Class 10 English · Original EZT practice
The Necklace - Guy de Maupassant (Class 10 English, Footprints without Feet, Chapter 7)
The Necklace is Chapter 7 of Class 10 Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 39-46), Guy de Maupassant's story of one borrowed piece of jewellery that changes a whole life. Pretty, discontented Matilda Loisel borrows a superb diamond necklace from her rich friend Mme Forestier for a minister's ball - and loses it. The Loisels borrow ruinously to replace it and spend ten years paying the debt, before the story's famous last-line twist. This page gives a full summary, characters, theme, word meanings and fresh practice questions. (Note: this is original practice, not a textbook exercise key.)
6 original worked examples, 6 fresh self-check questions and 4 mixed questions, with explained answers. These are not copied textbook exercises, an official chapter index or a full answer key. No affiliation with NCERT is claimed.
Official sources for topic and edition context, checked 24 October 2026:
1. Summary - ten years for one evening
Matilda Loisel is unhappy with her simple life: the shabby walls, the worn chairs, no frocks, no jewels. She avoids her rich schoolmate Mme Forestier because every visit leaves her weeping 'from despair and disappointment.' One evening Loisel comes home elated with an invitation to the Minister of Public Instruction's ball. Matilda throws it down spitefully - she has nothing to wear. He gives her the four hundred francs he had saved for a gun to buy a dress. A new worry: no jewels. Loisel cries, 'Go and find your friend Mme Forestier and ask her to lend you her jewels.' From a black satin box Matilda chooses 'a superb necklace of diamonds' and goes to the ball in ecstasy. The ball is her triumph - 'the prettiest of all - elegant, gracious, smiling and full of joy.' She leaves at four in the morning, hurrying away so the rich women will not see her modest wraps. At home she utters a cry: the necklace is gone. They search everywhere; Loisel retraces their route, goes to the police and cab offices, advertises a reward. Nothing. On his advice she writes to Mme Forestier that the clasp broke and is being repaired, to buy time. In a shop of the Palais-Royal they find a diamond chaplet that looks exactly like the lost one: valued at forty thousand francs, theirs for thirty-six thousand. Loisel uses his eighteen-thousand-franc inheritance and borrows the rest from usurers, making 'ruinous promises.' Mme Forestier accepts the replacement without opening the box, remarking coldly, 'You should have returned them to me sooner.' The Loisels dismiss the maid, move to an attic, and Matilda learns 'the horrible life of necessity' - washing, haggling, while Loisel works evenings keeping merchants' books and nights copying at five sous a page. 'And this life lasted for ten years. At the end of ten years, they had restored all.' One Sunday in the Champs-Elysees, Matilda - now 'a strong, hard woman, the crude woman of the poor household' - meets the still-young, still-pretty Mme Forestier and proudly confesses everything. Mme Forestier takes her hands: 'Oh! My poor Matilda! Mine were false. They were not worth over five hundred francs!'
2. Characters
Matilda Loisel: a pretty young woman 'born as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks', married to a petty clerk and 'always unhappy' with her modest life; she suffers incessantly, dreaming of delicacies and luxuries. M. Loisel: her husband, a clerk in the office of the Board of Education - content with pot-pie, delighted to bring home a ball invitation, and ready to give up his saved four hundred francs for her dress and his inheritance and credit for the necklace. Mme (Jeanne) Forestier: Matilda's rich schoolmate from the convent, who lends the necklace freely - and reveals at the end that 'mine were false. They were not worth over five hundred francs!'
3. Theme and word meanings
The price of pride and pretence: a single evening of borrowed splendour costs the Loisels ten years of grinding poverty. Appearances deceive twice over: the necklace looks priceless and is false; Matilda's glamour at the ball is equally borrowed. 'How small a thing will ruin or save one': Maupassant shows a whole life turned by one lost object and one concealed truth. Word meanings from the textbook glossary: incessantly - continuously; tureen - covered dish from which soup is served at the table; M. - abbreviation for 'Monsieur' (form of address for a man in French); Mme - abbreviation for 'Madame' (form of address for a woman in French); vexation - state of being distressed; ruinous - disastrous; usurers - money-lenders, especially those who lend money on a high rate of interest; sou - a former French coin of low value; awry - not in the correct position or shape, twisted.
