Thanks for great opportunity experiencing blog-workJ I like this task, because it not only gave me chance to improve my knowledge in stylistics, but also I discovered a new writer, read a wonderful story and  developed some skills in creation of my own blogJ

     

1850-1893

        The passage under consideration is the short story “A Dead Woman's Secret” written by the French author of the naturalistic school Guy de Maupassant, who is generally considered the greatest French short story writer. Maupassant took the subjects for his pessimistic stories and novels chiefly from the behavior of the bourgeoisie, the Franco-Prussian War and the fashionable life of Paris. The writer is usually regarded as one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents, with some 300 short stories written. His first published story "Ball of Fat" (1880) is often considered to be his masterpiece. Maupassant wrote comfortably in both the high realistic and fantastic modes. The fantastic approach in the author’s style was influenced by his mental state as he was suffering from a disease that caused increasing mental disorder. It is reflected in his nightmarish stories, which have much in common with Edgar Allan Poe's supernatural visions. Maupassant’s most famous novel “Bel Ami” is hold in a high regard by critics and reading audience in general.

The short story under consideration is devoted to a mother who just passed away and her family members finding out “secrets” about their deceased mother. She had died from a painless death in her bed looking like she had got herself ready before dying. She laid there looking calm and peaceful as her son and daughter were desperate about her death. Her children decided to read the letters their mother had wrote which were kept in her drawer. At first they enjoyed the letters and thought they should bury them with her until the daughter opened a letter written by a man named ‘Henry’, who was not their father. The letter from this man was a confession in love. When they finished reading the letter they got up and left their deceased mother on her bed in the darkened room. 

The basic theme of the story is devoted to family and private relationships. The extract describes a farewell of children with their mother, who has just passed away, and the shift from despair and grief to disgust and hostility which is produced by the dead mother’s revealed secret. The basic idea of the novel in the most general sense is that everyone has secrets, no matter how descent, rational and open-minded a person may seem to be. The other idea dwelled on in the passage is a children’s ungratefulness. Even though, their mother dedicated her entire life to their children and did everything for their sake (“She had, from childhood up, armed them with a strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise. He, the man, had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity. She, the girl, influenced by the virtue which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man.”), her children can’t accept the fact that she had a secret lover. Moreover, the children knew that their mother was unhappy with their father (“They had hardly known their father, knowing only that he had made their mother most unhappy, without being told any other details.”) but even this fact can’t reinforce them to forgive their mother. Other idea explored in the extract is that keeping a secret from someone can change the entire perspective and attitude of a person, especially if it concerns the closest people. The author’s message is to be sincere and cordial in order to avoid misunderstanding, quarrels and consequently broken hearts and destinies.

The events in the analysed text happen in the dead woman’s room, where her body rests quietly and peacefully in her bed. The setting of the events in the given extract is realistic with a soft poetic touch and is described in a rather general way. The peculiarities of the setting are conveyed by the author implicitly through the characterization of the character’s emotions and feeling. Judging from the very first passage of the story: “The woman had died without pain, quietly, as a woman should whose life had been blameless. Now she was resting in her bed, lying on her back, her eyes closed, her features calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying. The whole pale countenance of the dead woman was so collected, so calm, so resigned that one could feel what a sweet soul had lived in that body, what a quiet existence this old soul had led, how easy and pure the death of this parent had been.” we may assume that the setting is as quiet, plain and calm as the state of the dead woman. This description reinforces the idea that a death is a natural and inevitable part of each human being’s life.

