CBSE Class 10 English The Necklace Worksheet Set A

The Necklace

INTRODUCTION
The Necklace’ is one of the well-known stories of NItaupassant. The story centers round Matilda Loisel, who is a beautiful woman. She suffers greatly because of her desire to appear rich and fashionable. She is married to a clerk and leads an ordinary life. But she wants to be rich and famous. Her husband gets an invitation to attend a dance party given by the Minister of Public Instruction. Matilda borrows a diamond necklace from her rich friend Madame Forestier to wear it at the party. She looks charming and everybody praises her. But when she returns home, she finds that she has lost the necklace. She and her husband borrow a big amount of money to replace the necklace. Both of the world hard for ten years to pay off their debt. Their life becomes miserable. One day, after the debt, is paid off. Matilda comes across Madame Forestier. Matilda is shocked to learn from her that the necklace was made of artificial diamonds and its price was not more than 500 francs.

GIST
`The Necklace’ is a mild satire but with a strong message. It is ridiculous for people of ordinary means to copy the rich. One should live within one’s meAnswer. Otherwise, he or she invites unnecessary problems, anxieties and confusion in his or her life. The main message of the story is that we should be what we are. False pride is the cause of our sufferings. The loss of a false necklace by Mrs. Loisel was not a big loss. Things could have been settled right if she had confessed the loss of the necklace to the owner, Madame Forestier. This small lapse or mistake of Mrs. Loisel makes her whole life miserable and dark. And the irony was that the cause of all these sufferings was a false necklace.

Main Characters

1. Matilda:
Matilda is a pretty, young lady. She wanted to lead a rich and luxurious life. But she was born into a humble family and had to marry an ordinary man. She felt sad about her petty economic and social status. When Matilda got an invitation to a ball, she wanted to pretend as a rich woman. She gave in to vanity. She disregarded the advice of her good husband. She is a woman who sought the praise and admiration of others. She feels very happy when men appreciated her beauty and grace at the dance ball. Matilda is a woman lacking wisdom and prudence. Just to show off a day at the ball, she loses her borrowed necklace. This leads to enormous suffering for her and her husband for a number of years. She does not understand the importance of living within one’s meAnswer.

2. Mr. Loisel:
Mr. Loisel is a simple man working as a clerk. He loves his wife and does everything to make her happy. He gets an invitation to a ball with his wife. When his wife wants a costly necklace, he suggests she should borrow a necklace from her rich friend, Madame Forestier. When Matilda loses her necklace, he uses his hard-earned savings to buy a new necklace. He starts working very hard to repay the debt they had incurred. Mr. Loisel is ready to make an enormous sacrifice to maintain his family. He is a man who believes in living a life within one’s meAnswer. Unfortunately, because he is lenient towards his wife, he has to undergo much suffering.

Multiple Choice Questions

Question. Into which family was Matilda born?
(a) Family of teachers
(b) Family of clerks
(c) Family of businessmen
(d) Family of shopkeepers
Answer. B

Question. How did Loisel feel when he received the invitation to the prestigious ball dance?
(a) Elated
(b) Sad
(c) Vexed
(d) Surprised
Answer. A

Question. Why had Loisel saved four hundred francs?
(a) To buy Matilda a dress
(b) To buy a gun to go hunting
(c) To buy a vehicle to go to work
(d) To buy a TV set for some entertainment
Answer. B

Question. What jewellery did Matilda borrow from Mme Forestier?
(a) A bracelet
(b) A pair of earrings
(c) Bangles
(d) A necklace
Answer. D

Question. For how much did they buy the diamond francs?
(a) For twenty thousand francs
(b) for thirty six thousand francs
(c) for fifty thousand francs
(d) for fifteen thousand francs
Answer. B

Question. Assertion (A): Mme Forestier was touched and took both the hands of Matilda.
Reason(R): She was touched by Matilda’s plight which could have been avoided if only Matilda had told the truth.
a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true and R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false but R is true.
Answer. A

Question. Assertion (A): Matilda threw the letter away
Reason(R): She had no jewellery to wear.
a) Both A and R are true and R is the correct explanation of A.
b) Both A and R are true and R is not the correct explanation of A.
c) A is true but R is false.
d) A is false but R is true.
Answer. A

Question. What all did Mme and M Loisel do to repay?
a) sent away the maid
b) change their lodgings
c) husband working the evenings and nights too
d) all of these
Answer. D
 

Extract Based:

Read the extract given below and answer the questions that follow:

SHE was one of those pretty, young ladies, born as if through an error of destiny, into a family of clerks.
She had no dowry, no hopes, no means of becoming known loved, and married by a man either rich or distinguished: and she allowed henself to marry a
petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education.
She was simple but she was unhappy. She suffered incessantly, feeling herself bom for oil delicacies and luxuries She suffered from the poverty of her apartment the shabby walls and the worn chairs. All these things tortured and angered her.

