Footprints Without Feet – Chapter 7: The Necklace

About the Author: Guy de Maupassant was a renowned French writer, known for his short stories that often have ironic twists.

Summary: The story is about a beautiful woman named Mathilde Loisel, who is born into a family of clerks but dreams of luxury and wealth. She is married to a simple clerk who tries to please her. When they receive an invitation to a ball, she borrows a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. At the ball, she is the centre of attention. However, she loses the necklace. To replace it, she and her husband borrow money, buy a new necklace for 36,000 francs, and spend ten years in poverty repaying the debt. One day, she meets Madame Forestier and learns that the original necklace was fake, worth only 500 francs. The story is a powerful commentary on pride, vanity, and the consequences of dishonesty.

Mathilde Loisel: Mathilde is a beautiful but dissatisfied woman who feels she was born for luxury and elegance. She is proud, vain, and unhappy with her middle-class life. She values material possessions and social status. She borrows a necklace to look rich at a ball but loses it. Instead of admitting her mistake, she replaces it with an expensive one, leading to ten years of poverty. She is proud and does not want to appear poor. Her vanity and dishonesty lead to her downfall.

Monsieur Loisel: He is a simple, kind, and hardworking clerk. He loves his wife and tries to make her happy. He sacrifices his own savings to buy her a dress for the ball. After the necklace is lost, he works tirelessly for ten years to repay the debt. He is honest, responsible, and dedicated to his family. He represents the opposite of his wife's vanity and materialism.

Answer: Mathilde was always unhappy because she felt she was born for luxury and elegance. She was married to a simple clerk and lived a middle-class life. She dreamed of wealth, expensive furniture, and beautiful clothes. She was dissatisfied with her modest life and longed for more.

Answer: Mathilde borrowed a dress from her husband's savings and borrowed a diamond necklace from her wealthy friend, Madame Forestier. She borrowed the necklace because she did not have any jewels to wear to the ball and wanted to look rich and elegant.

Answer: After the ball, Mathilde lost the necklace. She and her husband searched everywhere but could not find it. They assumed it was lost forever.

Answer: They bought a new diamond necklace for 36,000 francs to replace the lost one. They borrowed money from lenders and spent ten years in poverty repaying the debt. They dismissed their servant, moved to a smaller apartment, and worked hard to save every penny.

Answer: Mathilde learned that the original necklace she had borrowed was not made of real diamonds. It was a fake necklace made of paste (imitation diamonds), worth only 500 francs.

Answer: Mathilde is a proud, vain, and dissatisfied woman. She is unhappy with her life because she feels she was born for luxury and elegance but is trapped in a middle-class existence. She dreams of wealth, beautiful clothes, and expensive furniture. She is never content with what she has and always longs for more.

Answer: The irony in the story is that the necklace Mathilde borrowed was fake. She and her husband spent ten years in poverty to replace it with a real diamond necklace. If she had been honest and told her friend the truth, she would have learned that the necklace was worthless and could have avoided years of suffering. The story teaches that vanity and dishonesty can lead to unnecessary hardship.

Answer: The story teaches that pride and dishonesty can have serious consequences. Mathilde's pride prevented her from admitting that she lost the necklace. Her dishonesty led to ten years of poverty and hardship. If she had been honest from the beginning, she would have learned that the necklace was fake and could have avoided the suffering. The story shows that honesty is always the best policy.

Answer: (Students should share their personal experiences.)

Answer: Yes, Mathilde's husband is a victim of her vanity. He is a simple, hardworking man who loves his wife. He sacrifices his savings to buy her a dress and works tirelessly for ten years to repay the debt caused by her mistake. He does not complain and supports her despite her faults. His life is ruined because of her pride and dishonesty.

Vanity: excessive pride in one's appearance or achievements
Diamond: a precious gemstone
Necklace: a piece of jewellery worn around the neck
Clerk: a person employed in an office to keep records
Luxury: a state of great comfort and extravagant living
Ball: a formal dance party
Fake: not genuine; imitation
Paste: a hard material used to imitate gemstones
Poverty: the state of being extremely poor
Debt: money owed to someone
Sacrifice: giving up something valuable for the sake of something else
Irony: a situation where the outcome is the opposite of what was expected

Answer:
(i) Mathilde Loisel is being described.
(ii) She feels she was born into the wrong family because she believes she deserves a life of luxury and elegance, not a middle-class existence.
(iii) She dreams of wealth, expensive furniture, beautiful clothes, and a life of luxury.

Answer:
(i) Madame Forestier said these words to Mathilde.
(ii) The shocking truth was that the necklace Mathilde had borrowed was fake, worth only 500 francs.
(iii) The irony is that Mathilde and her husband spent ten years in poverty replacing a fake necklace with a real one worth 36,000 francs.

Answer: Mathilde's vanity and pride led to her family's ruin. She borrowed a necklace to look rich at a ball and lost it. Instead of admitting her mistake, she replaced it with an expensive one, leading to ten years of poverty. She and her husband lost their comfortable life, dismissed their servant, and worked hard to repay the debt. Her beauty faded, and she aged prematurely. All this suffering was unnecessary because the original necklace was fake.

Answer: The story conveys that material possessions are not as important as they seem. Mathilde believed that expensive jewellery would make her happy and respected. However, her desire for a necklace led to years of suffering. The story teaches that we should be content with what we have and not chase after material things that we cannot afford. It also shows that appearances can be deceptive — the necklace that looked real was actually fake.

Answer: Over the ten years of poverty, Mathilde changed dramatically. She became a strong, hardworking, and practical woman. She did all the household chores herself and bargained with shopkeepers to save money. Her dreamy, discontented nature was replaced by resilience and determination. She learned the value of hard work and sacrifice. However, her beauty faded, and she aged rapidly. The experience taught her the harsh realities of life.