# The Rival Pins explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

## What happens

Two young men discuss romantic entanglements over drinks. One recounts how his two mistresses discovered each other through a series of pins left in his apartment, leading to their alliance and his dismissal.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Desire

The protagonist's romantic liaisons with two women, driven by desire and habit.

### Deception and Betrayal

The women's secret communication via pins and their eventual alliance against the man.

## Character check-ins

### Guy de Maupassant

Narrator of the story, though not directly named in the excerpt.

## Key lines

> What little beasts women are!

Women are petty and deceitful.

_Opening line expressing the narrator's frustration._

> I cannot break with women, I collect them.

I have trouble ending relationships and end up accumulating lovers.

_The protagonist's admission of his inability to break off affairs._

> They have become intimate friends.

The two women have become close friends.

_The ironic outcome of the rivalry._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/the-rival-pins
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters