Mother Savage

Mother Savage is a short story by the French realist writer Guy de Maupassant, which is widely anthologized.^[1]

Plot

Two men are out hunting in the French countryside, the Narrator and Serval; the letter tells the story of the Savage family: the father was killed by police with a gunshot to the head, and Serval goes on to tell the story of Old Mother Savage and her son, who volunteered at age 33 to fight in the war. Mother Savage, isolated far from the village and "known to have money" is assigned to quarter four young Prussian soldiers. The men do chores around the house as if it were their own. Mother Savage continually asks the young men about French Regiment of the 23rd Line, where her son is on the front, but the young Prussians know nothing.

Later, the postman gives Mother Savage a letter from one of her son's comrades-in-arms which informs her of her son's death. The Prussians bring home a live rabbit for a meal, which Mother Savage has difficulty killing. As she finishes the preparation of the meal, she asks the young men for their names and home addresses. Mother Savage does not partake in the meal, and as they finish dinner, she insists on providing the young soldiers with hay to make their stay in the loft more comfortable. After the soldiers fall asleep, Mother Savage removes the ladder from the loft and starts a fire in the fireplace, which does not rage out of control until she stokes the fire with more hay. Mother Savage stands outside with her son's rifle to make sure the Prussians cannot escape. She hears their "clamor of human screams" and stands guard. Then when she is sure the Prussians are dead, she throws the rifle into the fire, and one loud shot goes off.

The other villagers and soldiers rush to her home, and a German officer interrogates Mother Savage. She informs him that the soldiers were in the fire and that she started the fire. She hands the officer the list of names and addresses she had gathered from the young Prussian soldiers and is immediately pushed against her home and shot "almost in two," with the letter informing her of her son's death bloody in her hand.

Themes

The burdens of war are borne by the lower classes.

The peasants of the French countryside have been forced to quarter occupying Prussian soldiers, who are also not children of privilege.

The ambivalent swings of "enemy" and "neutral" and "friend."

The letter Old Mother Savage receives from her son's comrade turns the German soldiers from mere young men into enemies.

Old Mother Savage's act of retribution brings the war home.

The French peasants view the Prussian soldiers more or less as guests. After learning her son has been killed by Prussian soldiers out on the front, Mother Savage compulsively, or premeditatively, kills the four Prussian soldiers she had been assigned to quarter.

War as "cutting in two" its participants.

Old Mother Savage's son, the rabbit, and the old woman herself are all "cut in two" according to the text. This shows the violent effects of war.

Analysis of Narrator

The story is written from the perspective of the Narrator, who retells the Mother Savage story as told by his friend Serval. Influenced by Gustave Flaubert, Guy de Maupassant writes in the realist style which focuses on objective reality and "shows" instead of "tells."

Setting

The story is set during the winter of 1871 midway through the Franco-Prussian War in a quaint village in the French countryside. Snow covers the fields, and the forest lurks ominously, void of life. The countryside is dotted with small cottages emitting smoke from chimneys.

Symbols

The letter

The letter that informs Mother Savage of her son's death introduces a complication of the story; Mother Savage will have to choose how to react to the news.

The rifle

Mother Savage takes her son's "rusty" rifle with her when she goes to town to shop. It symbolizes her independence.

The rabbit

The rabbit is caught or stolen by the Prussian soldiers for food to eat, and reminds Mother Savage of her son.

The hay

Under the guise of providing a better night's sleep for the Prussian soldiers, Mother Savage gives the young men highly flammable hay which leads to their death in the fire.

References

1. ^ Maupassant, Guy de. Mother Savage. Literature: A Pocket Anthology. Fourth Edition. Edited by R. S. Gwynn. New York: Penguin, 2009.