Choose, solve, check, then try a fresh question.
Before calculating, read the method prompt and name the condition that makes it useful. Write your own attempt. Open the steps only when you need them, and use the check to catch a wrong sign, unit or interpretation. Finish with the fresh question before reading its answer.
Locate Matilda's unhappiness
Choose the method: Dreams against means.
EZT practice question
Why is Matilda unhappy at the start of the story?
Show the worked solution
- She believes she was 'born for all delicacies and luxuries'.
- Her reality: married to a petty clerk, a shabby apartment with worn chairs, no frocks and no jewels.
- The gap tortures her incessantly - she even avoids her rich schoolmate Mme Forestier because every visit leaves her weeping 'from despair and disappointment.'
Answer: She believes she was 'born for all delicacies and luxuries' but lives in poverty with a petty clerk husband - the shabby apartment, no frocks and no jewels torture her.
Check: Pair the dream (delicacies and luxuries) with the reality (shabby, jewel-less) - the gap is the cause.
Watch for this: Do not blame Loisel's poverty alone - the story stresses her longing, not just their means.
Now try it yourself
Why does Matilda avoid visiting Mme Forestier?
Check your answer
Because every visit to her rich schoolmate leaves her weeping 'from despair and disappointment.'
The avoided visits foreshadow the borrowed necklace.
Assemble the outfit
Choose the method: Four hundred francs, then a friend.
EZT practice question
How does Matilda get both a dress and jewellery for the ball?
Show the worked solution
- When she throws down the invitation - she has nothing to wear - Loisel gives her the four hundred francs he had saved to buy a gun.
- A new worry follows: she has no jewels to go with the dress.
- Loisel suggests: 'Go and find your friend Mme Forestier and ask her to lend you her jewels' - and from a black satin box Matilda chooses 'a superb necklace of diamonds.'
Answer: Loisel gives her the four hundred francs he had saved to buy a gun, and on his suggestion she borrows a diamond necklace from her friend Mme Forestier.
Check: Two sources: the husband's savings for the dress, the friend's loan for the jewels.
Watch for this: Do not say she buys or owns the necklace - the whole story turns on its being borrowed.
Now try it yourself
What had Loisel been saving the four hundred francs for?
Check your answer
To buy a gun for hunting outings with his friends.
His sacrifice quietly measures his love - and her indifference to it.
Explain the letter
Choose the method: A clasp buys time.
EZT practice question
What lie do the Loisels tell Mme Forestier, and why?
Show the worked solution
- The necklace is lost, and every search - the route, the police, the cab offices, a reward advertisement - fails.
- They dare not confess the loss; a direct confession seems impossible.
- On Loisel's advice Matilda writes that the clasp broke and is being repaired - gaining time to search and then to replace it.
Answer: They write that the necklace's clasp broke and is being repaired - to gain time to search for, and then replace, the lost necklace.
Check: The lie's content (broken clasp) and its purpose (buying time) both belong in the answer.
Watch for this: Do not call the lie the cause of their ruin - concealment is their choice, but honesty about the necklace's real value would have saved them.
Now try it yourself
What searches do the Loisels make before lying?
Check your answer
They retrace the route, go to the police and the cab offices, and advertise a reward.
The exhausted search is what pushes them to the lie.
Count the cost
Choose the method: Inheritance plus usurers.
EZT practice question
How do the Loisels pay for the replacement necklace?
Show the worked solution
- In a shop of the Palais-Royal they find a diamond chaplet exactly like the lost one: valued at forty thousand francs, let go for thirty-six thousand.
- Loisel uses the eighteen thousand francs his father left him.
- He borrows the rest from usurers and 'the whole race of lenders', making 'ruinous promises'.
Answer: The replacement costs thirty-six thousand francs; Loisel uses the eighteen thousand his father left him and borrows the rest from usurers and 'the whole race of lenders.'
Check: Three figures: forty thousand valued, thirty-six thousand paid, eighteen thousand from inheritance.
