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Do you think the author wants us to sympathize with Madame Loisel's unhappiness at the begining of the story? Why or why not?

There is nothing in the story, beginning, middle or end, that elicits sympathy for me regarding Madame Loisel.  She is unhappy because she is not rich like her friend.  She wants to be a socialite, like Madame Forestier her old school friend, who has money. She is unhappy because she is beautiful, but does not have fancy clothes. 

The author is trying to write a realistic story about what life was really like in this period in history.  I'm sure there were plenty of beautiful women who dreamed of being rich, but married a simple men who could provide only the necessities of life. 

Everything that makes her unhappy is shallow, materialistic, therefore, the reader actually feels that she gets what she deserves, because she has devoted her life to the pursuit of a false image, like the necklace that she wore that was fake.  The world she wants to live in is dominated and ruled by appearances only,  that is exactly what she gets.   

Madame Loisel's life is not that bad, she has a simple existence, but she is not poor or starving in the street.  Her husband gets two tickets to a ball, he manages to give his wife 400 francs to buy a dress. 

I agree that there is little sympathy created for Madame Loisel. She yearns for a life which she cannot have and shows no appreciation or contentment with what she does have. She is foolish, childish and ignorant. Her flaw of judging by appearances rather than depth brings about her downfall as she is blinded by what she believes to be diamonds but does not study them or percieve them to be fake. She is content for the evening with a necklace of glass: the treasure she has dreamed of is never real, but has a high price.