The Necklace NCERT Solutions Class 10 English

This post, “The Necklace NCERT Solutions Class 10 English,” provides comprehensive NCERT solutions for Class 10 English Footprints Without Feet Chapter 7: The Necklace (Guy de Maupassant). We recommend reading the summary of The Necklace first to understand the chapter’s questions much better!

READ AND FIND OUT (Page 39)

Q.1. What kind of a person is Mme Loisel — why is she always unhappy?
Ans. Matilda Loisel was a pretty young woman born into a family of clerks. She was simple but extremely discontented and full of vain desires. She felt she had been born for all delicacies and luxuries. She was always unhappy because she had no dowry, no rich husband and no jewels. The poverty of her apartment, the shabby walls and the worn chairs tortured and angered her. She constantly dreamt of elegant dinners, shining silver and costly dresses, and wept for whole days out of despair after visiting her rich friend.

Q.2. What kind of a person is her husband?
Ans. Her husband, M. Loisel, was a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. He was a simple, contented and loving man who was happy with a good potpie for dinner. He was also very unselfish. He gave Matilda the four hundred francs he had saved to buy a gun, suggested that she borrow jewels from her friend, searched all night for the lost necklace, and worked day and night for ten years to repay the huge debt.

READ AND FIND OUT (Page 41)

Q.1. What fresh problem now disturbs Mme Loisel?
Ans. Though her dress was nearly ready, she became sad and anxious because she had no jewel to adorn herself with. She felt she would look poverty-stricken among rich women and said she would rather not go to the party at all.

Q.2. How is the problem solved?
Ans. Her husband suggested that she borrow some jewels from her rich friend, Mme Forestier. Matilda went to her the next day, and Mme Forestier opened her jewel-case and asked her to choose. Matilda selected a superb necklace of diamonds from a black satin box and went away delighted with her treasure.

READ AND FIND OUT (Page 42)

Q.1. What do M. and Mme Loisel do next?
Ans. On discovering that the necklace was missing, they searched the folds of her dress and cloak and all her pockets, but found nothing. M. Loisel went out again and retraced the whole route on foot. He also went to the police, to the cab offices, and put an advertisement in the newspapers offering a reward — all in vain. Meanwhile, on his advice, Matilda wrote to Mme Forestier that she had broken the clasp of the necklace and was getting it repaired, so as to gain time.

Q.2. How do they replace the necklace?
Ans. After a week they lost all hope. In a shop of the Palais-Royal they found a chaplet of diamonds exactly like the lost one, valued at forty thousand francs but available for thirty-six thousand. M. Loisel had eighteen thousand francs left by his father. He borrowed the rest, making ruinous promises and taking money from usurers and all kinds of lenders. Then he bought the necklace and Matilda returned it to Mme Forestier, who did not even open the box.

The Necklace Think About It Question Answer

Q.1. The course of the Loisels’ life changed due to the necklace. Comment.
Ans. The lost necklace ruined ten years of their lives. To repay the debt of thirty-six thousand francs they sent away their maid, left their apartment and rented rooms in an attic. Matilda did all the hard household work herself, like washing dishes and clothes, carrying water and refuse up and down the stairs, and haggling over every sou at the market. Her husband worked in the evenings keeping merchants’ accounts and copied papers at five sous a page at night. After ten years the debt was paid, but Matilda had become old, coarse and hard, with badly dressed hair and red hands. The cruellest irony is that the lost necklace had been a false one worth barely five hundred francs.

Q.2. What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?
Ans. The real cause of her ruin was her own vanity and discontent. She was never satisfied with what she had and wanted to appear rich among rich people. Her false pride also prevented her from telling the truth to her friend. She could have avoided it easily. She could have gone to the ball in a simple dress with natural flowers, as her husband suggested. Above all, she should have honestly told Mme Forestier about the loss; then she would have learnt at once that the necklace was artificial and worth only five hundred francs.

Q.3. What would have happened to Matilda if she had confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace?
Ans. Mme Forestier would have told her that the necklace was false and worth barely five hundred francs. Matilda could have replaced it very cheaply, or her friend might even have forgiven the loss. The Loisels would have been saved from a debt of thirty-six thousand francs and from ten years of miserable poverty and hard labour. Matilda would not have lost her youth and beauty.

Q.4. If you were caught in a situation like this, how would you have dealt with it?
Ans. I would have told my friend the truth at once and apologised sincerely. Honesty would have saved me from unnecessary debt and worry, and a true friend would have understood. I would then have offered to pay for the loss according to its real value and within my means, instead of borrowing a huge sum secretly out of false pride.

The Necklace Talk About It Question Answer

Q.1. The characters in this story speak in English. Do you think this is their language? What clues are there in the story about the language its characters must be speaking in?
Ans. No, English is not their language. The story was originally written in French and has only been translated into English. The clues are the French names and forms of address — Matilda Loisel, Mme Forestier, Jeanne, Madame George Ramponneau, and the abbreviations M. for Monsieur and Mme for Madame. The currency mentioned is francs and sous, and the places named are Paris, the Palais-Royal and the Champs-Elysees. So the characters must have been speaking French.

Q.2. Honesty is the best policy.
Ans. This story is the finest proof of this saying. A single honest sentence to Mme Forestier would have saved the Loisels from a debt of thirty-six thousand francs and ten years of hardship. Instead, Matilda hid the truth out of pride and destroyed the best years of her life. Honesty may sometimes seem embarrassing at the moment, but it always saves us from bigger trouble later. It also earns us trust and keeps our conscience clear.

Q.3. We should be content with what life gives us.
Ans. Contentment is the secret of happiness. Matilda had a loving husband, a home and enough food, yet she was miserable because she kept comparing herself with the rich. Her husband, on the other hand, was happy with a simple potpie. Endless desires bring only frustration, and in Matilda’s case they brought ruin. This does not mean we should stop trying to improve our lives; it means we should be grateful for what we have and not pretend to be what we are not.

Glossary (Quick Revision)