This opening paragraph is so interesting and descriptive it grips your attention from the beginning and makes you want to read on because if the first section of the story is that good you want to know what the rest is going to be like. This is the first narrative skill Guy de Maupassant uses and the next one he moves onto is the aspect of creating a good plot that makes you want to read on and find out the environment the Widow lives in.
The plot of the story is mainly based around to characters, Widow Saverini and her pet dog Semillante. The trigger paragraph to get the story going is a short passage describing the murder of Widow Saverini’s husband Paulo Saverini “One evening, after a quarrel, Antoine Saverini was treacherously stabbed by Nicholas Ravolati, who escaped to Sardinia” I think this was a good idea of Maupassant’s to spend little time describing the murder because it is not relevant to the rest of the story. He doesn’t want the reader to drift off from what is actually happening in the story at the moment so he doesn‘t go to deep into what has happened in the past and just focuses more on the present. After this trigger paragraph Maupassant goes on to describe the homecoming of Antoine Saverini’s corpse. When the corpse is brought home the widow shed no tears at the sight of her dead son’s body “At the sight of the body, which was brought home by passers by, the old woman shed no tears, but she gazed long and silently at her dead son.” This shows the old lady is a very strong woman who doesn’t like people to see her upset, this is relevant for later on in the plot to show how strong she is and that she is very capable of doing something evil. As the body is laid down she puts her hand on top of him and promises him the vendetta “ Then, laying her wrinkled hand upon the corpse she promised him the vendetta” this again shows the story was set quite a long time ago because these days the police would be involved but here the law is taken into their own hands. I like the way Maupassant uses clues to give you a hint of when the story was set rather than telling you strait off for example he gives you a clue through the characters name ‘Widow Saverini’. This makes you think because you have to look at these clues and make your decision. After her dead son had been buried, Widow Saverini later goes on to think of a way to avenge the death of her son. This really makes you want to read on because you know an old, frail lady is not capable of attacking a fully grown man so it makes you want to find out how she is going to do it.
As the story goes on it begins to dawn on you how Widow Saverini is going to keep the vendetta it all comes together when she takes Semillante outside into the yard and chains him to an upturned barrel that she had made into a kennel “In the yard stood an upturned barrel...Then she chained Semillante to this kennel and went inside.” She leaves the dog for one day and one night and then brings him a bowl of water in the morning but no food, she does this for several nights until Semillante can’t take it any more “Maddened with hunger Semillante barked hoarsely.” After one more day with no food Widow Saverini comes into the yard and creates a large man like figure made from some old rags, some clothes that belonged to her husband and straw to stuff them with. By now this is getting really interesting and you just can’t stop reading because you still want to find out how the story is going to finish. This unlike other stories keeps you guessing all the way through because we still don’t know for sure how she is going to get revenge, although we have a pretty good idea and we don’t know if she will go through with it. This is very well done story so far because Maupassant has used nearly all of the narrative skills that make a good story. He has created a sense of mood, culture and atmosphere as well as a good plot and he keeps you thinking all the way through. Finally we find out for definite what the Widow’s plan is when she buys a black pudding, ties it around the dummy’s neck and lets Semillante ferociously attack it, ripping off the black pudding and most of the dummy’s throat “With one ferocious leap, Semillante flew at the dummy’s throat and, with her paws on its shoulders’ began to tear it.” Maupassant uses a lot of very deadly and nasty words in this paragraph. He does this to give the effect that the dog has become very violent after its training. “She fell back with a portion of her pray between her jaws, sprang at it again, slashing at the string with her fangs, tore away, some scraps of food, dropped for a moment, and hurled herself in renewed fury.” He uses a lot of language technique in these few paragraphs, for instance, he uses onomatopoeia on the words, sprang and slashing, to make them sound more ferocious. He also uses hard S sounds on “slashing at the string with her fangs”, this makes the words sound very hard and evil. He finally uses alliteration on the words ‘hurled herself’. The amount of detail and language Maupassant puts into the paragraphs about training the dog and its attack on the dummy really enthrals you in the story that you just have to read on and find out the ending and if the Widow will carry out the plan. Again this is another narrative skill that Maupassant uses very well, making you think and want to read on. The final part, the ending you now want to find out if it lives up to your expectations and what you had in mind. It is very good how the story flows from one section into another. The final part of the story is very important to the reader because they want to see if everything goes how they thought it would, whether the widow will actually go through with this and if she does, what she reacts like.
The ending begins with Widow Saverini going to confess in church “the Widow Saverini went to confession in an ecstasy of devotion.” This shows the widow is not that religious because she thinks god will help her when most Christians would know that in the Ten Commandments it states “Thou shall not kill.” After confessing she then takes some tattered clothes and disguises herself as a beggar man. Striking a bargain with a Sardinian fisherman, she and Semillante travel across to the opposite shore. Upon arrival there she goes into a local bakers and asks for the house of Nicolas Ravalati the baker replies telling her that he was working in the back of his joining shop. She immediately storms round to his shop, throws open the door and whilst calling “Nicholas! Nicholas!” she slips the dogs chain and cries “Tear him! Tear him!”.
