxury

PART 1 · BORN FOR LUXURY

She was one of those pretty, charming girls who are born, as if by a mistake of fate, into a family of clerks. She had no money, and no way to meet a rich, important man who might marry her. So she let herself marry a little clerk at the Ministry of Education.

She felt she was born for every luxury, and she suffered all the time. She suffered from her poor flat, its ugly walls, its worn-out chairs. These things tortured her and made her angry. She dreamed of quiet rooms hung with silk, of tall bronze lamps, and of perfumed rooms where famous men came to talk to her.

At dinner, her husband lifted the lid of the soup pot and said happily, "Ah, a good stew! I don't know anything better than that!" And she dreamed of fine dinners and shining silver.

She had no dresses, no jewels, nothing. And she loved nothing else. She wanted so much to please, to be envied, to be admired.

She had a rich friend from school, but she no longer visited her. It hurt too much.

One evening, her husband came home with a triumphant look and a large envelope. "There," he said. "Here's something for you."

She tore it open. It was an invitation for Monsieur and Madame Loisel to a ball at the Ministry, on Monday evening, the eighteenth of January.

Instead of being delighted, she threw it on the table. "What do you want me to do with that?"

"But, my dear, I thought you'd be pleased! You never go out. Everyone wants to go, and it was very hard to get."

PART 1 · BORN FOR LUXURY

She looked at him angrily. "And what do you want me to wear?"

"Why, the dress you wear to the theatre. It looks very nice to me..."

He stopped. Two big tears were running slowly down her face.

"What's the matter? What's the matter?"

She wiped her cheeks. "Nothing. Only I have no dress, so I can't go. Give your invitation to a colleague whose wife has better clothes than me."

"Come on, Mathilde. How much would a suitable dress cost?"

She thought. How much could she ask for, without an immediate no from this careful clerk?

"I don't know exactly," she said. "But I think I could do it with four hundred francs."

He went a little pale. He had been saving exactly that amount for a gun, to go shooting next summer.

But he said, "All right. I'll give you four hundred francs. But try to get a really pretty dress."

As the ball came closer, Madame Loisel seemed sad and anxious.

"It annoys me not to have a single jewel," she said. "There's nothing more humiliating than looking poor among rich women. I'd almost rather not go."

"How silly you are!" he cried. "Go and see your friend Madame Forestier, and ask her to lend you some jewels."

She gave a cry of joy. "It's true! I never thought of that!"

Book club

PART 1 · BORN FOR LUXURY

1. Why was Mathilde so unhappy with her life?

2. How did Mathilde react to the invitation, and why?

3. What did her husband give up so that she could buy a dress?

4. Is Mathilde's husband a good husband? What do you think of him?

5. Would you rather stay at home than look poor at a party? Why?

6. What do you think Mathilde will borrow from her rich friend? What could go wrong?

PART 2 OF 4

The night of the ball

PART 2 · THE NIGHT OF THE BALL

The next day, she went to her friend and told her about her problem.

Madame Forestier took a large jewel box from her wardrobe, opened it and said, "Choose, my dear."

First Mathilde saw some bracelets, then a pearl necklace, then a gold cross set with precious stones. She tried them on in front of the mirror. She hesitated. She couldn't bear to give them back. She kept asking, "Haven't you got anything else?"

"Of course. Look for yourself. I don't know what you like."

Suddenly, in a black satin box, she found a magnificent diamond necklace, and her heart began to beat with desire. Her hands shook as she picked it up. She fastened it around her neck and stood lost in wonder at herself.

Then she asked, nervously, "Could you lend me this? Only this?"

"Why, yes, of course."

Mathilde threw her arms around her friend's neck, kissed her passionately, and ran off with her treasure.

The day of the ball arrived, and Madame Loisel was a great success. She was the prettiest woman there: elegant, graceful, smiling and wild with joy. All the men looked at her and asked her name. They all wanted to dance with her. Even the Minister noticed her.

She danced with passion, drunk with pleasure, forgetting everything in the triumph of her beauty, in a cloud of happiness and complete victory.

She left at about four o'clock in the morning.

PART 2 · THE NIGHT OF THE BALL

Since midnight, her husband had been asleep in a little empty room, with three other men whose wives were having a wonderful time.

He put her coat around her shoulders. It was an ordinary, everyday coat, and its poverty did not match the elegant dress. She felt it, and she wanted to get away before the other women, in their expensive furs, could see her.

