The Necklace by Guy De Maupassant

I like short stories. One I like most is the story about "the Necklace".

This is a story about a woman who was married to a poor man. She wasn't happy at all.

She envied other women because they have the best and she got nothing.

"She had no clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved; she felt that she was made for them. She had longed so eagerly to charm, to be desired, to be wildly attractive and sought after".

She had a rich friend, an old school friend whom she refused to visit, because she suffered so keenly when she returned home. She would weep whole days, with grief, regret, despair, and misery.

And then one night she got an Invitation for a very special occasion where big people will be present. She wasn't happy at all because she was thinking about the dress she's going to wear. So the husband spent the money he was saving to buy a dress. But then she was still unhappy because she doesn't have any jewel to go with the dress.

""I'm utterly miserable at not having any jewels, not a single stone, to wear," she replied. "I shall look absolutely no one. I would almost rather not go to the party."
"Wear flowers," he said. "They're very smart at this time of the year. For ten francs you could get two or three gorgeous roses."
She was not convinced.
"No . . . there's nothing so humiliating as looking poor in the middle of a lot of rich women."

So what she did was, she went to see a rich friend and asked her to lend her a necklace. She got a very beautiful "diamond necklace".

The day of the party arrived and She was the most beautiful woman in there.

"She left about four o'clock in the morning. Since midnight her husband had been dozing in a deserted little room, in company with three other men whose wives were having a good time. He threw over her shoulders the garments he had brought for them to go home in, modest everyday clothes, whose poverty clashed with the beauty of the ball-dress. She was conscious of this and was anxious to hurry away, so that she should not be noticed by the other women putting on their costly furs. "

They arrived home when she found out the diamond necklace was gone. They went searching and looking but they were not able to find it.

"By the end of a week they had lost all hope.
Loisel, who had aged five years, declared:
"We must see about replacing the diamonds."

"He did borrow Money getting a thousand from one man, five hundred from another, five louis here, three louis there. He gave notes of hand, entered into ruinous agreements, did business with usurers and the whole tribe of money-lenders. He mortgaged the whole remaining years of his existence, risked his signature without even knowing it he could honour it, and, appalled at the agonising face of the future, at the black misery about to fall upon him"

"She came to know the heavy work of the house, the hateful duties of the kitchen. She washed the plates, wearing out her pink nails on the coarse pottery and the bottoms of pans. She washed the dirty linen, the shirts and dish-cloths, and hung them out to dry on a string; every morning she took the dustbin down into the street and carried up the water, stopping on each landing to get her breath. And, clad like a poor woman, she went to the fruiterer, to the grocer, to the butcher, a basket on her arm, haggling, insulted, fighting for every wretched halfpenny of her money"

And this life lasted ten years

After ten years everything was paid off. She looks very old because of all the hard work.

One Sunday, she caught sight suddenly of a woman who was taking a child out for a walk. It was her friend. still young, still beautiful, still attractive.
She went up to her.
"Good morning, Jeanne."
The other did not recognise her, and was surprised at being thus familiarly addressed by a poor woman.
"But . . . Madame . . ." she stammered. "I don't know . . . you must be making a mistake."
"No . . . I am Mathilde Loisel."
Her friend uttered a cry.
"Oh! . . . my poor Mathilde, how you have changed! . . ."
"Yes, I've had some hard times since I saw you last; and many sorrows . . . and all on your account."
"On my account! . . . How was that?"
"You remember the diamond necklace you lent me for the ball at the Ministry?"
"Yes. Well?"
"Well, I lost it."
"How could you? Why, you brought it back."
"I brought you another one just like it. And for the last ten years we have been paying for it. You realise it wasn't easy for us; we had no money. . . . Well, it's paid for at last, and I'm glad indeed."
Madame Forestier had halted.
"You say you bought a diamond necklace to replace mine?"
"Yes. You hadn't noticed it? They were very much alike."
And she smiled in proud and innocent happiness.
Madame Forestier, deeply moved, took her two hands.
"Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was FAKE!

See That my Point here is that We should not compare our life to someone else. It's natural for a person to get jealous. It's in our nature but we should not let it ruin our life. People are different from one another. Other people might be rich but are they completely happy? Think about all the wonderful things that you have that other people don't have. Happiness is also about being contented, Humble life.

Posted by: Sin Nombre