40 Fun Facts About The Necklace

In "The Necklace", what does Mathilde's wealthy friend tell her about the lost necklace when they meet years later?

It was a fake, worth at most 500 francs, a sliver of what Mathilde and her husband had spent replacing it. The story stops on that line, before Mathilde can say a word.

In "The Necklace", which wealthy friend lends Mathilde the jewels she wears to the ball?

Madame Forestier opens her jewel box and tells Mathilde simply to choose. Maupassant reused the surname a year later for a leading character in his novel Bel-Ami.

In "The Necklace", Mathilde picks a string of which gems from a black satin box at her friend's home?

Diamonds set her heart racing the moment she saw them, after she had already tried on bracelets, a pearl necklace and a Venetian gold cross.

In "The Necklace", how long do Mathilde and her husband labour to pay off the debt for the replacement?

Ten years of scrubbing floors and night work cleared every loan, with the compound interest on top. By then Mathilde looked old, with red hands and a loud voice.

In "The Necklace", what was Mathilde's husband saving 400 francs to buy before he spent it on her ball gown?

A hunting gun was the plan, for Sunday trips with friends to bag larks on the plain of Nanterre. He turns pale at her request, then hands over the money.

Guy de Maupassant's "The Necklace" is best known for which storytelling device, a hallmark of his style?

A twist ending is the story's signature, and its tight plot has long served as a model for professional short story writers.

Which Paris landmark did "The Necklace" author Guy de Maupassant publicly protest against while it was being built?

The Eiffel Tower drew a furious open letter in 1887, signed by Maupassant and dozens of other writers and artists. He is said to have lunched in its restaurant because it was the one spot where he could not see it.

A 1949 television version of "The Necklace" won which award at the prize's very first ceremony?

An Emmy for best film made for television went to the half-hour adaptation, an episode of the NBC anthology series Your Show Time, at the inaugural ceremony in Los Angeles.

In "The Necklace", what does Mathilde lack that keeps her from marrying a rich and distinguished man?

A dowry was the money or property a bride's family was expected to bring to a marriage, and rich suitors looked for large ones. With none, Mathilde "let herself be married" to a minor clerk.

In "The Necklace", whom do Mathilde and her husband dismiss as soon as they take on the debt?

Their maid, a young woman from Brittany, is let go at once, and Mathilde takes over the washing-up, the laundry and the carrying of water herself.

In "The Necklace", what does Mathilde's husband suggest she wear to the ball when she has no jewels?

Fresh flowers were in fashion that season, he argues, and two or three fine roses would cost only ten francs. Mathilde refuses: nothing is more humiliating than looking poor among rich women.

In "The Necklace", how is Mathilde connected to the rich woman who lends her the jewels?

An old schoolmate from her convent days, the friend is the first person Mathilde's husband thinks of, and Mathilde cries out with joy at the idea.

In "The Necklace", what surname does Mathilde take on marrying a minor clerk in a government ministry?

Loisel is the name on the invitation to the ball, addressed to "M. and Madame Loisel". Her husband's first name is never given anywhere in the story.

When Mathilde greets her old friend after years of hardship in "The Necklace", what is the friend's first reaction?

She does not know her at all, and stammers that the roughened woman calling her by her first name must be mistaken. Only when Mathilde gives her own name does she cry out.

In "The Necklace", where do Mathilde and her husband move after giving up their flat to cut costs?

A rooftop garret means every bucket of water has to be carried up the stairs, and Mathilde stops for breath at each landing.

In "The Necklace", where is Mathilde standing when she realises the borrowed necklace is gone?

Before her mirror at home, she had paused to admire herself one last time in her finery, and the sight of her bare neck made her cry out.

In "The Necklace", how does Mathilde's rich friend look when the two finally meet again on a Sunday walk?

As youthful as ever, she is strolling with a child, untouched by the years that have turned Mathilde strong, hard and coarse.

In "The Necklace", which outfit does Mathilde's husband first suggest she wear to the ball?

Her theatre dress looks very well to him, he stammers, and only her tears show him his mistake. He had not thought about clothes at all when he fought to get the invitation.

In "The Necklace", what is Mathilde's husband doing from midnight while she dances at the ball?

Dozing in a side room since midnight, he has the company of three other husbands whose wives are still enjoying themselves. Mathilde dances on until about four in the morning.

In "The Necklace", why does Mathilde hurry out of the ball instead of waiting indoors for a cab?

To hide her cheap wraps from women putting on costly furs, she runs down the stairs into the cold. The flight leaves the couple searching for a cab along the Seine in the small hours.

