The Necklace, Class 10, English, Footprints without Feet – Summary, Explanation, Word Meanings

Detailed explanation of “The Necklace”, including definitions of difficult words. In addition, the explanation is followed by a lesson summary. Also, NCERT Question and Answers are also provided to help students understand this Chapter and do well in their exams.

Introduction 

The Necklace’ is a story of a middle class lady named Matilda. She was born in a poor family and was married to a clerk named M Loisel. She was very pretty but was dissatisfied in life because of her ‘poverty”. She wanted to have the luxuries in her life. Once she borrowed a necklace from her friend Madame Forestier and lost it in the party. To replace the necklace, she had to live a very miserable life. Finally in the end it is discovered that the necklace was actually fake. The tale is about how her desire to have more, lead to her ruin.

Summary

Matilda Liosel was a pretty married lady, born in a poor family with high ambitions. However , she was born into a family of clerks. She was married to a clerk who worked in the office of Board of Education. She suffered a lot of misery as she felt that she had been born for better things. All day, she would be daydreaming of luxurious houses, dainty dinners, elegant dresses and beautiful jewellery. Whenever she saw her rich friends, she felt disappointed.

One day, her husband came home very happy. He had an invitation to a Ball for both of them from the Minister of Public Instruction. He thought his wife would be happy, but she only got angry and threw the invitation card on the table. Further , she told him to give the invitation to his colleague. On being asked why she reacted in such a manner, she replied that she did not have proper dress for the party. Her loving husband gave her all the money he had set aside to buy a gun.

When the dress was ready, Matilda’s husband saw that still she was not happy. Her husband asked about the reason of her unhappiness. Matilda told her husband that she would not go for the ball as she did not have any jewellery to wear with her dress. Her husband suggested her to wear some fresh flowers. When she refused to do so, in desperation he told her to borrow jewellery from her dear friend – Mrs. Forestier.

Next day , she went to her friend’s house. She told Mme Forestier her problem. Her friend brought her jewel case and asked Matilda to make her choice. Matilda borrowed a diamond necklace from her. She was a great hit at the party. Everyone admired her. She danced till 4 a.m, and then went home tired, but happy.

When Matilda returned home and was changing her dress, she wanted to see her beauty in final view before the mirror. She was terribly shocked when she found the necklace was missing. She cried out and informed her husband that she had lost the necklace. They looked everywhere for it, but it was nowhere to be found. They went to the police and also put an advertisement in the papers offering reward, but the necklace was not found. In the meantime, they wrote to Madame Forestier that the clasp of the necklace was broken and also that they would get the necklace repaired and return it.

When the necklace was not found, they decided to replace it with a similar necklace. They searched for a similar necklace everywhere and found it in a shop at Palais Royal. They bought it for forty thousand Francs, and had to take a loan for it. Her husband gave her 18000 francs which his father had left for him.

In order to repay the loan, they took a rented room  of the attic and turned away the maid. All the household work done by Matilda. Mr. Loisel took up overtime work to save money. Matilda started dressing like a commoner and even went to get her grocery shopping. This life continued for almost ten long years, by the end of which Mrs. Loisel looked old and scruffy. Her hair was badly dressed, her skirts were uneven , her hands were red and she spoke in a loud tone. She often think if she had not lost the necklace , her life would be better.

One day she happened to meet Mrs. Forestier who still looked young. Matilda told her the whole story. Shocked at the story, Mrs. Forestier told her a shocking truth i.e. the diamond necklace that she had lent to Matilda had been made of artificial diamonds and was worth only five hundred francs.

Word Meanings