NCERT Solution for Class 10 English : Footprints Without Feet – Chapter 7 The Necklace

NCERT solution is a great help to students. Students can check the understanding of the chapter by solving NCERT solution.

Read and Find Out

Question.1. What kind of a person is Mme Loisel ? Why is she always unhappy?
Answer. Matilda had a romantic nature. She was lost in dreams. Matilda was unhappy because she had no dowry. She had no hope, no means of becoming known. She was pretty. She wanted to be known and loved by rich men. But she was born in a poor family.

Question.2. What kind of a person is her husband?
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.3. What fresh problem now disturbs Mme Loisel?
Answer. The fresh problem is : Mme Loisel doesn’t have a pretty and proper dress for the party.

Question.4. How is the problem solved?
Answer. The problem is solved when her husband gives her four hundred francs. It is to buy a pretty dress for the said party.

Question.5. What do M. and Mme Loisel do next?
Answer. M. and Mme Loisel decide to borrow a diamond necklace. It is from her friend Mme Forestier.

Question.6. How do they replace the necklace?
Answer. They borrow money. They shift to a cheap house. They save every sou possible. Mme Loisel does all her work herself. They buy a new real diamond necklace to replace the lost one which is fake.

Think About It

Question.1. The course of the Loisels’ life changed due to the necklace. Comment.
Answer. Matilda lost Mrs. Forestier’s necklace while she was dancing at the ball. Matilda and her husband had to return the necklace after borrowing eighteen thousand francs from lenders. They handed the jewel box to Mrs. Forestier who did not open the Jewel Box. After that Matilda and her husband spent a life of misery. A tremendous change came in the life style of Matilda after this incident. She started living in rented house, sent away the maid, and also started doing all the household work. She led a wretched, poor and humble life for ten years. Matildas desire to show off and one little act of negligence or one small error led to the utter ruin of their life full of pleasures. They suffered poverty for ten years due to the debt they incurred to buy a necklace.

Question.2. What was the cause of Matilda’s ruin? How could she have avoided it?
Answer. Matilda’s materialistic aspirations and dissatisfaction was the ultimate cause of her ruin. She was always unhappy about her financial status and wished to be born in the midst of riches and luxuries of life. She could have easily avoided her ruin by accepting her current situation and being content with her simple life with her loving husband.

Question.3. What would have happened to Matilda if she had confessed to her friend that she had lost her necklace?
Answer. Truth and honesty would have saved Matilda from her doom. If only she has been courageous enough to confess to her friend the truth of the necklace, she would have come to know that it was a fake one that cost a mere five hundred francs. She would not have spent her husband’s entire inheritance and borrowed eighteen thousand francs to pay for its replacement. In fact, she would have saved herself and her husband from ten long years of crushing poverty, misery and back breaking labour.

Question.4. If you were caught in a situation like this, how would you have dealt with it?
Answer. If I were caught in Matilda’s place. I would have felt contended in whatever situation God has placed me.I would have enjoyed my own life without comparing it with that of another.

Vanity means too much pride in one’s appearance, abilities and achievements. Too much pride have too great a fall. That is what same happens with Matilda. She is pride of her beauty. She wants to live a luxurious life. In her mad desire for such a luxurious life she loses all her beauty which she used to be so proud. She even loses her wealth.

Talk About It

Question.1. The characters in this story speak in English. Do you think this is their language? What clues are there in the story about the language its characters must be speaking in?
Answer. Though the characters speak in English, it is not their language. Maupassant wrote the story in French and it was translated into English. Again the very text throws up enough words in French to prove it otherwise. First, the very names of characters like ‘Madame Loisel, Madame Forestier and the minister’s name George Ramponneau indicate their French origin. Then, the words for currency like ‘Franc’ and ‘Sou’ show the same. Also, the shop’s location at ‘Palais Royal’ and ‘Champs Elysees’ point out the French history of the characters and the story.

Question.2. Honesty is the best policy.
Answer. Honesty is definitely the best policy. Falsehood and hypocrisy seem very attractive and rewarding at first. But, they lead to nothing but misery, evil and utter gloom. Honesty, on the contrary, seems to be a difficult choice in pursuit of material happiness. However, it is the only choice for a life of contentment, peace and everlasting happiness.

Question.3. We should be content with what life gives us.
Answer. Life is a great mystery. For every individual this mystery of life comes wrapped in a unique package. For some, it is all riches, comfort, name and fame. For some, it is nothing but sheer hunger, poverty, anguish and an everyday quest for bare survival. One, however, must learn to live within one’s means and be content with what one has. One may try to improve his life by honest means but eventually must be at peace with what one manages to have.