CBSE Class 10 English The Necklace Important Questions Set 05

Long Answer Questions

Question 1. What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it? (Delhi 2013)
Answer: Matilda was always dissatisfied with what she had and desired a luxurious life. What caused Matilda’s ruin was that she got carried away by her vanity and later acted with utter foolishness because of her false pride. She borrowed a diamond necklace from her friend and lost it.
She could have avoided her own ruin if she had not borrowed the necklace. But, since she lost it, she should have told her friend the truth and apologised to her.

Question 2. On the basis of your understanding of the story, sketch the character of M. Loisel. (Delhi Com. 2013)
Answer: M. Loisel was a simple, understanding and loving husband. He was a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education. Unlike his wife Matilda, he was content with his modest life. M. Loisel liked ordinary good food, and saw beauty in simplicity.
M. Loisel loved his wife so much that he found happiness in making her happy. He was elated when he came bearing the invitation to the official ball. He thought being able to attend the exclusive party would please Matilda immensely. He gave her the four hundred francs he had been saving for his own personal use so that she could buy an appropriate dress of her choice for the party. He was sensitive and caring towards his wife’s needs. M. Loisel was a man of patience. When the necklace was lost, he did not chide or reproach Matilda. Instead, he stayed out all night in the cold looking for the necklace. He used all his savings and even borrowed a huge amount of money to buy a replacement necklace to be returned to Mme. Forestier. He was an honest man, who worked hard day and night for ten years to pay off the borrowed money.

Question 3. What changes came in the lifestyle of Matilda after she had lost the necklace? (Delhi 2012)
Answer: After she lost the necklace, Matilda’s lifestyle went through some drastic changes. The money M. Loisel had borrowed from the moneylenders to buy the replacement necklace was huge and needed to be paid off as soon as possible. They started living in a rented room in an attic. Matilda learned to cook, clean, wash the dishes and clothes, and did menial jobs to save each penny. She bade adieu to her desire of being amongst the rich and the fabulous and became a commoner. She fetched water, haggled at the shop and took down the refuse to the street each morning. Matilda Loisel turned from a beautiful woman into a crude woman of a poor household.

Question 4. What kind of a person is Matilda Loisel? Support your answer by giving examples from the story ‘The Necklace’. (AI 2012)
Answer: Matilda Loisel was a beautiful young woman who was born in a family of clerks. She believed that she deserved a life of luxuries and delicacies. Therefore, she was constantly unhappy and dissatisfied with the modest life she led. She had no choice but to marry a petty clerk, M. Loisel, who worked at the Board of Education and was completely opposite to her. She felt tortured by the lack of exquisite dinners, elegant dresses, jewels, etc.
Jeanne Forestier, a rich friend of hers, whom Matilda went to school with, further caused her discomfort because Matilda envied her friend. Matilda borrowed a necklace from Mme. Forestier to wear with her dress on the evening of the ball. The precious piece of jewellery was there to appease her vanity, pretensions and false ego; it gave her joy. The necklace was lost by her, and thus, Matilda Loisel spiralled down to utter poverty. She had to do all sorts of menial jobs and suffered a needless sacrifice for ten years to pay off the debt. In these ten years, the adverse situation made her a strong, hard, crude woman of a poor household. However, she remained bitter and unhappy throughout her life.

Question 5. Mme Forestier proved to be a true friend of the Loisels. Elaborate. (CBSE 2020)
Answer: Mrs. Loisel was quite a beautiful young lady. She always felt that she was born for a family of luxuries rather than a family of clerks. She was highly ambitious. One day, when her husband showed her the invitation card to the official party, she started thinking about how she could present herself as the prettiest and most attractive woman at the party. She was adamant on having some jewels to adorn herself for the ball. Her poor husband was helpless. However, an idea struck him and he suggested that she could borrow jewels from her rich friend Madame Forestier. Mme Forestier proved to be a true friend of the Loisels by helping her in this hour of need. She readily agreed and placed her jewellery box before Mrs. Loisel to make her choice; she chose a superb diamond necklace, and Mme Forestier happily gave the necklace to her. On the day of the ball, Mrs. Loisel was a great success. She looked the prettiest of all, elegant, gracious, smiling and full of joy. Everybody noticed her, asked her name and wanted to be introduced. She danced with enthusiasm, intoxicated with pleasure, thinking of nothing but all this pleasure. All this was only because of Mme Forestier, who lent her the necklace without any hesitation.

Question 6. What is the twist at the end of the story ‘The Necklace’?
Answer: Matilda and her husband incur big debts in order to buy a replacement for the necklace for her friend. They cut down on all expenses, she works hard at the household chores, he does extra jobs etc. in order to earn more money. All this for a necklace they thought was of real diamonds. However at the end of the story, Matilda meets her friend who tells her after ten years that the necklace they had lost was a fake, worth not even one tenth of the price they thought it had. They worked so hard to repay the loan because they felt they had lost the real necklace. If they knew the truth and had worked so hard for their own benefit, it must have tremendously upgraded their standard of living. This was the twist at the end of the tale.

Question 7. Compare Matilda’s life before and after the fateful dinner party.
Answer: Before the dinner party, Matilda led a frugal life as they did not have too much money and hence had no luxuries. However, they did have a maid and other basic facilities. She dreamt of all the extravagances of life and was unhappy as she did not lead a luxurious life. After the dinner party, Matilda and her husband had to borrow large amounts of money to repay the loans they had taken. This meant letting go of the maid, doing all chores herself and having no savings to fall back on. She then, led a hard and harsh life that made her look much older than she was.

Question 8. What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin ? How could she have avoided it ? (Board Question)
Answer: Matilda hailed from a poor background, but she was very proud. She wanted to live an extravagant and a royal life but pitied herself since her family did not accept it. She was not ready to live her normal life with what she had and despised her wealthy friend Mme Forestier. She could have avoided her ruin by learning to accept the reality and her present situation. She could have sought employment or start some small business using her talents. She could have put her thoughts into use, worked hard and profited thus, realising a dream instead of just dreaming in the idle time.