The Necklace Class 10: NCERT Chapter PDF

This page is about the NCERT Class 10 English Supplementary Reader, Footprints Without Feet, Chapter 7 — ‘The Necklace’ by Guy de Maupassant, a complete short story about a borrowed diamond necklace and the price a family pays for it.

This page is maintained for the current academic session. The sections below explain the story so you can study it with or without the book.

The Necklace Class 10: Chapter at a Glance

The chapter table on this page gives the file’s contents at a glance — sections, illustrations and question blocks — before you open the PDF. The shape of Chapter 7, in words, is below.

Footprints Without Feet is the NCERT Class 10 supplementary reader, studied alongside the main textbook First Flight. Chapter 7 is a literary text — a complete short story by the French writer Guy de Maupassant, in English translation. It carries no formulas and no numerical exercises; the demands are reading, understanding and discussion.

The narrative is organised around the three Read and Find Out checkpoints the book places inside the story. It closes with Think about it and Talk about it discussion questions, a short glossary, and a Suggested reading list. Captioned illustrations mark the story’s key moments.

What This Chapter Covers: Matilda’s Story From Invitation to Revelation

This section walks through the story in order, so the character and theme sections later make sense even if you have not finished the chapter. The retelling is a map of the NCERT text — it does not replace reading it.

Matilda Loisel is married to a petty clerk in the Paris office of the Board of Education. Pretty but born into a family of clerks, she believes she was meant for delicacies and luxuries, and suffers without pause from her shabby apartment, worn chairs and plain dinners.

One evening her husband comes home elated with a printed invitation from the Minister of Public Instruction and Madame George Ramponneau, asking the honour of the Loisels’ company at the Minister’s residence. Instead of delight, the card produces spite: she throws it on the table and asks what she could possibly want with it.

Asked what she will wear, she says she cannot go without a new dress, and names a sum she knows will not be refused: four hundred francs. Her husband turns pale — it is exactly what he had saved for a hunting gun — but he gives it to her, asking only that the dress be pretty.

The dress ready, a fresh problem disturbs her: she has no jewels, and natural flowers would give her a shabby air among rich women. Her husband suggests borrowing from her rich schoolmate Mme Forestier, who opens her jewel-case and says simply, ‘Choose, my dear.’ Matilda finds a superb necklace of diamonds and takes it home, her hands trembling.

At the ball she is the prettiest of all — elegant, gracious, smiling, intoxicated by the admiration and the victory. She leaves towards four in the morning, and at home, before the glass for one last look at herself in glory, she gives a cry: the necklace is no longer around her neck.

Her husband walks back over the whole route on foot and finds nothing; then come the police, the cab offices and a newspaper advertisement offering a reward. At the end of a week, older by five years, he declares: ‘We must replace this jewel.’

In a shop of the Palais-Royal they find a chaplet of diamonds that seems exactly like the lost one — forty thousand francs, obtainable for thirty-six thousand. Loisel has eighteen thousand from his father; the rest he borrows, making ruinous promises to usurers and the whole race of lenders.

When Matilda takes the replacement back, Mme Forestier complains only that the return is late, and does not open the box. Matilda had feared exactly this scene — what would her friend say if she perceived the substitution, would she take her for a robber? — and the moment passes in silence.

Then begins the horrible life of necessity. The maid is sent away, the lodgings changed for an attic; Matilda washes dishes and linen, carries water up the stairs, and haggles at every shop to the last sou.

Her husband works evenings putting merchants’ books in order and nights copying at five sous a page. At the end of ten years the debt is paid, and Matilda has become a strong, hard, crude woman of the people — yet when her husband is at the office she still sits by the window and thinks of the ball.

One Sunday on the Champs-Élysées she sees Mme Forestier, still young and still pretty, and decides to tell her everything. Greeted with ‘Good morning, Jeanne,’ her friend does not recognise her; when Matilda explains the ten years, Mme Forestier takes both her hands and answers: ‘Mine were false. They were not worth over five hundred francs!’

Those are the three Read and Find Out checkpoints in order: who Matilda is and why she is always unhappy; the fresh problem of the jewels once the dress is ready; and what the Loisels do next — the search, and the replacement of the necklace.

The narrator’s reflection at the midpoint of the struggle frames the whole story: ‘How small a thing will ruin or save one!’

Key Concepts: Characters, Theme and Irony

A story chapter works through people and ideas rather than definitions. The ending only lands if you hold three things together: who the characters are, what the story is really about, and why the final line is ironic.