The next paragraph is a detailed account of Semillantes attack on Nicholas Ravalati. Rather than concentrating on the dogs actions, and repeating what he said in the training, Maupassant focuses more on the mans reactions and response. I think this is a good idea, because it would get quite boring for the reader hearing the same paragraph twice, if the reader gets bored now they may put the story down and not read the ending, this would have meant the story failed because it didn’t make the reader want to carry on reading. “The maddened animal flew at his throat. The man flung out his arms and grappled with the brute, and they rolled on the ground together. For some moments he struggled, kicking the floor with his feet. Then he lay still, while Semillante tore his throat to shreds.” Maupassant shows some reference with words to the dogs attack on the dummy like ‘flew at his throat’ and ‘tore his throat to shreds’. The final sentence shows a very chilling reaction from the Widow “that night she slept well”, this shows she doesn’t care about what she has done and is not disturbed by Semillantes actions. I think this is a very good ending because of the descriptive account of Nicholas being killed and how quick and effectively the widow gets the job done. I also feel this is a very shocking ending to have no regrets about killing a grown man in such a violent way. I think Maupassant uses the narrative of creating a good plot very well by giving a lot of detail and making everything relevant and not pointless.
The last two narrative skills are to create interesting and believable characters and also to make you think. I think the story of Vendetta is especially good in comparison to other stories, because Maupassant only bases his story around one main character and doesn’t get lost by using lots of characters, this helps you to understand the one character more and get more description on what she or he looks like. Also, Maupassant doesn’t just give you a huge chunk of the characters description in one paragraph, he gradually tells you more and more about the character through the way they feel and the things they do. From the start of the story you can see the widows devotion to her son. The way she locks herself up with his corpse until he is buried “She would not allow anyone to remain with her, and shut herself up with the dead body.” I think this shows that she does not like to show her emotions in public and give people an idea of what she is like. Later on in the story she uses a very limited supply of equipment to train up Semillante “In the yard stood an old rain barrel with one end knocked in....She turned it over emptied it and fixed it to the ground with stakes and stones.” this shows how resourceful and aware of her surroundings the widow is. The way later on in the story she uses old clothes of her husbands and straw to make the dummy again shows how resourceful she is. Throughout the story the Widow Saverini is shown to be very calm and at the sight of Semillante ferociously ripping a dummy and a grown man to pieces she is unmoved “Motionless and silent, with burning eyes the widow looked on.” This is the very opposite of the stereotype for an old lady. Before the widow goes to Sardinia to take out the Vendetta she goes to church to confess and ask god for help “the widow Saverini went to confession and communion in an ecstasy of devotion.” This shows although the widow wants to be forgiven for what she is going to do, she is not very religious because a religious person knows that it is against Christian teachings to kill someone. Widow Saverini is very clever in the way she dresses as an old beggar man so she would not be recognised and bargains a lift off a Sardinian fisherman and not someone from her town. The final sentence of the story really shows the widows feelings “That night she slept well.” Maupassant uses monosyllables for the last line to make it sound an even more disturbing. This is a very chilling reaction to say she is not the least bit bothered by the killing of Nicholas Ravalati. All this description of the widow makes her seem more realistic and believable so you can picture her and understand the way she thinks and feels.
When reading the story it makes me consider a lot of things. The first thought that comes into my head is stereotype. This is because Widow Saverini is a very strong, tough woman in the story who thinks up some very vicious thoughts and is unaffected by the sight of her sons dog, ripping a mans throat to pieces. This is not usually the way you would think of an old lady. I think it is a good idea of Maupassant's to use an older, female character to play this role because it makes it more interesting and less predictable on what's going to happen rather than having a strong male person who would find it very easy to kill an older man. After reading the section on Semillantes training, I began to think about animal rights because the dog is treated very cruelly. The dog is given no food and doesn’t really have a choice of whether he wants to do this or not. “ The next day the old woman left her a bowl of water, but no food.” She is left until she cannot go on any longer and is in a lot of pain “Maddened with hunger Semillante barked hoarsely.” In my opinion the widow should have found another way to take out the Vendetta, although then the storyline may not have been as interesting. Mainly through this story I think a lot about revenge like what I would do left in this position and whether I would take matters into my own hands like the widow did. The day and age we live in would probably force me to leave it for the police to sort out. However, considering the way the widow does it all herself shows the kind of life and environment she lives in and also that the story was set such a long time ago.
Overall I think the story was good because of the way Maupassant uses all four of the narrative skills equally and doesn’t just focus on one aspect of the story. He uses detailed accounts for everything that happens but doesn’t go on for to long. I also think the way he uses a lot of poetic and language technique in the first paragraph makes it more interesting and helps you get a good picture in you head of the widows surroundings. The plot of the story is very interesting the way you learn about another culture and also how the Widow feels she needs to take out the Vendetta for the honour of the family. This gives you a good feeling of what life used to be like in the Widows day and age.