Question. The phrase “error of destiny means:
(a) unwanted
(b) by deception
(c) by fate
(d) Luckily
Answer. C

Question. Matilda was unhappy as:
(a) she was ug ly.
(b) she had no friends.
(c) she was married to a middle-class clerk
(d) she wasn't getting married.
Answer. C

Question. As per the extract. Matilda had no means of:
(a) dowry
(b) hopes
(c) becoming known
(d) business
Answer. D

Question. Pick the quality that Matilda did NOT have in her:
(a) envious
(b) complaining
(c) angered
(d) optimistic
Answer. D

Question. Pick the word that does NOT mean the same as 'incessantly:
(a) continuously
(b) sporadically
(c) non-stop
(d) intermittently
Answer. B

Short Answer Questions 

Question. Who was Matilda?
Answer. Matilda was a young, pretty lady born in a family of clerks

Question. Whom did she married?
Answer. She married with Mr. Loisel, who was a very simple man.

Question. What job did Mr. Loisel do?
Answer. Mr. Loisel was a clerk in the office of the Board of Education.

Question. What kind of a person her husband is?
Answer. Her husband is a very simple-hearted person. He is an ordinary person. He is a caring husband. He wants to see Mme. Loisel happy.

Question. How did Matilda react when she saw the invitation card?
Answer. Matilda reacted in a very bad manner, instead of being happy, she got very angry to see the invitation card.

Question. How did M. Loisel afford for the new dress?
Answer. M. Loisel gave four hundred francs to Matilda, which he had saved for the gun.

Question. What was the advice given by M. Loisel to Matilda when she complained about not having suitable jewellery?
Answer. M. loisel advised Matilda to wear natural flowers when she complained about not having suitable jewellery.

Question. Who was the friend of Matilda?
Answer. Mme Forestier was the friend of Matilda. She was very rich and had many jewels.

Question. Why did Madam Loisel leave the ball in a hurry? What does it show about her character?
Answer. Madam Loisel left the ball in a hurry because her husband threw the modest wraps around her shoulders, whose poverty clashed with the elegance of the ball costume. She did not want to be noticed by the other woman who were wrapping themselves in rich furs. It shows the hypocrisy and show off life of Madam Loisel. It shows her dissatisfaction, anger and frustration with life.

Question. How was Mrs Loisel ‘a mistake of destiny’?
Answer. Mrs Matilda Loisel was very charming and pretty. She appeared to be a lady of a high family. But she was born in a family of clerks. As her parents did not have much money, she was married to a clerk. But her thoughts were high. She wanted to enjoy the luxuries of life. So, the writer says that she was ‘a mistake of destiny.’

Question. What do you think were the feelings of Madam Forester when she came to know that Matilda returned her a diamond necklace in place of an artificial one?
Answer. Matilda borrowed a necklace from Madam Frostier to wear at a party. She lost it somewhere and in that place returned a diamond necklace to her. She was unaware of the fact that it was an artificial one. Madam Forester was shocked to know the whole story. Madam Frostier thought that situation could be avoided if Matilda had the dare to accept the truth and share it with Madam Forester.

Question. What kind of a husband was M. Loisel? Discuss with reference to the chapter. ‘The Necklace’.
Or
Why do you think that M. Loisel was a loving husband?
Answer. Mr. Loisel was a simple and poor clerk. He made every effort and sacrifice to make his wife happy. He sacrificed his 400 francs that he had saved to buy a gun for himself in order to buy a new party dress for his wife. It proves that he was a loving husband.

Question. What would have happened to Matilda if she had confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace?
Answer. It would have been a very simple solution. A confession would have solved the problem. Madame Forestier would have asked Matilda not to worry about the necklace as the jewels were false.

Question. Why did Matilda think that she was born in a family of petty clerks by some error of destiny?
Answer. Matilda was a beautiful young lady with high dreams and aspirations. She had no dowry, no hopes,no fame and no wealth. She lost all hopes of marrying a man either rich or distinguished. She believed that she was born into a family of clerks only by some error of destiny. So, she allowed herself to marry a petty clerk in the office of the Board of Education.

Question. Do you think Mr Loisel had an enjoyable evening at the ball? Give reasons for you answer.
Answer. He did not have an enjoyable evening at the ball. He was quite bored with the ball. He felt half asleep in a little salon with three men.

Question. What was the greatest mistake of Mrs Loisel that became the cause of their miseries?
Could she have averted it?
Answer. The greatest blunder that Matilda committed was that she didn't take her friend into confidence. She should have told the whole story as it had happened. That would have pacified Madame Forestier quite easily as the necklace she lent to her friend was not of real diamonds but false ones.

Question. Why didn’t Matilda like to visit her rich friend?
Answer. Matilda or Mrs Loisel always dreamt of things that were beyond her meAnswer. She dreamt of a grand house, costly dishes, good dresses and jewels. She was disillusioned that she couldn't get them.When she visited her rich friend, she really suffered because she became intensely conscious of her poverty in the presence of her fortunate and rich friend. She suffered so much when she returned to her modest and miserable surroundings.

Question. Why did Mr Loisel had to put on his clothes to go out into the cold at night, minutes after returning from the ball? Did he succeed in getting what he searched for?
Answer. Matilda had lost the diamond necklace that she had borrowed from Madame Forestier, at the ball.When it was not found in the folds of her dress, in the folds of the cloak, in pockets, everywhere,Mr Loisel went out. He went over the track in search of the lost necklace. No, he didn't succeed in finding what he had been searching for in the cold night.