Matilda Loisel

Matilda is pretty but poor — born, the narrator says, through an error of destiny into a family of clerks, and married to a petty clerk. She suffers constantly from her shabby walls, worn chairs and plain dinners, and longs for elegant dinners, shining silver and jewels.

Her decisions drive the story. She refuses natural flowers as humiliating, chooses the most expensive-looking jewel in the case, and after the loss does her part completely, heroically. Yet even as a strong, hard woman she still sits by the window and dreams of the ball — the inside never changes, only the outside.

M. Loisel

M. Loisel is the contented partner: ‘Oh! the good potpie!’ is his delight at dinner, and he thinks the theatre dress is pretty enough.

His simple pleasures make his sacrifices moving — he gives up the gun he had saved four hundred francs to buy, walks the streets until seven in the morning, then the police, the cab offices and a newspaper reward, and afterwards works evenings and nights for ten years to pay off the debt.

Mme Forestier

Mme Forestier, the rich schoolmate from the convent, is on the page for only a few lines, but her lines carry the entire ending. She lends freely — ‘Choose, my dear’ — and later complains only about the late return, in a frigid tone, without opening the jewel-case. Because she never opens it, the substitution goes unnoticed for ten years.

Why the Ending Is Ironic

Situational irony is the gap between what the reader expects and what actually happens. The ending is the classic case, and the numbers make it exact: the Loisels ruin themselves replacing the lost necklace at thirty-six thousand francs, and the original, Mme Forestier reveals, was false — not worth over five hundred francs.

Appearance Versus Reality

Appearance versus reality is the story’s theme in one phrase. Every detail is about how things look: the borrowed jewels, the modest wraps that clashed with the ball costume, the shabbiness Matilda dreads among rich women. And the cruelest turn is that the one thing that looked most real — the diamonds — was the only thing that was not.

Figure Walkthrough: Two Key Moments in the Illustrations

The chapter’s two illustrations are not decoration. Each freezes a moment where what Matilda shows on the outside hides what she feels inside — which is the whole story in miniature.

The first illustration shows the invitation scene. Her husband expects delight — the card is an honour given to few employees — and Matilda throws it spitefully on the table with the words the caption quotes.

The gap between the two reactions in this image is the character setup of the whole story: a man content with simple pleasures, a wife who suffers because her life is not fine enough. Her unhappiness is internal — a fine invitation from the Minister cannot touch it.

The second illustration shows the return of the jewels. Matilda hands over a replacement worth thirty-six thousand francs, and Mme Forestier — in a frigid tone — comments only on the late return.

She does not open the box, and the story tells us what Matilda feared: what would her friend say if she perceived the substitution — would she take her for a robber? That fear is why she says nothing, and the secret survives for ten years.

Both images show outward behaviour hiding an inner state — the story’s central theme of appearance versus reality.

Word Meanings: The Glossary in Context

The chapter ends with a short glossary, and every word in it occurs in a line you may want to quote in an answer. Learning the words against their story lines makes them stick.

The story is set in France, which is why the currency is francs and the small coin is called a sou. M. and Mme are French abbreviations, so you will see them on the invitation card as well.

Common Mistakes Students Make With This Story

The twist ending is exactly why this story gets misread: once you know the necklace was false, everything before it can look like pure bad luck. These corrections name the misreadings before you make them.

One more trap: Think about it question 3 — what would have happened if Matilda had confessed — is an open question the story deliberately does not answer. Your answer is a reasoned guess, never a plot fact.

Exam Notes: How to Answer the Chapter’s Questions

This chapter has no numerical problems — its value in an exam is how well you can write about character, theme and irony. The book’s own questions are your practice set, and they map cleanly to skills.

Think about it question 2 — the cause of Matilda’s ruin and how she could have avoided it — is the classic long answer.

Four moves: state the cause (her discontent and pride, not the loss itself); give evidence (she refuses natural flowers, borrows the necklace, replaces it secretly); offer the alternative (accept the flowers, or confess at once); close with the narrator’s reflection on fate — how small a thing can ruin or save one.

Textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical — check the current official syllabus before the exam.

Revising The Necklace: The Story in Beats

The chapter closes with questions rather than a printed summary, so here is the whole arc in ten beats for a last-minute run-through.

