According to "The Necklace" written by Maupassant (1850-1893), money was the prior matter for the Loisel family, and it made Mrs. Loisel unhappy all the time. In the story, we knew that Mr. and Mrs. Loisel were not wealthy. As "a little clerk at the Ministry of Public" (608), Mr. Loisel could not offer his wife any luxuries. Mrs. Loisel "had no dresses, no jewels, nothing" (608). Mrs. Loisel was very unsatisfied with this situation all the time.
 One day, Mr. Loisel received an envelope with an invitation from his bosses. They invited Mr. and Mrs. Loisel to a ball. At the beginning, Mrs. Loisel was not willing to go because she didn’t have any dresses nor jewels; however, the problem was solved when she received four hundred francs from her husband for a pretty dress and borrowed a diamond necklace from Mrs. Forestier.
 Mrs. Loisel had a nice time at the ball because her appearance and necklace attracted all the people around her. However, Mrs. Loisel had a "disaster" after the ball because she lost the borrowed necklace. The couple tried their best to find the neclace, but in vain. Because of that, Mr. Loisel suggested, "‘We must consider how to replace that ornament"’ (612). "Loisel possessed eighteen thousand francs which his father had left, he would borrow the rest" (612). Mr. Loisel spent thirty six thousand francs to purchase "a string of diamonds which seemed to them exactly like the one they looked for" (612).
 They gave the necklace to Mrs. Forestier, but she didn’t know it was a substitute. After this event, Mr. and Mrs. Loisel needed to pay the debt. "They dismissed their servant; they changed their lodgings; they rented a garret under the roof" (612).
 After ten years of hard life, the couple paid all the debt. When Mrs. Loisel met Mrs. Forestier one day, Mrs. Forestier could not identify Mrs. Loisel. Mrs. Loisel told the fact about losing the necklace, then Mrs. Forestier was shocked and said, "‘Why, my necklace was paste. It was worth at most five hundred francs!’" (614). Paying the extra and ridiculous debt was really a disaster for Mrs. Loisel.
 In fact, Mrs. Loisel didn’t want people to know about her economic situation. She knew that when people in the ball knew she was not wealthy, she would be despised. Mrs. Loisel didn’t want to suffer from humiliation, so she knew that dressing like a wealthy lady would help her to prevent the problem. She borrowed the diamond necklace from Mrs. Forestier, and it really made her look like a rich lady. When no one despised her in the ball because of her appearance and borrowed necklace, she didn’t suffer, but she suffered from debt for ten years after she lost the necklace.
 Actually, her sufferings and disasters were brought by her own characteristics, which was her cynical attitude, and it was caused by her sense of vanity.
 It is no doubt that Mrs. Loisel was a cynical woman. Since she was cynical, it only brought her suffers when she thought too much, blamed too much and complained too much. "She suffered ceaselessly, feeling herself born for all the delicacies and all the luxuries. She suffered from the poverty of her dwelling, from the wretched look of the walls, from the worn-out chairs, from the ugliness of the curtains." (608).
It seems that the situation of Mrs. Loisel was really lousy, but it may not be a problem for other people in her rank. She hated her situation because she demanded too much on luxury. When she could not get what she wanted, she would suffer. Mrs. Loisel was too conscious of her surroundings, but "another woman of her rank would never even have been conscious, tortured her and made her angry." (608). Mrs. Loisel’s trouble was caused by her cynical attitude. If she was not cynical, she would not suffer when she was not extremely conscious about her surroundings.
Mr. and Mrs. Loisel lived in the same environment with the unique economic situation, but Mr. Loisel never complained about his living environment and economic situation. For example, when the couple had dinner at the same table, Mr. Loisel enjoyed his dinner so much and said, "‘Ah, the good pot-aufeu! I don’t know anything better than that"’ (608). However, Mrs. Loisel, different from the attitude of her husband, "thought of dainty dinners" (608).
The attitude of Mr. and Mrs. Loisel was different from each other. Mr. Loisel enjoyed the things around him, so he felt happy and satisfied all the time, but Mrs. Loisel hated the things around her, so she suffered and complained all the time. When Mrs. Loisel was a cynical person, she was unhappy all the time, because she would be unaware of the good things around her. In the story, I saw that Mr. Loisel really loved his wife. Mr. Loisel knew his wife "never [went] out" (608), so he thought the ball would please his wife, but Mrs. Loisel just didn’t care the love from her husband. If Mrs. Loisel could feel the love from her dear husband, she could find the real pleasure, then money might not be a matter to her. Mrs. Loisel had a serious attitude on wealth, so she would never be satisfied, and it could be shown by her sense of vanity.
