There are four settings in this story. The first setting is Madam Loisels Apartment where every day after she lost the “diamond” necklace she labored herself. The second setting was Madam Forestier’s where Madam Loisel got the “diamond”necklace. The next scene s the large ball room where they had the banquet and had the best time of her life. The last scene is the Champs Elyrees where Madam Loisel meets Madam Forestier for the first time in ten years and Forestier tells her that the necklace is only paste.
This story is about a poor woman named Mathilde Loisel who is jealous of other woman because she didn’t have what other woman had, different types of wear, fancy meals, banquets, and most of all, jewelry. One day her husband came back from his work with a letter inviting them to a banquet. She tossed the letter and started sobbing. She didn’t have a suitable dress to wear for the banquet. All day at her house she wore the same clothes over and over. Then her husband gave her his rifle money he has been saving up for a while.
Then she came up with another excuse. She had no jewelry. Her husband first suggested that she bought some roses and stuck in her hair. When she was about to start sobbing again he suggested the second time that she should borrow from her friend Madame Forestier. Mathilde chose a necklace full of diamonds to take to the party. When she was there were tons of men waiting to meet her.
Even the minister wanted to see her. She danced all-night and made the best of that night. When it was time to leave she saw her husband sleeping on a seta. When he woke up they decided they should go on a carriage. When they got home she found out that her necklace was missing. They presumed they left it on the carriage but they didn’t remember the number to the carriage.
They had to replace with a new one. In one shop they said they were going to sell it to her for thirty-six thousand francs. The husband started making promissory notes and started borrowing from loan sharks. Her husband had to work extra hard and had to take two jobs instead of one. His wife had to lay-off the servant who cleaned their apartment and had to do all the extra work herself. They did this for ten straight years.
Mathilde now looked like an old peasant. She saw Madame Forestier for the first time in ten years and she still looked young. When Mathilde approached her she did not recognize Mathilde until she told forestier who she was. Then she started telling her about the necklace incident and how long they’ve been paying for it. Then Madame Forestier told her that it was only paste and was worth about 500 francs.
Mathilde Loisel: She is the main character of the story.
I personally think she is spoiled and complains too much. She was lucky that her that invitation to the party and got her that expensive dress.
Messier Loisel: He was too kind and indulgent to Mathilde. I don’t think he deserved what happed to him. She should have been the one who was punished, but the thing he did wrong was signing too many promissory notes if he knew he might not be able to pay them.
Jeanne Forestier: She was also kind to let Mathilde borrow her jewelry.
Of course, I think she should have said something about the necklace being paste earlier though. Otherwise she was too nice and tolerant to Mathilde.
The first conflict is when she didn’t have anything to wear for the banquet. That was resolved when her husband gave her 400 francs for her dress.
The second conflict is when she says that she has no jewelry to take to the party. That is resolved when they remember that her friend has a lot of jewelry.
The last conflict is when she loses the necklace. It took a long while to resolve this problem. They had to buy a new necklace and had to borrow 34000 francs to buy it. It took ten years to pay.