Other details of the setting given by the author, such as “The ticking of the clock, hidden in the shadow, could be heard distinctly, and through the open window drifted in the sweet smell of hay and of woods, together with the soft moonlight. No other noise could be heard over the land except the occasional croaking of the frog or the chirping of some belated insect. An infinite peace, a divine melancholy, a silent serenity surrounded this dead woman, seemed to be breathed out from her and to appease nature itself.” contribute to our understanding of the atmosphere in the passage and convey the idea that death is not pain and suffering but peace and calmness. A lot of expressive means are used by the author to reinforce this idea, they are epithets: ‘soft moonlight’; ‘sweet smell’; metaphors ‘The ticking of the clock, hidden in the shadow’; ‘a silent serenity surrounded this dead woman’; ‘…seemed to be breathed out from her’; ‘the open window drifted in the sweet smell of hay and of woods’ and all the emotionally colored expressions such as ‘divine melancholy’; ‘sweet smell’ etc. The description of the noise ‘No other noise could be heard over the land except the occasional croaking of the frog or the chirping of some belated insect’ proves that nothing else could be heard because the room was surrounded by a complete silence and quietness.  These stylistic devices are used to create a peaceful atmosphere and convey the symbol of death as a natural part of life that release a soul from the burden imposed by mortal life.

From the point of view of presentation the text is the 3^rd person narrative. There are four characters we meet in the extract. They are the dead woman, her daughter Marguerite, known as Sister Eulalie, her son and a priest. Other characters, who are mentioned, are the dead woman’s husband Rene and her lover Henry.

The writer reveals the dead woman’s personality by means of narrative description with both implied and explicit judgments. From the author’s characterizations we derive the impression of the dead woman as strong, loving and caring personality. When the narrator informs us that she armed her children with a strict moral code, teaching them religion, without weakness, and duty, without compromise; we come to share respect and approval of the dead woman’s doings. The facts that her son had become a judge and handled the law as a weapon with which he smote the weak ones without pity and that her daughter was greatly influenced by the virtue which had bathed her in this austere family, had become the bride of the Church through her loathing for man prove that the dead woman had brought up her children in a decent way and instilled high moral values and qualities in them. These comments of the narrator clearly indicate that this woman devoted her entire life to her children.

The author reveals some surface details of physical appearance of the dead woman, for example:

·                 …her eyes closed, her features calm, her long white hair carefully arranged as though she had done it up ten minutes before dying;

·                 The whole pale countenance of the dead woman…;

·                 On the other side of the long body the other hand seemed still to be holding the sheet in the death grasp…

·                 The nun was wildly-kissing the dead woman's hand, an ivory hand as white as the large crucifix lying across the bed.

All these details contribute to the calm atmosphere and suggest the idea that the dead woman had quiet and wise nature. The very first sentence of the story ‘The woman had died without pain, quietly, as a woman should whose life had been blameless.’ contains the adjective ‘blameless’ which gives the author’s explicit judgment about the dead woman life. Other direct characterization of her personality is driven from the description of the dead woman’s body and the effect it produces: ‘The whole pale countenance of the dead woman was so collected, so calm, so resigned that one could feel what a sweet soul had lived in that body, what a quiet existence this old soul had led, how easy and pure the death of this parent had been.’ The writer explicitly emphasizes the goodness of the character and her virtues which conveyed through the description of her dead body and the expression of her face.

The personalities of the antagonists are described by the author mainly through the speech, actions and consciousness characterization. The personalities of the dead woman’s children are conveyed through their attitude towards their mother, who are desperate and miserable about her death at first and then feel hostility towards her. The following extracts from the story illustrate the shift in their attitudes:

·                 Kneeling beside the bed, her son, a magistrate with inflexible principles, and her daughter, Marguerite, known as Sister Eulalie, were weeping as though their hearts would break.

·                 The nun was wildly-kissing the dead woman's hand, an ivory hand as white as the large crucifix lying across the bed.

·                 Grief and tears stopped her; she could not continue.

·                 Then the judge, still kneeling, his head buried in the bed clothes, cried in a voice altered by grief and deadened by the sheets and blankets…

·                 And his sister, frantically striking her forehead against the woodwork, convulsed, twitching and trembling as in an epileptic fit…

·                 The crisis slowly calmed down and they began to weep quietly, just as on the sea when a calm follows a squall.

