Personification In The Necklace

There are
a number of examples ofin "." This is a literary technique whereby something that
isn't human, such as an animal or an inanimate object, is endowed with human qualities. A
particularly useful example in "The Necklace" comes in the description of Mathilde's
humble lineage:

She was one of those pretty and charming
girls born, as though fate had blundered over her, into a family of artisans.

In this particular excerpt, fate has been personified. Fate does
not blunder; only humans can do that. What the author is getting at here is the notion that fate
made the mistake of putting Mathilde, a charming, pretty girl, into a lowly family of artisans.
What's more, this corresponds to how Mathilde evaluates the conditions of her birth.

For this is a woman who regards herself as being possessed of noble blood. So the fact
that she was born into such a humble family is a constant source of humiliation. Mathilde's firm
belief that she's destined for better things will lead her to make the fateful decision to wear
the titular necklace to the Education Ministry ball.

Then there's the
personification used to describe the shabby appearance of the Loisels' cramped
apartment:

All these things, of which other women of her
class would not even have been aware, tormented and insulted her.

No matter how bad the condition of someone's dwelling place, it cannot torment or
insult anyone. But that's precisely how Mathilde feels; it's almost as if she's being attacked
by her humble living conditions. Again, she thinks she's born to better things and so is aware
of her domestic environment in a way that other women of her class would not
be.