# Military Honors explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

## What happens

In the Aveline forest, a young forester's daughter named Berthine and her mother are left alone while her father, Nicholas 'Longlegs' Pichon, is away. A detachment of Prussian soldiers, lost and starving, arrives at their door. Berthine feeds them, then tricks them into the cellar and locks them in. She sends her father to fetch the local militia led by Monsieur Lavigne, who surrounds the house and demands the Prussians' surrender.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cruelty and Suffering

The Prussians are depicted as hungry and exhausted, yet Berthine's trickery and the militia's armed response highlight the cruelty and suffering inherent in war.

### Gender and Power

Berthine, a young woman, takes charge of the situation, using her wits to overpower the male soldiers, subverting traditional gender roles.

### Isolation and Loneliness

The two women are isolated in the forest house, vulnerable to both wolves and enemy soldiers, emphasizing their loneliness and dependence on each other.

## Character check-ins

### Bertha

Berthine, the forester's daughter, is the central figure who bravely confronts and outwits the Prussian soldiers.

### Old Amable

Nicholas Pichon, called 'Longlegs,' is the old forester and Berthine's father, who goes to fetch the militia.

### Monsieur Loiseau

Monsieur Lavigne, the former sub-officer and now major of the citizen militia, leads the capture of the Prussians.

### Madame Lefèvre

Berthine's mother, an old woman who is fearful and anxious throughout the ordeal.

## Key lines

> The young woman was afraid of nothing, but her mother was always afraid, saying: 'It will end badly, all this. You will see that will end badly.'

Berthine was fearless, while her mother constantly predicted disaster.

_Highlights the contrast between the daughter's bravery and the mother's anxiety._

> The forest woman had no choice; she quickly slipped the great bolt, then drawing back the heavy folding door, she perceived in the pale light of the snow six men, Prussian soldiers, the same that were there the day before.

Berthine reluctantly opened the door to find the same six Prussian soldiers who had visited the previous day.

_Shows Berthine's decisive action in the face of danger._

> The young woman began to laugh: 'They are those of yesterday,' she answered. 'They were lost in the forest, and I have put them in the cellar to keep fresh.'

Berthine laughed and explained that she had locked the same Prussians from yesterday in the cellar.

_Demonstrates her cunning and dark humor._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/military-honors
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters