A Vendetta

A Vendetta

A Short Story will typically contain only a few characters. The Plot

will usually be concerned with just one theme. These short stories are

written by a very famous author, Guy de Maupassant. Guy de Maupassant

was born in France in 1850.Maupassant developed to be one of the most

famous short story writers of all time.

In the short story 'A Vendetta' the title is a glimpse into the plot

of the story, telling us that that there is a vendetta involved but

doesn't reveal the nature of the vendetta and its aims. There are 3

main characters in the story, they are, Widow Saverini, Frisky the

dog, and Nicolas Ravolati.

The story is about, an assassin Nicolas Ravolati kills Widow

Saverini's son Antoine during a quarrel and over the dead body of her

son Widow Saverini swears vengance. She is unable to sleep until she

has an idea. She trains her dog Frisky to attack a dummy, by starving

her of food and hiding sausage inside the dummy's torso. The widow

takes the dog to Nicolas' Sardinian hideout and at the widows' word

the dog kills Nicolas Ravolati.

The moral of the story is that revenge can become destructive and

obsessive if we allow it to do so. Maupassant expresses this moral

when, In the story he talks about the Widow Saverini being unable to

sleep or make peace until she can complete this vendetta of when she

sleeps soundly.

During this story Guy de Maupassant uses several different literary

techniques to help express his views and to help explain and tell the

story.

He uses personification when describing the wind and sea on the coast

of Bonifacio. He uses the sentence "The wind harasses the sea

remorselessly." The words 'harasses' and 'remorselessly' are both

human characteristics it is as if Guy de Maupassant is saying the wind

has no conscience.

Maupassant uses detailed description of the town 'Bonifacio', where

the story is set, to get across the brutality and evil to come later

on in the story.

He also uses symbolism and imagery like "A gash in the cliffs," This

represents the gashes in the body of Antoine after the first

assassination, as does the simile used at the start of the story,"

Patches of whitish foam round the black tips of the countless reefs,

look like torn sheets drifting on the surface of the water." This to

me is the most important simile in the whole story because it sets the

mood and the scene of the horrific events to come, to continue the

scenery being set as an inhospitable place Maupassant uses the word