The Devil’s Pool · Chapter
VIII: The Evening Prayer explained
In the forest, Germain, Marie, and Petit-Pierre share a meal.
What happens
In the forest, Germain, Marie, and Petit-Pierre share a meal. Petit-Pierre wakes and eats hungrily, then questions his father about wolves and his deceased mother. Marie helps him say his evening prayers, and he falls asleep in her arms. Germain is moved by the scene, and Petit-Pierre, half-asleep, expresses his wish that Marie become his new mother.
Themes in this chapter
Family and Parenthood
Petit-Pierre's wish for Marie as his new mother and Germain's tender care highlight the theme of forming a new family unit.
Death and Mortality
Petit-Pierre remembers his deceased mother Catherine, and the conversation about her death and prayers for her soul underscores the theme.
Love and Marriage
Germain's growing affection for Marie and Petit-Pierre's desire for her as a mother point toward the possibility of remarriage and new love.
Characters to notice
- Germain
Shares supper with Marie and Petit-Pierre, expresses gratitude and affection toward Marie, and is touched by the domestic scene.
- Marie
Helps Petit-Pierre with his prayers, holds him as he falls asleep, and gently rebuffs Germain's kiss.
- Petit-Pierre
Wakes, eats ravenously, questions his father about wolves and his mother, says his prayers with Marie, and wishes for Marie to be his new mother.
Key passages
“Oh, that is the way he always does, whenever he hears the sound of eating. The explosion of a cannon would not rouse him, but if you work your jaws near him, he opens his eyes at once.”
Germain jokes that Petit-Pierre sleeps through anything except the sound of eating, which instantly wakes him.
Germain's affectionate teasing about his son's appetite.
“Little father, if you wish to give me a new mother, I hope it will be little Marie.”
Petit-Pierre, half-asleep, tells Germain that he wants Marie to be his new mother.
Petit-Pierre's innocent wish reveals the emotional direction of the story.