In "The Necklace", what excuse does Mathilde write to her friend to buy time after losing the jewels?

A broken clasp being mended was her husband's idea, and Mathilde wrote the note at his dictation. A week later, with every search exhausted, they gave up hope.

In "The Necklace", where does Mathilde's husband find half the price of the replacement before borrowing the rest?

His father's legacy covered half, and for the rest he went to friends and usurers, a thousand francs here and a few louis there. He signed notes without knowing whether he could ever honour them.

In "The Necklace", how many francs do Mathilde and her husband pay a Paris jeweller for the replacement necklace?

36,000 francs was the bargain price, knocked down from the 40,000 the jeweller first asked. He also agreed to buy it back for 34,000 if the original turned up before the end of February.

In "The Necklace", why has Mathilde stopped calling on her rich friend before the ball invitation arrives?

Visits leave her wretched: she comes home so sad at the contrast with her own bare walls and worn chairs that she has given up going.

When Mathilde returns the replacement in "The Necklace", what does her friend neglect to do, to Mathilde's relief?

Look inside is the one thing she fails to do, though she does complain coldly that it should have come back sooner. Mathilde had dreaded being taken for a thief.

In "The Necklace", how does Mathilde do her shopping at the grocer and butcher during the years of debt?

Haggling over every coin, basket on her arm and dressed like a working woman, she defends her money "sou by sou" and is met with rudeness from the shopkeepers.

In "The Necklace", which dance do all the Cabinet attachés want to share with Mathilde at the ball?

The waltz was what every attaché hoped for, and even the minister noticed her. She was the prettiest woman there, and men kept asking her name.

According to the narrator of "The Necklace", what takes the place of family and birth for women?

Beauty, grace and charm do the work of rank for women, the narrator claims in the second paragraph. That is why Mathilde is as unhappy as if she had fallen from a higher station.

In "The Necklace", Mathilde's husband is a clerk in which French ministry, where Maupassant himself once worked?

Education, then called the Ministry of Public Instruction, employed Maupassant himself for a time, so he wrote about a junior clerk's world from experience.

In "The Necklace", what late-night work, paid by the page, does Mathilde's husband take on to clear the debt?

Copying manuscripts earned him five sous a page, on top of evenings spent keeping a tradesman's accounts and his day job at the ministry.

In "The Necklace", on which Paris avenue does Mathilde run into her old friend years after the ball?

The Champs-Élysées was Mathilde's Sunday treat, a stroll to recover from the week's chores. She decides on the spot to tell her friend everything, now that the debt is paid.

In "The Necklace", where in Paris is the shop that sells Mathilde and her husband the replacement?

The Palais Royal shop had a string that looked to them exactly like the lost one, after they had trailed from jeweller to jeweller. They begged the owner to hold it for three days.

In "The Necklace", what does the first jeweller Mathilde and her husband try say after checking his books?

He sold only the case, he tells them, not the jewels that came in it. They had gone to him first because the case carried his name.

In "The Necklace", which humble dish does Mathilde's husband praise at dinner while she dreams of banquets?

Pot-au-feu, literally "pot on the fire", is slowly boiled meat and vegetables, which English versions often turn into soup. Across the table, Mathilde is picturing trout served on marvellous plates.

Which French novelist took "The Necklace" author Guy de Maupassant under his wing as a literary protégé?

Gustave Flaubert guided his first steps in journalism and fiction, and it was at his home that the younger man met Zola and Turgenev. He called his pupil's first hit a masterpiece that would endure.

Guy de Maupassant, author of "The Necklace", is linked with which literary movement championed by Émile Zola?

Naturalism treated characters almost as specimens shaped by birth and surroundings, and Maupassant's view of human lives is disillusioned and often pessimistic.

Under which French title did Guy de Maupassant first publish "The Necklace" in a Paris newspaper?

La Parure means a matching set of jewellery, or finery in general, rather than a necklace as such. The everyday French word for a necklace is collier.

In which coastal region of northern France was "The Necklace" author Guy de Maupassant born and raised?

Normandy gave him a seaside childhood at Étretat, where he grew fond of fishing and the outdoors before being sent away to school at thirteen.

Which American-born novelist wrote an 1899 story conceived as a clever reversal of Maupassant's "The Necklace"?

Henry James published his version in Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly and built it around a string of pearls left behind by an aunt who had once been an actress.

Which English writer echoed "The Necklace" in "Mr. Know-All" and "A String of Beads", two tales of a necklace's price?

Somerset Maugham took Maupassant as his model for clever plotting, and both stories turn on what a string of pearls is really worth.