·         And they loved her as they never had loved her before. They measured the depth of their grief, and thus they discovered how lonely they would find themselves.

·         They now became solitary, lonely beings; they could no longer look back.

·         The nun, straight as a statue, tears trembling in the corners of her eyes, was watching her brother, waiting. Then he crossed the room slowly, went to the window and stood there, gazing out into the dark night.

·         He stepped forward, quickly picked up the letters and threw them pell-mell back into the drawer. Then he closed the curtains of the bed…

·         … without looking again at the mother upon whom he had passed sentence, severing the tie that united her to son and daughter…

This sequence of these events shows the shift in the children’s attitudes towards their mother and displays their emotions which are changing from despair to hostility and misunderstanding. From loving their mother as they never had loved her before they become hostile and cold on discovering the fact that their mother had kept on secret. Their stubbornness and unwillingness to forgive their mother and accept her as she was with all her flaws and drawbacks proves the fact that they are egoistic and ungrateful to the woman, who scarified her life to them but was eager to keep something in secret. Moreover, the children’s emotional state and the tragic emotions do not correlate with the peaceful and quiet setting described by the author which means that they are not ready to accept the fact that their mother is dead and let her soul rest in peace. On the other, it is quite a natural reaction to the death of the close person but what makes it unnatural is their hostile attitude and stubbornness which serve as a characteristic feature of their personalities.

Speech characterizations employed by the author as well illustrate this gradation in attitude:

·         “Thank you, "father, but my brother and I prefer to remain alone with her. This is our last chance to see her, and we wish to be together, all three of us, as we--we--used to be when we were small and our poor mo--mother----”.

·         “Mamma, mamma, mamma!”.

·         “Jesus, Jesus, mamma, Jesus!”.

·         “You remember how mamma used always to read her old letters; they are all there in that drawer. Let us, in turn, read them; let us live her whole life through tonight beside her! It would be like a road to the cross, like making the acquaintance of her mother, of our grandparents, whom we never knew, but whose letters are there and of whom she so often spoke, do you remember?".

·         "These ought to be put in the grave with her; they ought to be used as a shroud and she ought to be buried in it.".

·          "Let us now retire, sister.".

The speech characterizations are marked by the usage of exclamatory sentences that shows the emotional state of the children and aposiopesis in the sentence ‘we wish to be together, all three of us, as we--we--used to be when we were small and our poor mo--mother----’ that show that the daughter was unable to complete the sentence due to her grief and despair; repetitions “Mamma, mamma, mamma!” and “Jesus, Jesus, mamma, Jesus!” that serve to emphasize their emotional state.

The last character introduced in the extract is a priest, whose image is created through the author’s explicit judgments, surface details of appearance and speech characterizations. The author’s explicit judgments about the priest are marked by the instances of irony and sarcasm such as: “He looked sad, with that assumed sadness of the priest for whom death is a bread winner. He crossed himself and approaching with his professional gesture…”; “Once more serene, the priest bowed, thinking of his bed.”. The surface details of his appearance and physical state are as well marked by the author with the help of irony: “He was red and out of breath from his interrupted digestion, for he had made himself a strong mixture of coffee and brandy in order to combat the fatigue of the last few nights and of the wake which was beginning.” The priest’s actions are depicted with the help of syntactic expressive means, such as asyndeton, which shows the mechanic nature of the procedure which is performed by him so often that has already become a routine and a way for earning a living: “He kneeled, crossed himself, prayed, arose and went out quietly…”. The most powerful metaphor that is used by the author to characterize the priest and that gives a reader a clear understanding of the priest’s attitude towards death is “the priest for whom death is a bread winner”.

The priest’s speech adds to the image of a person, for whom death is a routine. His phrases like: “Well, my poor children! I have come to help you pass these last sad hours.”; “As you wish, my children.”; “She was a saint!” show his pretended concern and mocking solemnity.