Maupassant uses characterization to emphasise that being ungrateful for the things people have can lead to negative consequences. He explains that Madame Loisel is very …show more content…
When Maupassant explains that Madame Loisel, “came to know the ghastly life of abject poverty”(4), he is saying that Madame Loisel worked hard to earn money to pay back the debt for the necklace for ten years. This lifestyle changed her appearance. When Maupassant states that Madame Loisel “looked old now. Her hair was badly done, her skirts were awry, her hands were red”(4), he is demonstrating that the necklace was supposed to make Madame look wealthy and beautiful, but instead, losing it lead to her poverty and she doesn’t look as beautiful as she did at the ball. Madame Loisel lived a lower class lifestyle for ten years, which lead to her change in appearance, just to learn that the necklace was fake. When Madame Loisel tells her friend, Madame Forestier, what happened, Madame Forestier says, “Oh, my poor Mathilde! But mine was imitation. It was worth at the very most five hundred francs”(Maupassant 5), showing that Madame Loisel worked for ten years just for a fake necklace. By using irony, Maupassant shows how being unhappy with the good things in your life can have harmful consequences.
The characterization and irony used by Guy de Maupassant, in the short story, “The Necklace,” shows that Madame Loisel’s unappreciation for the things she has will ultimately lead to living in a lower class life for ten year. Maupassant then