The Necklace Short Story Questions

(adapted from a GAVL assignment)

  1. Why did the beautiful and charming main character (Mathilde Loisel) marry a minor civil servant (an unimportant government employee)?
  2. What did Mathilde want more than anything else?
  3. Why does Mathilde think she cannot go to the ball to which she and her husband received invitations?
  4. Mathilde’s husband give her ______________ to buy a new dress to wear to the ball and suggests that she borrow ________________________ from her friend, Madame Forestier.
  5. What does Mathilde discover when she returns from the ball that night?
  6. How do Mathilde and her husband try to cover up the loss?
  7. The new necklace cost __________ francs.  They borrowed the money to buy it.
  8. How long does it take the Loisels to pay back the money?
  9. When Mathilde sees her friend Madame Forestier again after ten years, Madame Forestier tells Mathilde that the necklace she let her borrow to wear to the ball was _______________ and that it was not worth more than _____________ francs.
  10. Give an example of situational irony from the story.