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.