Human Nature And Society In Maupassant's The Necklace

In Maupassant’s 'The Necklace ' Mme.Loisel is a middle class woman who marries a junior clerk who works in the ministry of education, she wants tons of nice jewelry and dresses as she thinks she’s “intended for a life of refinement and luxury”. Maupassant uses this story to ‘hold a mirror up’ to human nature and society by using subtle characterization, as well as representation of his time in La Belle Époque Paris, to not only show people how it was for those poorer than others, but to also show how literature can use realism to portray a message, and how the use of different descriptions to show how life isn’t always like a fairy tale and is quite brutal.

Throughout the short story Mme loisel treats her husband with the utmost disrespect as compared to others even though she’s

Since society placed a large amount of their opinions on materialistic objects, they only cared about aesthetic objects like when he says “she was made unhappy by the run-down apartment they lived in, the peeling walls, battered chairs, and the ugly curtains.” this shows that she cared more for the objects that bring her nothing but fame than her own relationship with her husband as well as the more important objects within her life. He also uses adjectives related to decrepit objects to show how run down and terrible the apartment is from her perspective. The quote “apparently by some error of fate, get themselves born daughters of very minor civil servants.” reveals that some beautiful women as well as Mme Loisel are born into lower classes, but they regard it as though they have been born into the worst place possible which relates to the social expectation as most men identify it as they shouldn’t be so low class which then helps set a certain mindset for the women. This is what drives Mme Loisel to want more jewelry as she doesn’t want to be with her “low class”