Loisel held her back. "Wait a moment. You'll catch cold outside. I'll go and call a cab."

But she didn't listen, and hurried down the stairs. In the street, there were no cabs. They walked down towards the Seine, shivering and miserable, shouting after drivers in the distance.

At last, by the river, they found one of those old night cabs that never appear in Paris in the daytime, as if they are ashamed of how shabby they are.

It took them to their door in the Rue des Martyrs, and sadly they climbed the stairs. For her, it was all over. And he was thinking that he had to be at the Ministry at ten o'clock.

She took off her coat in front of the mirror, to see herself in all her glory one more time.

Suddenly she screamed. The necklace was no longer around her neck.

"What's the matter?" asked her husband, already half undressed.

She turned to him in panic. "I've... I've... I've lost Madame Forestier's necklace!"

Book club

PART 2 · THE NIGHT OF THE BALL

1. How did Mathilde choose the necklace?

2. What was Mathilde's night at the ball like?

3. Why did Mathilde hurry out without waiting for her husband to find a cab?

4. Mathilde felt ashamed of her coat. Have you ever felt out of place at a party?

5. Who was happier at the ball, Mathilde or her husband? Why?

6. What should they do now? What do you think they will tell Madame Forestier?

PART 3 OF 4

Thirty-six thousand francs

PART 3 · THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND FRANCS

He stood up in shock. "What? How? It's impossible!"

They searched the folds of her dress, the folds of her coat, her pockets, everywhere. They didn't find it.

"Are you sure you had it when we left the ball?"

"Yes. I touched it in the hall of the Ministry."

"But if you'd lost it in the street, we would have heard it fall. It must be in the cab."

"Yes. Probably. Did you take his number?"

"No. Did you?"

"No."

They stared at each other, horrified. At last Loisel put his clothes back on.

"I'm going to walk back the whole way we came," he said. "Perhaps I'll find it."

She sat on a chair in her ball dress, too weak to go to bed, without a fire, without a thought.

Her husband came back at about seven o'clock. He had found nothing.

He went to the police and to the newspapers to offer a reward. He went to the cab companies. She waited all day in the same terrible fear.

Loisel came home that night with a pale, hollow face. He had discovered nothing.

"You must write to your friend," he said. "Tell her you've broken the clasp of her necklace, and you're having it repaired. That will give us time."

She wrote the letter as he told her.

By the end of the week, they had lost all hope. Loisel, who looked five years older, said, "We must think about how to replace it."

PART 3 · THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND FRANCS

The next day, they took the empty box to the jeweller whose name was inside it. He checked his books.

"I didn't sell that necklace, madame. I must have sold only the box."

So they went from jeweller to jeweller, looking for a necklace like the other one, both of them sick with worry.

In a shop at the Palais Royal, they found a string of diamonds that looked exactly the same. It cost forty thousand francs. They could have it for thirty-six thousand.

They agreed that the jeweller would buy it back for thirty-four thousand francs if they found the first one before the end of February.

Loisel had eighteen thousand francs that his father had left him. He would borrow the rest.

And he did borrow: a thousand francs from one person, five hundred from another. He signed promises to pay without knowing if he could keep them. He went to moneylenders who charged terrible interest. He gave away the rest of his life. Then, terrified of the poverty ahead, he went to fetch the new necklace, and put thirty-six thousand francs on the jeweller's counter.

When Madame Loisel took the necklace back, Madame Forestier said coldly, "You should have returned it sooner. I might have needed it."

She did not open the box, as Mathilde had feared she would. If she had noticed the difference, what would she have thought? What would she have said? Wouldn't she have thought that Mathilde was a thief?

Book club

PART 3 · THIRTY-SIX THOUSAND FRANCS

1. Where did Loisel look for the necklace?

2. Why did Mathilde write to her friend about a broken clasp?

3. How did Loisel get the money for the new necklace?

4. Was it right to replace the necklace secretly? What would you have done?

5. Would you tell a friend the truth if you lost something of theirs? Why?

6. They owe eighteen thousand francs. How do you think their lives will change?

PART 4 OF 4

A walk on the Champs-Élysées

PART 4 · A WALK ON THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

Now Madame Loisel learned the terrible life of the poor. But suddenly, bravely, she accepted her part. That dreadful debt had to be paid. She would pay it.

They sent away the young maid who did their housework. They moved to a little attic room under the roof.

