The Necklace Lesson Plan

Based on these stories, how was poverty likely viewed in 19th-century France? Does this differ from how we see poverty today?

The narrator describes Hector’s family saying, “their financial problems had turned into one of those humiliating kinds of poverty, hidden and shameful, the poverty of a noble family still hoping to maintain its place in society.” Rather than accepting their new class status, Hector fights against it with his regular walks down the Champs-Elysèes for appearances. He continues to try to “maintain” his “place in society” when he buys a horse and convinces his family—and himself—that he is still able to successfully ride a horse. These attempts to...