1. Matilda, a clerk’s wife, hates her plain life and dreams of luxury.
2. An invitation to the Minister’s ball arrives.
3. Four hundred francs from her husband’s gun savings buy a dress.
4. She borrows a diamond necklace from Mme Forestier.
5. She is the triumph of the ball — and on the way home the necklace is gone.
6. Search, police, cab offices and a newspaper reward find nothing.
7. The replacement costs thirty-six thousand francs — inheritance and ruinous loans.
8. Ten years of hard debt change Matilda; her husband works evenings and nights.
9. A chance meeting on the Champs-Élysées brings the truth.
10. The original was false — “not worth over five hundred francs!”

End where the story ends: ‘How small a thing will ruin or save one!’ This recap is a map of the chapter — it never replaces reading the story itself.

Related Resources: The Necklace in Context

This listing is maintained for the 2026-27 academic session using the NCERT textbook information available to us. NCERT remains the authority for confirming the latest edition.

Footprints Without Feet is the NCERT Class 10 supplementary reader, studied alongside First Flight. The Necklace is Chapter 7 of the reader, placed after The Making of a Scientist and before The Hack Driver.

For the rest of the book, start at the Class 10 English notes hub; notes on The Sermon at Benares and the Words and Expressions 2 unit on Madam Rides the Bus are typical First Flight practice. For other subjects, use the Class 10 hub; the CBSE notes home page links every class.

The chapter itself recommends three stories for further reading: ‘The Dowry’ by Guy de Maupassant, ‘A Cup of Tea’ by Katherine Mansfield, and ‘The Bet’ by Anton Chekhov. These are the book’s suggestions, not an exam requirement.

The current official edition of Footprints Without Feet, including Chapter 7, is published on the official NCERT website — ncert.nic.in is the authority for the textbook text and its PDFs.

Sources and Data Verification

• Which textbook: the NCERT Class 10 English Supplementary Reader, Footprints Without Feet, official edition published on ncert.nic.in. This page describes Chapter 7 of that book, ‘The Necklace’ by Guy de Maupassant.
• What this page covers: the one chapter above — its story, illustrations, glossary and questions. It does not describe the other chapters of the reader, the First Flight textbook, or the Class 10 subject scheme as a whole.
• Who settles what: NCERT is the authority for the textbook, its editions and its official PDFs; CBSE is the authority for the syllabus and examinations. Check the current official syllabus, since textbook contents and the examinable syllabus are not always identical.

Reference: NCERT Class 10 English (Footprints Without Feet) textbook, chapter 7, official edition on ncert.nic.in.

FAQs: The Necklace Class 10 Questions Answered

What is the message of The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant?

The story’s message is that discontent and pride can cost more than any material loss. Matilda borrows the necklace because her plain life humiliates her, and her refusal to confess the loss turns one accident into ten years of hardship.

The chapter’s Talk about it topics — ‘Honesty is the best policy’ and ‘We should be content with what life gives us’ — state the same idea as discussion prompts.

Why did Matilda’s life change because of the necklace?

The loss of the borrowed necklace turned one careless evening into a ten-year struggle. Because the Loisels replaced it secretly instead of telling Mme Forestier, they paid thirty-six thousand francs — a fortune they had to borrow — and spent ten years working to clear the debt. The change came not from losing the necklace but from hiding the loss.

What was the real cause of Matilda’s ruin and how could she have avoided it?

The real cause was Matilda’s discontent and pride; the lost necklace was only the occasion. She could have avoided the ruin by accepting the natural flowers her husband suggested, or by confessing the loss to Mme Forestier at once.

Think about it question 2 asks exactly this, and a full answer states the cause, gives the alternatives, and supports both with story evidence.

Was the diamond necklace Matilda borrowed from Mme Forestier real?

No — the final line of the story reveals that the original necklace was false: ‘Mine were false. They were not worth over five hundred francs!’ Matilda had already returned a lookalike worth thirty-six thousand francs and spent ten years paying for it. The Loisels never knew, because Mme Forestier never opened the jewel-case when the substitute was returned.

Who wrote The Necklace and in which Class 10 English book does it appear?

‘The Necklace’ was written by the French short-story writer Guy de Maupassant. It is Chapter 7 of the NCERT Class 10 English Supplementary Reader, Footprints Without Feet, placed between The Making of a Scientist and The Hack Driver in the same collection.

What did Mme Forestier say when Matilda returned the necklace?

She said, in a frigid tone, ‘You should have returned them to me sooner, for I might have needed them.’ Her complaint was only about the late return; she did not open the jewel-case, so she did not notice the substitution.