Ncert Solutions for Class 10 English Chapter 7 – The Necklace
Page No 39:
Question 1:
What kind of a person is Mme Loisel − why is she always unhappy?
Answer:
Mme Loisel was a pretty young lady born in a family of clerks. She felt that she was born for all the delicacies and luxuries. Instead, she had to live a simple and economical life. She completely disliked her circumstances. This made her angry and unhappy.
Question 2:
What kind of a person is her husband?
Answer:
Her husband was a clerk in the office of the Board of Education. Unlike Mme Loisel, he was content with his life. While Mme Loisel used to suffer thinking about luxuries and delicacies, he could derive great sense of satisfaction even from a humble ‘potpie’. He was also a loving husband, as is seen from his behavior towards his wife. He readily parted with the four hundred francs that he had saved to buy a gun, so that Mme Loisel would be able to wear a nice dress to the Minister’s ball. This shows that his wife’s happiness was more important to him.
Page No 41:
Question 1:
What fresh problem now disturbs Mme Loisel?
Answer:
After buying a pretty dress, Mme Loisel was bothered by yet another problem. She had no jewel to adorn herself with. She said she would have a poverty-stricken look. Her husband suggested that she should wear some natural flowers. However, she refused and said that there was nothing more humiliating than to have a shabby air in the midst of rich women.
Question 2:
How is the problem solved?
Answer:
Mme Loisel’s husband solved this problem. He told his wife to request her friend, Mme Forestier to lend her some jewels. When she went to Mme Forestier, the latter brought a jewel case, so that Mme Loisel could choose whichever jewels she liked.
Page No 42:
Question 1:
What do M. and Mme Loisel do next?
Answer:
When M. and Mme Loisel realized that the necklace was missing, they tried finding out where she could have lost it. They concluded that it could have been dropped in the cab. They did not know its number. Therefore, Loisel went over the track where they had walked. When he found nothing, he went to the police and to the cab offices. He even put an advertisement in the newspapers, offering a reward. He then asked Matilda to write a letter to Mme Forestier, explaining that she had broken the clasp of the necklace and would get it repaired. This gave them time to find the necklace. However, they eventually decided to replace the necklace with a new one.
Question 2:
How do they replace the necklace?
Answer:
Loisel asked Matilda to write a letter to Mme Forestier, explaining that she had broken the clasp of the necklace and would get it repaired. They found a chaplet of diamonds in a shop of the Palais-Royal. This necklace seemed to be exactly like the one that had been lost. They could buy it for thirty-six thousand francs. Loisel had eighteen thousand francs, which his father had left him. He borrowed the rest from various sources. Finally, he bought the necklace and gave it to Matilda for her to take it back to Mme Forestier.
Page No 46:
Question 1:
The course of the Loisels’ life changed due to the necklace. Comment.
Answer:
The course of the Loisel’s life changed due to the necklace. After replacing the lost necklace with a new one, they had to replay all the money that they had borrowed to buy the new necklace. They sent away the maid and changed their lodgings. They rented some rooms in an attic. Matilda learnt the odious work of a kitchen. She washed the dishes, soiled linen, their clothes and dishcloths. She took down the refuse to the street each morning and brought up the water, stopping at each landing to catch her breath. She went to the grocer’s, the butcher’s, and the fruiter’s, with her basket on her arm, shopping, haggling to save her money. Loisel worked in the evenings, putting the books of some merchants in order. At night, he did copying at five sous a page. This lasted for ten years, and at the end of the said period, they were able to repay their lenders.
Question 2:
What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?
Answer:
The cause of Matilda’s ruin was her dissatisfaction with whatever life offered her. She was always unhappy. She felt that she was born for all the delicacies and luxuries. She disliked her circumstances.
She could have avoided the ruin by being content with what she had.
Question 3:
What would have happened to Matilda if she had confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace?
Answer:
If Matilda would have confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace, she might have been in lesser trouble than what she faced after having replaced the necklace. Her friend would definitely have been angry with her. Most probably, she would have asked Matilda to replace it. She would have given her the details from where she had bought the necklace and how much it had cost her. Matilda would thus have known that the jewels in the necklace were not real diamonds. It would have cost her a far lesser amount to replace it. Matilda would thus have saved herself and her husband all the trouble they went through.
Question 4:
If you were caught in a situation like this, how would you have dealt with it?
Answer:
This question requires you to use your own perspective as well as your analytical skills. The answer to the question would vary from one person to another. It is suggested that you read the text carefully and try attempting it on your own.
