Beyond The Bayou Analysis

2.) In both stories the females did overcome their original convictions of the outside world for another. However, in “Beyond the Bayou,” La Folle did so for the sake of a child she deeply cared for. She overcame her own fear of the outside world and the representation she had believed it to be based on an event that happened when she was a little girl. Whereas in “Ma-ame Pelagie,” Ma-ame Pelagie did so for the sake of her sister and inadvertently her niece. She gave up her dream of seeing her family home restored to its former glory all for the sake of making her younger sister happy. Yet, she is still haunted by the past and the dream she gave up; La Folle on the other hand is facing the world beyond her little section of the Bayou with a

The family pride stemmed from the belief that the family had to keep the houses they were given. The belief that without these structures and land they were not really a part of the family they had come from. Yet, when the Colonel was struggling with the balance of trying to satisfy his daughters wishes of living in town, he figured he could buy out his other relation. However, this was soon realized as not possible since his relative Charlie also had the same pride in him as well. Then, when the colonel was realizing his home would soon fall into the Mississippi, he decided to trade. Nevertheless, his conscience stopped the deal from happening just as Belles Demoiselles Mansion sunk into the river with the Colonel’s daughters inside. The question became more pronounced of his conscience when he sought an answer of not cheating Charlie on his deathbed.
5.) The foreshadowing in “Belles Demoiselles Plantation,” is present in how the land around the house is falling into the river. It shows in the phrase, “the “caving” became a forgotten misfortune” (pg.1). Then, it becomes present again when the Colonel discovers it one day and decides to trade homes with his relation. The irony is the way the Colonel goes against his conscience and pride with the realization of the house sinking into the sinking into the river, just to have him tell the truth and have the house fall into the river