Watch for this: Do not say they could afford it - the borrowing is 'ruinous', and the ten years prove it.
Now try it yourself
What does Mme Forestier say when she receives the box?
Check your answer
Without opening it, coldly: 'You should have returned them to me sooner.'
She never looks inside - the substitution goes unseen for ten years.
Describe the ten years
Choose the method: Necessity, learned.
EZT practice question
Describe the Loisels' life for the ten years after the ball.
Show the worked solution
- They dismiss the maid and move into attic rooms.
- Matilda learns 'the horrible life of necessity': the heavy housework, the washing, haggling over every sou.
- Loisel works evenings keeping merchants' books and nights copying at five sous a page - 'And this life lasted for ten years. At the end of ten years, they had restored all.'
Answer: They dismiss the maid and move into attic rooms; Matilda does the heavy housework and haggles over every sou; Loisel works evenings and nights - until the debt is fully repaid after ten years.
Check: One change of lodging, her labour, his double work - then the full repayment.
Watch for this: Do not romanticise the decade - the story calls it 'the horrible life of necessity', and it ages her visibly.
Now try it yourself
What has Matilda become by the end of the ten years?
Check your answer
'A strong, hard woman, the crude woman of the poor household.'
The transformation is the debt written on her body.
State the last-line twist
Choose the method: False stones, real decade.
EZT practice question
What is the twist at the end of The Necklace?
Show the worked solution
- Meeting Matilda in the Champs-Elysees after ten years, Mme Forestier hears the whole confession.
- She takes Matilda's hands and reveals: 'Oh! My poor Matilda! Mine were false.'
- The original necklace was imitation - 'not worth over five hundred francs' - so ten years of ruin paid for a genuine replacement of a fake.
Answer: Mme Forestier reveals the original necklace was imitation - 'not worth over five hundred francs' - so the Loisels' ten years of poverty repaid a genuine diamond for a fake.
Check: Quote the reveal, then state the irony in one line: real ruin for false stones.
Watch for this: Do not soften the ending into a lesson about honesty alone - the twist is also about how small a thing ruins or saves a life.
Now try it yourself
Where does the final meeting take place?
Check your answer
In the Champs-Elysees, one Sunday, when Matilda proudly confesses everything.
Her pride in confessing makes the reveal cut deeper.
Try a mixed set
Choose a method or explanation before opening each answer.
1. The dress money came from?
Show answer and reason
Loisel's four hundred francs saved for a gun.
His sacrifice, her evening.
2. The lie to Mme Forestier?
Show answer and reason
That the clasp broke and is being repaired.
A lie that buys time - and costs ten years.
3. The replacement's price?
Show answer and reason
Thirty-six thousand francs - eighteen from inheritance, the rest borrowed ruinously.
Count the cost.
4. The final twist?
Show answer and reason
The original necklace was false - not worth over five hundred francs.
Real ruin for imitation stones.
Try it yourself
Work these on paper before checking any notes. Answers are deliberately not shown here.
- Explain in two sentences how one evening at the ball costs the Loisels ten years.
- List the three searches the Loisels make before deciding to replace the necklace secretly.
- Contrast Matilda at the ball with Matilda after ten years, using one quoted phrase for each.
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Questions about this practice page
- What happens at the end of The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant?
- After ten years of poverty repaying a real diamond replacement, Matilda learns the necklace she borrowed was false - worth at most five hundred francs.
- Who wrote The Necklace?
- Guy de Maupassant. The textbook names him as the author and carries no author note, so this page makes no further biographical claims.
- Why does Matilda borrow the necklace from Mme Forestier?
- She has a new dress for the Minister's ball but no jewellery, and refuses to look poverty-stricken among rich women - her husband suggests asking Mme Forestier.
- How much does the lost necklace cost the Loisels?
- The replacement costs thirty-six thousand francs - eighteen thousand from Loisel's inheritance and the rest borrowed at ruinous terms, repaid over ten years.
- Where is The Necklace in the Class 10 book?
- Chapter 7 of the supplementary reader Footprints without Feet (Reprint 2026-27, pp. 39-46), by Guy de Maupassant.