La Mere Sauvage

La Mere Sauvage

Guy de Maupassant



La Mere Sauvage has a unique structure. It has two stories rolled into one. The first was narrated using the first-person point of view in which the nameless narrator expressed his emotions about the Virelogne. A shift occurred when the second story was foretold using the omniscient point of view. The author uses the house to usher the first story to the second one.

The characters were well-described by the author. They have a clear character sketch. An example are the four Prussian boys, they are described as four great boys with blond skin, with blond beards, with blue eyes, stout, kind, gentle and full of consideration.

Aside from the characters, the events and situations were also described clearly. This further includes the details and description of the dead bodies of Victor and his Father. The story also showed an extreme description of how the rabbit was killed, the details of how the four Prussians died up to how the mother Sauvage was brutally murdered.

Maupassant’s clear description of each event created an extreme picture leaving imprints of sorrow. This further created a gloomy atmosphere. Throughout the story, we can feel characters longing for happiness. Death, war, brutal killings can also be read in this story which further intensified the story’s dark atmosphere.

It is an irony how the muzzle of the gun piece extending beyond the black head dress of the old woman pressed closed up to her head and imprisoned her white hair.

The story shows violence. It has portrayed the tragic death and brutal killings and pictures of events. The story might appeal traumatic to the younger readers.

Mother Sauvage showed a dynamic character. Her character makes a dramatic turn at the later end of the story. However the author gives reader a hint at the beginning of the story of her character. She was pictured as someone who is mysterious.

Revenge is one of major themes of the story. Mother Sauvage killed the Prussian boys which she described as good sons as a form of vengeance.

The setting has widely affected the whole story. The cottage where the les Sauvages where living was situated away from the city. It shows loneliness. It further shows no security that mother Sauvage as old as she is has to bring with her his son’s riffle every time she goes out. The presence of war was further maximized by the presence of the Prussian boys, the strangers.

It was the Prussians who have killed Victor, the son. The story pictured the Prussians as someone who are cruel. This contention however is a paradox of what the four Prussians were showing to mother Sauvage. The four where described as good, kind, gentle and considerate. They even were seen cleaning the Kitchen, rubbing the tiles, splitting wood, peeling potatoes, doing up all the housework. One of them even showed his compassion for the old woman when she was not eating.

The emotions of the old woman dominated her which lead to her planned and intent killing for the four Prussian boys. This somehow illuminated racism. She avenged the death of her son by killing those people of the same race who have killed him. It is an irony of how the old woman intently killed the four boys which she assumed for a while as his four good sons.

It can be seen that mother Sauvage has no intention of keeping what she had done as a secret and it can be seen that she is satisfied about it. The Prussians, however take it seriously regardless if she is an old woman. Her vengeance caused her her life.

Readers can also spot figurative language. Examples are these lines, “…flashed in the sun and looked like veins carrying blood to the earth.”, “…walking lightly as a goat…” and “He came with his long strides like a crane.”



Chelyn Torejas, Literary Criticism