Analysis of Guy de Maupassants Old Mother Savage

Analysis of Guy de Maupassants Old Mother Savage We are all taught that our identity lies in the roles we play throughout life, in other words, in our actions. William Shakespeare wrote, All the worlds a stage / And all the men and women merely players. / They have their exits and their entrances... (As You Like It, II, vii). Whenever people act outside of their parts; whenever we miss our entrance, our identity is challenged. This can be seen everyday in all walks of life and in all arenas. For example, a teen father who takes responsibility for his child is look upon with surprised admiration while a teen mother is look up with distain for becoming pregnant in the first place. Placing standards and expectations upon people can be†¦show more content†¦Victoire is alone. She knows her duty but has no one to perform it for save for herself. Her life consists of go[ing] to the village once a week, to buy herself bread and a little meat; then get back home at once (p. 161). She does only what is necessary to keep herself ali ve until she can resume her duty as mother. In her mind there is nothing else for her--no gossiping with the village ladies; no sewing a new garment for herself; no cups of tea with a neighbor. Her world ceases to function without her duty to her son. The death stroke to her identity began with the arrival of the Prussians. She is required to billet four of the occupying German soldiers, since she was known to be well off (p. 161). These young men, about the same age as her son would clean up the kitchen, scrub the flagstones, chop wood, peel potatoes, wash the house-linen--do, in fact, all the housework, as four good sons might do for their mother (p. 161). She would cook and mend for them, as a good mother would do. She still had a purpose--to be a mother even if it was to surrogate sons. For a month these soldiers are sons not enemies then she receives word that her son has been killed in the war. Suddenly, her world is shattered without her son she has lost her last shred of purpose. The gendarmes had killed the father, the Prussians had killed the son...and