Matilda shows growth over the course of the story because a. once unhappy with a comfortable life, she learns how to work for what's important. b. she eventually doesn't care about her appearance at all. c. she realizes that being untruthful about the necklace led to her downfall. d. she becomes just like the upper-class ladies that she envies.

C. She realizes that being untruthful about the necklace led to her downfall.

Explanation:

Guy de Maupassant' s short story "The Necklace" shows how a simple yet selfish desire could lead to a big tragedy. The greed and untruthful actions of the character ruined the whole family, not only a year but a decade.

Mathilde and her husband Mr. Loisel had wroked hard ten years just paying off debts that they had incurred from the loss of the diamond necklace. Mrs. Loisel, from her desire to be like the rest of the rich ladies, had borrowed a necklace from her friend Mme. Forestier. But she lost it after the party at the Minister's house. So, instead of telling the truth, they bought a diamond necklace similar to it that was way out of their monetary capability. And in return, they had to sacrifice a decade of their years, working and toiling for their debt. In the end, the lost necklace turned out to be a fake and they had replaced it with a real one.

If only they had told the truth in the first place, none of this would have happened and they would have lived the same way they had been before. But due to her desire to be like the rich women and her reluctance to tell the truth, they had to undergo many years of suffering. Mathilde learned in the end that this untruthfulness of hers has led to their downfall.

tending to cause harm