# A Christmas Eve Festival explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

## What happens

The narrator and his cousin Jules de Banneville, staying at a remote Norman château during a hunting trip, discover it is Christmas Eve. After dinner, they attend midnight mass and later visit the home of the deceased shepherd Fournel, where they find his grandchildren using his corpse's bin as a table while they eat their Christmas meal.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cruelty and Suffering

The grandchildren's pragmatic but callous treatment of the old man's corpse, using his body's bin as a table, highlights the harshness and lack of sentimentality in peasant life.

### Isolation and Loneliness

The remote château, the solitary hunting life, and the old man's lonely death in a bin underscore themes of isolation.

## Character check-ins

### Guy de Maupassant

The narrator, a guest at his cousin's château, participates in the Christmas Eve events and observes the peasants' behavior.

### Old Amable

The deceased shepherd, aged ninety-six, whose body is placed in a bread bin by his grandchildren.

## Key lines

> We had taken shelter in the only habitable room, the kitchen, an immense kitchen, whose dim shadows were lit up when fresh wood was thrown into the vast fireplace.

The only warm room in the château was the large kitchen, which was illuminated by the fire whenever new logs were added.

_Describes the setting of the château and the reliance on the kitchen for warmth._

> His grandchildren had used as a table the bin which held his body!

The old man's grandchildren were eating their Christmas meal on the table that served as a coffin for his corpse.

_Highlights the shocking discovery and the theme of cruelty._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/a-christmas-eve-festival
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters