The Necklace

I had a bit of free time in the office today and decided to read the Necklace by Guy de Maupassant.

The story is about a pretty and charming girl called Mathilde who was born “in a family of clerks”. Always thinking that she deserves a better and luxurious life, she is often miserable and unhappy with the little that she owns.

When her husband receives an invite to an exclusive party, she spends all the money they have on the best gown she could afford and even borrowed expensive jewellery from a friend to complete her look.

By the end of the party, she realizes that the expensive jewellery she loaned was missing. After much effort looking for the necklace, the couple then decided to replace and return it without informing her friend about the incident. In the story, she and her husband had to work ten long years, taking on two jobs and any other work that would enable them to repay the debts incurred to replace the jewellery. Ten years later, she bumps into the same friend who borrowed her the jewellery and decided to tell her the truth only to find out that the jewellery was a fake!

Honestly, I love this short story it had a lot of strong messages:

1. Don’t be too hung up on materialistic things and social status.

2. Tell your friend the truth for God’s sakes! It would have saved you ten years of misery!

Actually, I kinda felt sorry for Mathilde at the end of the book and I really did admire her husband for putting up with her. As much as I feel sorry for Mathilde, I can't help but smile when I think about the ending.

This is definitely a recommended read. If you’d like to read the story too and share your views, please visit Classic Reader.