The Necklace

Mathilde is unhappy with her life because of her economic status. She was born into to a low class family, who had no money to supply her with a dowry, and she'd married Monsieur Loisel, who was employed as a clerk at the Board of Education. Mathilde is not only unhappy with her life, she is of the opinion that she was born for more.... a more successful husband, a better home and furnishings..... and the best of gowns and jewelry.

She dressed plainly because she could not dress well, but she was unhappy as if she had really fallen from a higher station; since with women there is neither caste nor rank, for beauty, grace and charm take the place of family and birth.

Mathilde suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born to enjoy all delicacies and all luxuries. She was distressed at the poverty of her dwelling, at the bareness of the walls, at the shabby chairs, the ugliness of the curtains. All those things, of which another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry.