Nameah M.

Magomnang III English 108 Stylistic: 1-2:30/M-W

A Dead Woman’s Secret

Guy De Maupassant

Summary:

Was a short story a mother who was just passed away and her family
members finding out “secrets” about their deceased mother. She had died from
a painless death and her bed looking like she had got herself ready before
dying. She laid there looking calm and peaceful as he son and daughter were
bereft. With dour expression they decided to read the letters their mother was
wrote which was kept in her drawer. At first they enjoyed the letters and
thought they should bury them with her until the daughter opened a letter to
which made the judge, priest, and herself stop in their tracks and read more
letters. When they finished reading the letter they got up and left their
deceased mother on her bed in the darkened room. This is where the title come
from, A Dead woman being the mother and the secret which is the letter they
read.

Characterization:
The mother is a round character because she is the mean character.
Sister Eulalie is a flat charter because she loves her mother after they
Marguerite the dead woman’s daughter, A nun who loathes men and
very religious
The judge: the dead woman’s sons Who is an officer.
The priest: The father and the dead woman seemed close.
find the secret letter.
Setting:
The setting of the story is supposedly in the room of the dead woman with

her children by her bedside.

Theme:
The themes of “A Dead Woman’s Secret” are Darkness and light and Facing
reality. ““My adored one, I love you to distraction. Since yesterday I have been
suffering like a damned soul burned by the recollection of you. I feel your lips
on mine, your eyes under my eyes and your flesh under my flesh. I love you! I
love you! You have made me mad! My arms open! I pant with an immense
desire to possess you again. My whole body calls out to you, wants you. I have
kept in my mouth the taste of your kisses.” Both Marguerite and the Judge
were shocked, because their mother was a very religious woman and because
of that her daughter became a nun and loath men.

Plot:

Exposition: The mother dies

Raising Action: The children decide to read their mother’s old letters and
find a surprising discovery.

Climax: The children find out their beloved mother had a secret lover.

Falling Action: The son, Judge, is so ashamed that he takes his sister and
never admits relation to his mother again.

Resolution: The children never thought the same of their mother again.

Tone: There is several Tones in the story. It was, because of the death of her
mother, happy about reminiscing their mother and how she raised them to be,
and both serious and hypocritical, because once her secrets were read she was
a completely different person than what the father saw her as and her children.

Mood: Sad, suspicious, angry

Irony: Dramatic Irony; the mother knew she had a secret lover while the
children did not.

Symbolism:

It’s not directly stated what the Judge does for a living, but the story says “He,
the son, had become a magistrate, and, wielding the weapon of the law, he
struck down without pity the feeble and the erring.” It can be inferred that he is
an officer. Her children thought it would be a good idea to read through her
letters to explore her past. “You know how mamma used always to read over
her old letters. They are all there in her drawer. Suppose we read them in our
turn, and so revive all her life this night by her side? It would be like a kind of
road of the cross, like making the acquaintance of her mother, of grandparents
whom we never knew, whose letters are there, and of whom she has so often
talked to us, you remember?” but instead it was uncovering her forbidden past.

Point of view: 3rd person; Omniscent

From the dead woman’s children point of view they were distraught of the
death of there mother and once her secret was revealed they were shocked.

Analysis:

When the characters read the letter out loud “ The man who adore
you,” the name “ Henry” he appeals to the audience emotions. After the
Character say the name Henry, the author inform the reader that their dad
name was Rene. He appeals to the audience’s emotions by making them
 feel suddenly betrayed and lose their sense of sadness quickly.

The short story under consideration is devoted to a mother who just passed
away and her mother 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 letter and thought they should bury them with
her until the daughter open a letter written by 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 writer reveals the dead woman’s personality by means of narrative

description with both implied and explicit judgments. From the author’s
characterization 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 a duty, without compromise; we come to share respect and approval of the
dead woman’s doing. The facts that her son had became a judge and handle
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 woman had brought up her children in a decent way and
instilled high moral values and qualities in them.
MATERIALL PROCESS

He went over to the drawer and flung in the the letters

Actor Process Goal

He snatch the letter from her

Actor Process Goal

He crossed the room

Actor Process Goal

He drew the curtains round the bed

Actor Process Goal

He knelt down

Actor Process Goal

MENTAL PROCESS

I feel your lips on mine

Sensor Process Phenomenon

I pant with an immense desire to possess you again

 Sensor Process Phenomenon

BEHAVIOURAL PROCESS

He gazed at the impressive face of the died woman

Behaver Process Circumstance

RATIONAL PROCESS

Intensive

She was a saint.

X is Y

She was not able to finish with the flood of tears that
X is Y
gushed from her eyes

He was flushed

X is Y

Possessive

She had died painlessly

X has Y
 He had put on a look of sadness

X has Y

EXISTENTIAL

There was none, save under the words.