THE ISLAMIA UNIVERSITY BAHAWALPUR

TOPIC:
Guy de Maupassant as a Short Story Writer
SUBJECT:
Short Story
SUBMITTED TO:
Mr. Javed Iqbal
SUBMITTED BY:
Noor Ul Ain
Roll No. 13
SEMESTER:
Fourth Semester
DEPARTMENT:
English
DATE:
June 18, 2020

Guy de Maupassant as a Short Story Writer

Guy de Maupassant was a 19th century French author and is known as the master of short story
form and as the representative of Naturalist School, who depicted the human lives and destines
and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic forms. Maupassant’s stories are
characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless outcomes. Many set during the
Franco Prussian War of 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians who,
caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed by their experiences.
Guy de Maupassant’s fame rests on his short stories, most of which were published in daily
newspaper and then collected in books. His aim was to observe people so precisely that he
could reveal what lies beneath the surface, behind the masks they wear. For him, the mask was
the dominant symbol of human relations, and his overriding preoccupation was that everyone
wears a false face to conceal himself as much as possible. He had a compulsive need to see
things as they are, not to be fooled by appearances, and masks and disguises abound in his
stories in innumerable forms. For example, the story entitles The Mask tells of an old man who
wears a young man’s mask to costume balls out of regret for his vanished youth.
In the Preface to his collection of short stories, Somerset Maugham, himself one of the great
short story writers, says that Guy de Maupassant, a naturalist, does not analyze his character’s
actions. Maupassant believed that it was a man’s duty to hop into bed with every woman under
40 years of age whom he happened to meet. Maupassant lets his characters enjoy their sexual
desires only to gratify their self-esteem like the people who eat caviar (the eggs or the egg-
laden ovary of a fish) when they are not hungry only because it is expensive. The only human
emotion that appeals most passionately to his characters is greed. Maugham adds that
Maupassant chose very ordinary people and sought to show what there was of drama in the
common happenings of their lives. For that Maupassant chose some significant incident an
extracted from it all the drama possible.
In many stories disguises are revealed dramatically, as in My Uncle Jules, and underlying every
story is fundamental, pervading theme, announced in Boule de suif, of exposing society and its
conventions- probing beneath the surface of the morality, religion and patriotism of bourgeois
and aristocrats alike. The task of the writer, as Maupassant saw it, is to lift masks and reveal, if
only for an instant, the truth concealed beneath. Prostitutes and peasants alone are spared
because they do not pretend to be other that what they are.
In Simon’s Papa, the façade of Simon’s mother appears as being the widow although the fact
remains that she gave birth to Simon without marriage. Simon enters the 7th year of his life and
makes his first entry in the school but is condemned there by his schoolfellows as an
illegitimate son. He ultimately manages to get his mother married to Philip, the Blacksmith. This
is how Maupassant in his short stories lays bare the truth behind the façade of human life.
In The Spectre, the façade is the narrator’s visit of his abandoned friend’s abandoned chateau
but the truth behind this façade is the narrator’s fit of hallucination.
In Mademoiselle Fife, the façade is the army discipline of the 5 military officers but the truth
behind their façade is their breach of military decorum and morale by calling 5 prostitues at
their “prohibited area”.
In Suicides, the façade is the narrator’s stock of old letters and memories but the truth behind
the truth behind his façade is his total disgust with life caused by the incessant feelings of
loneliness.
In After, the façade is the narrator’s stock of old letters and memories but the truth behind his
façade is his revolt against his parent’s dictatorial decision of sending him to a boarding house
at a very tender age.
These references suffice to prove that Maupassant’s short stories lay bare the truth behind the
façade of most human lives.