Honesty can prevent the years of misery, guilt and regret that Guy de Maupassant describes in "The Necklace". Guy de Maupassant, French writer, born in 1850, was considered one of the greatest French short story writers. His writings were influenced mainly by his parents' divorce when he was thirteen and by great writers such as Shakespeare, Schopenhauer and Flauber. His parents' divorce meant that his stories depicted unhappiness in marriage, deception, communication problems, and a deep misunderstanding (Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893). In the short story "The Necklace", Madame Mathilde Loisel, an unhappy person living in Paris, France, receives an invitation to a party at the Ministerial Palace, but she will not attend without an elegant dress to wear and fancy jewelry. Her husband tells her to borrow jewels from her friend Madame Forestier, but this ends up being her downfall. She borrows the necklace and eventually loses it after the party. He ends up paying for it with 10 years of hard labor, only to find out later that it was a fake. In “The Necklace,” Maupassant demonstrates the theme that things do not always go as expected through the use of point of view, characterization, and irony. Guy de Maupassant uses limited third-person point of view, where the reader only knows the thoughts of Madame Mathilde Loisel. “It was all over for her. For him there was the thought that at ten o'clock he would have to be at the Ministry” (Maupassant 230). Mrs. Loisel is never satisfied with her lifestyle, being part of the middle class, unlike her husband who accepts the lifestyle and does not dwell on it. “She pretends through role-playing to be a member of the upper class, and her desires promote… middle of paper… Virginia. "The necklace." Masterplots, fourth edition (2010): 1-3. Literary reference center. Network. January 29, 2014.Kleine-Ahlbrandt, Wm. Laird. "The necklace." Masterplots II: Short Story Series, revised edition (2004): 1-3. Literary reference center. Network. January 29, 2014.Maupassant, Guy De. "The necklace." 1884. Holt McDougal Literature Grade 9 Common Core Edition. Common Core Edition ed. Orlando: Houghton Miffin Harcourt Publishing, 2012. 224-33. Print.Pierce, Jason. "An Overview of 'The Necklace.'" Gale Online Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Literature Resource Center. Network. January 29, 2014. ProQuest Biographies. “Maupassant, Guy de, 1850-1893.” ProQuest Learning: Literature. ProQuest, 2006. Web. 6 February. 2014. .