Answer:
Which statement best describes the contrast between the stories "The Devil" and "Federigo's Falcon?
In "The Devil," Honore puts money before love, while Federigo in "Federigo's Falcon" puts love before money.
Explanation:
In the short story "The Devil" by Guy de Maupassant, the main character, Honroe, has to take care of his dying mother, however he worries more about harvesting his wheat before the rains come, and decides to let her die alone. However he is convinced by the doctor to hire Mother Repet to take care of his mother. Being too cheap, he doesn't agree to pay her a daily rate, and agrees to pay her a fixed rate, which she finally accepts. But after three days, Mother Repet realizes she's losing money, so she decides to do something about it and tells Honore´s mother that people see the devil the moment before death, then disguises herself with a blanket and a pot on her head to scare the dying woman, which she does, and finally, the old woman collapses to the floor and dies.
In "Federigo's Falcon", Federigo was a rich man who fell madly in love with a woman, Monna Giovanna, and spent all of his fortune trying to court her, by participating in jousts and tournaments, organizing feasts and spending all of his money in order to make her fall in love with him, with no success. So much he spent that he ended up poor and had to move to the countryside to a little farm he had on his name, and nothing more but one pet falcon. He never stopped loving Monna, and some time later, after Monna's husband died and then she moved with her son to the countryside close to Federigo's farm, he finally had the chance to get close to them, and developed a relationship with the boy. Then the boy fell ill, and asked his mother to have Federigo's falcon for himself, so she arranges a date with Federigo to request the falcon for his son. Not knowing this, and without any money, he decides to kill the bird and make dinner for Monna with it. After eating, the woman makes the request to Federigo, to which he replies crying that he had fed her the bird as he had nothing else. Saldy, the boy passes away shortly after. And by a twist of fate, Monna is asked to be remarried soon, and chooses no other than Federigo as his husband.
So, we can conclude that for Honroe, the character in "the devil", money is more important than the wellness of his mother, where in "Federigo's falcon", his love and devotion to Monna came always first, as he spent all his money in order to win her love.
