Question

How does Madame Loisel first react to the news that she would be going to the ball?

Answer 1

She is initially horrified at the idea of going to the ball. Her husband knew that she was interested in being a part of the upper class and taking part in their activities. When he came home with the invitation to the ball, he thought his wife would be pleased. She was not. She did not feel she had anything suitable to wear to the ball and therefore was unable to go.

Answer 2

Madam Mathilde Loisel has a very classist outlook of society. She has always considered that she is an aristocratic woman that was born into a modest family due to an “accident of fate”.

When her husband, who is a modest clerk who works in the government is able to get an invitation attend a ball of the Ministry of Education, she is horrified because she does not have anything elegant and expensive enough to wear. She definitely wants to go but her first reaction is actually worrying about what higher class people will think about her.