The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant

"The necklace, beautiful but worthless, represents the power of perception and the split between appearances and reality"

Loisel presents his wife with an invitation to the Ministry of Education's formal party, which he expects that Mathilde will be excited about because she can dress up and mingle with high society. But Mathilde immediately becomes upset because she doesn't have dress that is nice enough to wear in the party. Mathilde is sad and makes Loisel buy a new dress for her. Mathilde asks for 400 francs. The money is supposed to purchase a gun and to treat himself to a little shooting in the coming summer on the plain of Nanterre. Instead of purchasing a gun Loisel gives the money to his wife. The party is coming soon and Mathilde also decides to borrow a jewelry from Mme. Forester. She discovers in a box of black satin, a superb necklace of diamonds.

When the night is getting late and the party is over, every couple returns home. Mathilde realizes that she lost her diamond necklace. They try to find the necklace but they don’t find it, and decide to replace it without telling Mme. Forester. Finally, they find a similar looking necklace, and they take out loans. Ten years later, Loisel is working on 3 jobs and Mathilde does heavy housework until their debts are paid off.  Then, on one Sunday, she is taking a turn in the Champs Elysées, she meets a woman walking with a child by chance. It is Mme. Forester, still young and beautiful. At first, Mme Forestier doesn’t recognize Mathilde, and then is shocked when she realizes it is Mathilde. She revealrs that she lost the necklace once. Mme Forestier is confused and says, “how can you lost my necklace since you gave it back to me ?” Mathilde says that she replaces it with a fake one and worked for 10 years to afford the replacement. Mme Forestier smiles with proudly and says “Oh, my poor Mathilde, but mine is fake. At the most they are worth five hundred francs!