The Necklace in Class 10 English syllabus is an interesting story in Footprints Without Feet. It is the 7th chapter in the English coursebook for class 10 and is written by the author, Guy De Maupassant who was born on the 5th of August in 1850. Maupassant is quite renowned for his short stories like The Necklace, Boule de Suif, Two Friends, The Horla and much more. In this blog, we are going to delve further into the summary and some important questions of chapter 7 of Footprints Without Feet, the Necklace class 10.
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Summary of The Necklace Class 10
Here is the summary of The Necklace in Class 10:
- The Necklace first introduces the readers to Matilda who is a pretty young woman and is always lost in her dreams about wealth and pleasure. She was born in a family of clerks and hence got married to a pretty young clerk in the office of the Board of Education.
- Matilda had always known she was destined for the finer things in life. However, in the Necklace class 10 chapter, she was impoverished. This caused her to be continually unhappy and complain all the time. She fantasised of having lavish dinners served on gleaming silver crockery, as well as wearing designer gowns and fine jewellery.
- Moving on to the main turning point in The Necklace class 10, one day her husband, Loisel, received an invitation from the Minister of Public Instruction for both of them to a dance party. Monsieur Loisel was overjoyed to receive it, but his wife, Matilda, was irritated and threw the invitation card down in disgust.
- Seeing her cheeks were flushed with tears, Loisel asked why she is angry about it. She claimed that she lacked proper attire, dress and jewellery that could be worn at the party. She didn’t want to be singled out in such a prestigious event. Her husband finally gave her the money to buy a new dress for herself after much deliberation. As a responsible husband, he gave her the money which he had set aside for the purchase of a gun.
- The dress was prepared, but Matilda was still disappointed because she lacked the necessary jewels to go with her outfit for the party. The thought of wearing natural flowers did not appeal to her. Matilda followed her husband’s advice and went to Mme Forestier to borrow a diamond necklace. They finally went to the lavish party to which they had been invited. Matilda danced all night long at the ball with all of her vigour and joy.
- Matilda looked the most beautiful of them all, graceful, gracious, laughing, and full of joy. Many of the men took note of her, inquired about her name, and expressed an interest in being introduced to her and dancing with her at the party.
- She was fully happy when she returned home at 4 a.m. Her husband was exhausted and reminded himself that he had to go to work in the morning. Standing in front of the mirror, she stripped the wraps from her shoulders for a final look at herself in all her beauty, complete with her borrowed diamond necklace.
- She was taken aback when she noticed the necklace was missing from her neck. Monsieur Loisel and Matilda rummaged through the dress’ folds and pockets. They looked for the necklace everywhere it could possibly be, but it was nowhere to be found. He reported the incident to the police and put an ad in the newspaper, but to no avail.
- They managed to postpone the planned return of the necklace for a week by informing Mme Forestier that the necklace clasp had broken. They told her that they will patch it and get it repaired and then only return it to her. It was not found by the end of the week, so they agreed to buy a new one and give it to Mme Forestier. They discovered an exact replica of the missing diamond necklace in a Palaise-Royal store. It was estimated to be worth 40,000 francs. They would be able to get it for 36,000 francs. However, the issue arose when Loisel only had eighteen thousand francs. He agreed to borrow the majority of the money from usurers and a whole slew of other lenders in order to purchase the necklace. They purchased the necklace from the shop for 36,000 francs and gave it to Mme Forestier.
- The Liosel’s saving spree began shortly after this incident. The Loisels evicted their maid and housekeepers and moved into a rented attic room. Monsieur Loisel worked overtime to save money, and Mme Loisel did all of the housework.
- For the next ten years, they had to live a miserable life of necessity. Mme Loisel happened to run into Mme Forestier, while out for a walk one day. She explained how they had replaced her necklace and were now living in poverty because they had to repay a loan they had taken out to buy her a diamond necklace that they had misplaced. Mme Forestier eventually admitted that her necklace was a fake one and not a true diamond necklace at the end. It was only worth 500 francs.
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The Necklace Class 10 Questions and Answers
Now that you know the summary of this chapter, here are the important questions and answers on The Necklace Class 10:
The central moral of The Necklace Class 10 is that we must learn to be grateful of the things we have rather than running behind things that look luscious and luxurious and might turn out to be deceiving in appearance just like the Necklace.
As Mme Forestier tells Matilda at the end of the story, the necklace was only worth 500 francs while she and her husband thought that it was a real one which was 40,000 Francs.
Mme Forestier is a wealthy lady who was Matilda’s close friend in the chapter of the Necklace class 10. She offers to lend Matilda her diamond necklace to wear at a party. Her importance in the plot is significant because Matilda would not have learned her lesson in life and the worth of money and necessities if she had not lent her diamond necklace to her.
Matilda had to give up all of her comforts and even her needs after losing the diamond necklace in order to save enough money to buy a new necklace and give it to her friend. She became a physical mess as a result of overwork, tension, and a lack of treatment. The Liosels had to begin their saving spree by renting a room in an attic and living there to save money and repay the big loan. Her whole life was transformed by the temporary happiness of wearing a diamond necklace one night.
To be able to pay back the loan. Mr. and Mrs. Loisel had to face a variety of obstacles and difficulties. They had to change their whole lifestyle. Mr. Loisel was forced to work extra hours in order to earn some extra pennies and Mrs. Loisel (Matilda) got rid of the maid and did all of the housework herself. The Loisels moved out of their apartment and into a rented home. The Loisels had a miserable life and were able to pay off their debt in ten years.
Matilda’s downfall was caused by her persistent dissatisfaction with her circumstances. Her anger drove her and her husband to borrow the necklace for the one night when they had to attend a lavish party, which they consequently misplaced. She could have easily prevented it by not borrowing the necklace in the first place and telling Mrs. Forestier the truth or even agreeing to wear fesh flowers as ornaments as suggested by her husband.
This was all about the summary and notes for The Necklace Class 10. We hope that the summary of the plot and important questions and answers will help you to fetch some extra marks in your exam. For more such helpful and amazing reads, stay tuned to Leverage Edu.