Short Fiction · Chapter
The Devil explained
Honoré Bontemps, a peasant, must decide whether to leave his dying ninety-two-year-old mother to harvest his corn.
What happens
Honoré Bontemps, a peasant, must decide whether to leave his dying ninety-two-year-old mother to harvest his corn. The doctor insists he hire the Rapet woman to nurse her. Honoré negotiates a lump sum of six francs with the Rapet woman, who then frightens the old woman to death by pretending to be the devil, ensuring she dies quickly so Honoré can return to his fields.
Themes in this chapter
Cruelty and Suffering
The Rapet woman deliberately terrifies the dying old woman by impersonating the devil, causing her death through fear, while Honoré prioritizes his harvest over his mother's final moments.
Social Class and Money
Honoré's miserly bargaining over the cost of nursing his mother and the Rapet woman's greed highlight the economic pressures and transactional nature of care among the rural poor.
Illusion vs. Reality
The Rapet woman creates a terrifying illusion of the devil to hasten the old woman's death, blurring the line between superstitious belief and cruel manipulation.
Characters to notice
- Honoré Bontemps
The peasant son who prioritizes harvesting his corn over his dying mother, bargaining with the nurse to save money.
- Mother Magloire
The ninety-two-year-old dying mother, resigned to death but still gripped by Norman avarice, giving her son leave to leave her alone.
- Madame Lecacheur
The Rapet woman, an old washerwoman who nurses the dying, greedy and malicious, who frightens Mother Bontemps to death to fulfill her contract.
Key passages
“The peasant faced the doctor across the dying woman's bed. The old woman, calm, resigned, quite conscious, looked at the two men and listened to their words. She was going to die; she made no complaint, her time was come; she was ninety-two years old.”
Honoré Bontemps and the doctor stand by the bed of his dying ninety-two-year-old mother, who is calm and resigned to her fate.
Opening scene establishing the central conflict between family duty and agricultural necessity.
“How much d'you want to look after her for me until she's gone? You know I'm not rich. I can't even pay for so much as a servant.”
Honoré asks the Rapet woman what she will charge to nurse his mother until she dies, pleading poverty.
Honoré's bargaining reveals his miserly nature and the economic strain of the situation.
“Mad with fear, her eyes wild, the dying woman made a superhuman effort to get up and get away from it. She managed to get her shoulders and chest out of bed, then she fell back with a great sigh. It was all over.”
Terrified by the Rapet woman's devil costume, the dying mother tries to escape but collapses and dies.
Climactic moment where the nurse's cruel trick causes the old woman's death.