# XXII: In Which the Doctor Discovers That His Monkey Resembles Him Even More Than He Thought explained — Short Fiction

> Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

## What happens

Doctor Heraclius Gloss wakes to a commotion in the kitchen, where his housekeeper Honorine has tied his monkey to a table leg and torments it by tempting it with food just out of reach. The monkey breaks free, and the Doctor intervenes to prevent it from devouring the delicacies.

## Themes in this chapter

### Cruelty and Suffering

Honorine deliberately torments the monkey by tying it up and tempting it with food, taking pleasure in its frustration and rage.

## Character check-ins

### Doctor Heraclius Gloss

The Doctor is awakened by noise and rushes to the kitchen to stop his housekeeper's cruel game with his monkey.

## Key lines

> One morning the Doctor was woken up by an unusual noise. He jumped out of bed, dressed hurriedly and made for the kitchen, from which came extraordinary sounds of shouting and kicking.

The Doctor is startled awake by a strange racket, quickly dresses, and heads to the kitchen where the commotion is coming from.

_Sets the scene for the conflict between Honorine and the monkey._

> The perverse housekeeper roared with laughter and invented further refinements of torture such as would only occur to a woman.

The malicious housekeeper laughs and devises increasingly cruel torments that only a woman could think of.

_Highlights the theme of cruelty and the housekeeper's deliberate malice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/xxii-in-which-the-doctor-discovers-that-his-monkey-resembles-him-even-more-than-he-thought
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters