Question

8. How does Maupassant develop the narrator's character

Answer 1

This story is not a usual one. It talks about how our views and ideas can be judgmental and hurtful. It puts us (readers) in a point where we start thinking about our own perspectives.

Explanation:

This story has two main components as symbols - belief and honesty. The author wants to describe the entire scene in darkness. He excludes elements that give us 'hope' in our lives.

The woman who the narrator loved deceived him. She portrayed to be a faithful, honest and innocent woman who loved him deeply. This was an impression that everyone had about her including the narrator.

The story starts off with an exclamation of grief, where he yells 'I had loved her madly!'. From this part of the story, he continues to talk and express his love/emotion towards his lover. He continues to suffer in her loss, goes to places where he can relive moments, visits her grave and sits there for hours. He reads the messages on the tombstones where the story ends.

The entire course of story makes us understand that he understand how she deceived him from the beginning till the end.