The Necklace

Why does the author introduce her husband in one sentence?

The author wrote several paragraphs to introduce Madame Loisel but only a sentence to introduce her husband. Why is that? Which sentence was it?

Asked by
Last updated by jill d #170087
Answers 1
Add Yours
Best Answer

Mr. Loisel is not the story's main character. This introduction, after a lengthy description of Mrs. Loisel, sums up the differences between them in one simple sentence. Guy de Maupassant, as an author, needn't add anything further. 

When she sat down for dinner at the round table covered with a three-days-old cloth, opposite her husband, who took the cover off the soup-tureen, exclaiming delightedly: "Aha! Scotch broth! What could be better?" she imagined delicate meals, gleaming silver, tapestries peopling the walls with folk of a past age and strange birds in faery forests; she imagined delicate food served in marvellous dishes, murmured gallantries, listened to with an inscrutable smile as one trifled with the rosy flesh of trout or wings of asparagus chicken.

Source(s)

The Necklace