“The Devil” by Guy De Maupassant The short story is about Honore, the farmer, who is forced by the doctor to hire a washerwoman, La Rapet, to look after his ninety- two years old dying mother, Bontemps, while he reaps his corn. After the washerwoman examines the old lady, she predicts to stay with her for 2-3 days till she utters her last breath. She stipulates to get six francs from the farmer for her services and after moments of hesitation and arguing about the price, he grudgingly acquiesces. La Rapet gets the priest to help mother Bontemps confesses and then stays by the side of the grey-haired woman sewing and waiting for her passing to declare her death and gets paid. Next day, La Rapet comes and finds no difference in the mother’s health condition. The impatient woman gets mad as the old woman still gazes with no sign for her nearly leaving so she terrifies the poor lady and tells her about the devil’s appearance by the time anyone dies and scares her by doing some moves incarnating the devil …show more content…
Greed also is shown in La Rapet’s payment; she exploits the farmer and demands a high price for her service although she knows the man is going through hard time. The short story lightens the relationship between mother and son as she encourages him to harvest the corn over spending time together before she dies and how he prefers money to his own mother which also highlights the theme of ungratefulness.Sympathy and passion is embodied in the doctor’s care and his insistence on using the help of someone to accompany the woman in her last moments though she is not related to him. Theme of alienation is evident in the farmer's need to any one to take care of his mother, a matter which indicates that they do not have any relatives or