When Mrs. Loisel was complaining about her home environment, she always thought of:
"the long salons fitted up with ancient silk, of the delicate furniture carrying priceless curiosities, and of the coquettish perfumed boudoirs made for talks at five o’clock with intimate friends, with men famous and sought after, whom all women envy whose attention they all desired…..she thought of delicious dishes served on marvelous plates, and the whispered gallantries which you listen to with a sphinxlike smile, while you are eating the pink flesh of a trout or the wings of a quail." (608)
Since Mrs. Loisel could not enjoy a luxurious life, she was unhappy, dissatisfied and hated all the things around her. Her sense of vanity turned her into a cynical person, because she could not get what she wanted.
Although Mrs. Loisel had friends, her friends were richer than her, so she didn’t like to visit them, "because she suffered so much when she came back" (608). It showed that Mrs. Loisel felt inferior because of her economic situation. When she wanted to escape from the reality, Mrs. Loisel didn’t have a social life, because she didn’t want to be humiliated by rich people. Because she had this attitude, she seldom communicated with the other people, then she didn’t know what happened outside clearly. If she had a social life, she would have a better relationship with friends, and she could know more about the characteristics of her friends.
If Mrs. Loisel knew more about Mrs. Forestier besides knowing she was rich, she would know the borrowed necklace was paste if she had a nice relationship with Mrs. Forestier, because Mrs. Forestier might show Mrs. Loisel which jewel was expensive, and which was inexpensive. Mrs. Loisel would be able to identify good and bad jewels if she talked with Mrs. Forestier frequently. Even though the necklace was really expensive, if the relationship between Mrs. Loisel and Mrs. Forestier was good, rich Mrs. Forestier may not need Mrs. Loisel to compensate for her necklace, and Mrs. Loisel would know Mrs. Forestier was not as harsh as she thought. Mrs. Loisel didn’t know the meaning of friendship since she did not have real friends. Friendship is something money cannot buy. In the eyes of Mrs. Loisel, money was the most important thing, so she did not know what was friendship. If Mrs. Loisel forgot the economic difference between her and Mrs. Forestier, and tried to talk more with Mrs. Forestier, she could build a good friendship with Mrs. Forestier. As a result, they would treat each other as well as sister. When their friendship was firm, would Mrs. Forestier give up a "sister" due to the losing necklace? Without a real friendship, Mrs. Loisel was afraid to tell the fact to Mrs. Loisel; therefore, if the friendship between them was good, Mrs. Loisel may not need to face the disaster.
Because Mrs. Loisel was too cynical, she could not involve social life and build a harmonious relationship with the others easily. Finally, it brought her the disaster, which is the ten-year-debt. Her cynical attitude really damaged her. Being cynical means a person who never accepts reality, and Mrs. Loisel is this kind of person. When she didn’t accept reality, she suffered from dissatisfactions. She tried her "best" to pretend as a rich lady, so she borrowed the necklace from Mrs. Forestier for participating in the ball; however, as I had mentioned before, she faced debt after losing the necklace. If Mrs. Loisel listened to what her husband said, "‘You might wear natural flower’" (609), she would not  borrow a necklace from Mrs. Forestier, then she would not lose the necklace and face debt. Borrowing a necklace and disliking the natural flowers showed Mrs. Loisel had a sense of vanity.
Also, Mrs. Loisel didn’t accept reality before facing debt, but when she accepted the reality of facing debt, she cleared all the debt finally, and it showed the good side of accepting reality. The good side of accepting reality is that we will solve the problem at last if we accept the reality. If Mrs. Loisel accepted the reality of being not wealthy before the debt, she would never suffer from dissatisfactions, and she would be a happy woman, just like her husband. If Mrs. Loisel accepted the reality of being not wealthy, she would not care about her appearance and status in the ball. When Mrs. Loisel didn’t care about dressing, she would never borrow the necklace for pretending to be a rich woman; then she would not lose the necklace and pay the debt.
In conclusion, the cynical attitude of Mrs. Loisel was the main reason for her disaster because it only brought trouble to her. However, it was good that she changed her attitude after ten years of hard life. Although she was still poor after ten years, even she was poorer than before, she was not afraid to let people know she was poor. When Mrs. Loisel saw Mrs. Forestier again, Mrs. Loisel was frank to tell her the fact. Besides that, I believed that Mrs. Loisel had a happier life despite the fact that she faced debt, because in time of debt, Mrs. Loisel stopped craving, and what she thought of was paying the debt. Mrs. Loisel lost her sense of vanity, so she was no longer a cynical person. Mrs. Loisel was not satisfied and never smiled before the debt, but when she talked with Mrs. Forestier after paying all the debt, "she smiled with a joy which was proud and naïve at once"(614). The disaster taught her a great lesson and changed her a lot.