She learned what heavy housework meant. She washed the dishes, breaking her pink nails on greasy pans. She washed the sheets and shirts. Every morning, she carried the rubbish down to the street and carried water up, stopping to breathe on every floor. Dressed like a poor woman, she went shopping with a basket on her arm, defending her miserable money coin by coin.

In the evenings, her husband copied a shopkeeper's accounts. Late at night, he often copied documents for five sous a page.

And this life lasted ten years.

At the end of ten years, they had paid everything, everything, even the moneylenders' interest.

Madame Loisel looked old now. She had become strong, hard and rough, like all the women of poor homes. With untidy hair, crooked skirts and red hands, she talked loudly as she washed the floor. But sometimes, when her husband was at the office, she sat by the window and thought about that evening long ago, that ball where she had been so beautiful and so admired.

What would have happened if she had not lost that necklace? Who knows? Who knows? How strange life is! How little it takes to ruin us, or to save us!

One Sunday, she went for a walk on the Champs-Élysées to rest after the hard week.

PART 4 · A WALK ON THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

Suddenly she saw a woman walking with a child. It was Madame Forestier, still young, still beautiful, still charming.

Madame Loisel felt emotional. Should she speak to her? Yes, of course. Now that she had paid, she would tell her everything. Why not?

She went up to her. "Good morning, Jeanne."

Her friend did not recognise this ordinary woman at all. "But... madame! I don't know... You must be mistaken."

"No. I'm Mathilde Loisel."

Her friend gave a cry. "Oh, my poor Mathilde! How you've changed!"

"Yes. I've had some very hard days since I last saw you. And all because of you!"

"Because of me? How?"

"Do you remember the diamond necklace you lent me for the ball at the Ministry?"

"Yes. Well?"

"Well, I lost it."

"What do you mean? You brought it back to me."

"I brought you back another one, exactly like it. And we've spent ten years paying for it. It wasn't easy for us. We had nothing. But at last it's over, and I'm very glad."

Madame Forestier had stopped walking. "You say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?"

"Yes. You never noticed, did you? They were very alike." And she smiled with a joy that was proud and innocent at the same time.

Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took both her hands.

"Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was fake. It was worth five hundred francs at most!"

Book club

PART 4 · A WALK ON THE CHAMPS-ÉLYSÉES

1. How did Mathilde's daily life change after they replaced the necklace?

2. How did Loisel earn extra money?

3. Why didn't Madame Forestier recognise her old friend?

4. Mathilde smiles with pride when she tells her story. Why do you think she feels proud?

5. The story ends with Madame Forestier's words. How did you feel when you read them?

Big questions

1

Whose fault were the ten lost years: Mathilde's, her husband's, or Madame Forestier's?

2

One honest conversation could have saved them. Why didn't they tell the truth?

3

Is this a story about vanity, about pride, or about bad luck?

4

Did the ten hard years destroy Mathilde, or did they make her a stronger person?

5

Would Mathilde have been happier if she had never been invited to the ball?

6

Do people still ruin themselves today to look richer than they are? Give an example.

TEACHER'S REFERENCE · SKIP OR DELETE BEFORE CLASS

Answer key

Part 1 · 1 She felt she was born for luxury, but she was poor and married to a little clerk. Her flat, her furniture and her clothes all made her suffer.

Part 1 · 2 She threw it on the table and cried, because she had no dress to wear to the ball.

Part 1 · 3 The four hundred francs he was saving to buy a gun and go shooting next summer.

Part 2 · 1 She tried on bracelets, a pearl necklace and a gold cross, then found the diamond necklace in a black satin box and asked to borrow only that.

Part 2 · 2 A great success: she was the prettiest woman there, all the men wanted to dance with her, and even the Minister noticed her.

Part 2 · 3 Her coat was cheap and ordinary, and she didn't want the rich women in their furs to see it.

Part 3 · 1 He walked back the whole way they had come, then went to the police, the newspapers (to offer a reward) and the cab companies.

Part 3 · 2 To give them time to find the necklace or replace it.

Part 3 · 3 He used eighteen thousand francs his father had left him and borrowed the rest from many people and from moneylenders.

Part 4 · 1 They sent away their maid and moved to an attic room. She did all the heavy housework herself, carried water and rubbish up and down the stairs, and defended every coin at the shops.

Part 4 · 2 In the evenings he copied a shopkeeper's accounts, and late at night he copied documents for five sous a page.

Part 4 · 3 Mathilde had changed so much: after ten years of hard work and poverty, she looked old, rough and poor.