Is he Living Or Is he Dead?

– Mark Twain

Story Background: The story has a connection with the famous French painter Jean
Francois Millet.
Millet was the first child of Jean-Louis-Nicolas and Aimée-Henriette-Adélaïde Henry Millet,
members of the farming community in the village of Gruchy, in Gréville-Hague, Normandy,
close to the coast.
Most of the details about Millet in the story are fictional.

The Angelus, 1859, oil on canvas by French artist Jean-François Millet (1814–1875). Courtesy
Musée d'Orsay. The painting depicts two peasants working in a potato field and pausing to recite
the Angelus, a Catholic prayer said in early morning, at noon, and in the evening. In the distance
a church bell rings the end of the workday.

History of Angelus
The painting triggered a rush of patriotic fervor when the Louvre tried to buy it in 1889, and was
vandalized by a madman in 1932.
With reference to the Musée d'Orsay, the provenance of the work is as follows; although some
events are missing, such as the Brussels show in 1874:

 1860 – owned by Belgian landscape painter Victor de Papeleu who bought it for 1,000
francs;[6]
 1860 – owned by Alfred Stevens, who paid 2,500 fr.;
 1860 – owned by Jules Van Praët, Brussels;
 1864 – Paul Tesse obtained it by exchanging it for La Grande bergère (Shepherdess and
flock) by Millet;[n 1]
 1865 – owned by Emile Gavet, Paris;
 By 1881, collection John Waterloo Wilson, avenue Hoche, Paris; his sale at hôtel Drouot,
16 March 1881;
 16 March 1881, Eugène Secrétan, a French art collector and copper industrialist who
donated copper for the Statue of Liberty, bidding against M. Dofœr, for 168,000 fr., with
fees;
 Secrétan sale (63), 1 July 1889, galerie Sedelmeyer, Paris  – bidding war between
the Louvre (Antonin Proust) and the American Art Association; James F. Sutton drives the
sale price to 553,000 francs;

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 1889–1890, collection American Art Association, New York; sale 1890 to the Paris
collector and philanthropist, Hippolyte François Alfred Chauchard (1821–1909), for 750,000
fr.;
 1890–1909, collection Alfred Chauchard;
 1909: Chauchard bequest of 1906 to the French State; formally accepted 15 January 1910
into the permanent collection of the musée du Louvre, Paris;
 1986 – transferred to the permanent collection of musée d'Orsay, Paris.

# Let us first read the story ‘The Daisy’ by Hans Christian Andersen
(1838)
OW listen! In the country, close by the high road, stood a farmhouse; perhaps you have
passed by and seen it yourself. There was a little flower garden with painted wooden palings
in front of it; close by was a ditch, on its fresh green bank grew a little daisy; the sun shone
as warmly and brightly upon it as on the magnificent garden flowers, and therefore it thrived
well. One morning it had quite opened, and its little snow-white petals stood round the yellow
centre, like the rays of the sun. It did not mind that nobody saw it in the grass, and that it was a
poor despised flower; on the contrary, it was quite happy, and turned towards the sun, looking
upward and listening to the song of the lark high up in the air.
The little daisy was as happy as if the day had been a great holiday, but it was only Monday.
All the children were at school, and while they were sitting on the forms and learning their
lessons, it sat on its thin green stalk and learnt from the sun and from its surroundings how kind
God is, and it rejoiced that the song of the little lark expressed so sweetly and distinctly its own
feelings. With a sort of reverence the daisy looked up to the bird that could fly and sing, but it
did not feel envious. “I can see and hear,” it thought; “the sun shines upon me, and the forest
kisses me. How rich I am!”
In the garden close by grew many large and magnificent flowers, and, strange to say, the
less fragrance they had the haughtier and prouder they were. The peonies puffed themselves up
in order to be larger than the roses, but size is not everything! The tulips had the finest colours,
and they knew it well, too, for they were standing bolt upright like candles, that one might see
them the better. In their pride they did not see the little daisy, which looked over to them and
thought, “How rich and beautiful they are! I am sure the pretty bird will fly down and call upon
them. Thank God, that I stand so near and can at least see all the splendour.” And while the daisy
was still thinking, the lark came flying down, crying “Tweet,” but not to the peonies and tulips—
no, into the grass to the poor daisy. Its joy was so great that it did not know what to think. The
little bird hopped round it and sang, “How beautifully soft the grass is, and what a lovely little
flower with its golden heart and silver dress is growing here.” The yellow centre in the daisy did
indeed look like gold, while the little petals shone as brightly as silver.
How happy the daisy was! No one has the least idea. The bird kissed it with its beak, sang
to it, and then rose again up to the blue sky. It was certainly more than a quarter of an hour
before the daisy recovered its senses. Half ashamed, yet glad at heart, it looked over to the other
flowers in the garden; surely they had witnessed its pleasure and the honour that had been done
to it; they understood its joy. But the tulips stood more stiffly than ever, their faces were pointed
and red, because they were vexed. The peonies were sulky; it was well that they could not speak,
otherwise they would have given the daisy a good lecture. The little flower could very well see
that they were ill at ease, and pitied them sincerely.
Shortly after this a girl came into the garden, with a large sharp knife. She went to the tulips
and began cutting them off, one after another. “Ugh!” sighed the daisy, “that is terrible; now they
are done for.”

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 The girl carried the tulips away. The daisy was glad that it was outside, and only a small
flower—it felt very grateful. At sunset it folded its petals, and fell asleep, and dreamt all night of
the sun and the little bird.
On the following morning, when the flower once more stretched forth its tender petals, like
little arms, towards the air and light, the daisy recognised the bird’s voice, but what it sang
sounded so sad. Indeed the poor bird had good reason to be sad, for it had been caught and put
into a cage close by the open window. It sang of the happy days when it could merrily fly about,
of fresh green corn in the fields, and of the time when it could soar almost up to the clouds. The
poor lark was most unhappy as a prisoner in a cage. The little daisy would have liked so much to
help it, but what could be done? Indeed, that was very difficult for such a small flower to find
out. It entirely forgot how beautiful everything around it was, how warmly the sun was shining,
and how splendidly white its own petals were. It could only think of the poor captive bird, for
which it could do nothing. Then two little boys came out of the garden; one of them had a large
sharp knife, like that with which the girl had cut the tulips. They came straight towards the little
daisy, which could not understand what they wanted.
“Here is a fine piece of turf for the lark,” said one of the boys, and began to cut out a square
round the daisy, so that it remained in the centre of the grass.
“Pluck the flower off” said the other boy, and the daisy trembled for fear, for to be pulled
off meant death to it; and it wished so much to live, as it was to go with the square of turf into the
poor captive lark’s cage.
“No let it stay,” said the other boy, “it looks so pretty.”
And so it stayed, and was brought into the lark’s cage. The poor bird was lamenting its lost
liberty, and beating its wings against the wires; and the little daisy could not speak or utter a
consoling word, much as it would have liked to do so. So the forenoon passed.
“I have no water,” said the captive lark, “they have all gone out, and forgotten to give me
anything to drink. My throat is dry and burning. I feel as if I had fire and ice within me, and the
air is so oppressive. Alas! I must die, and part with the warm sunshine, the fresh green meadows,
and all the beauty that God has created.” And it thrust its beak into the piece of grass, to refresh
itself a little. Then it noticed the little daisy, and nodded to it, and kissed it with its beak and said:
“You must also fade in here, poor little flower. You and the piece of grass are all they have given
me in exchange for the whole world, which I enjoyed outside. Each little blade of grass shall be a
green tree for me, each of your white petals a fragrant flower. Alas! you only remind me of what
I have lost.”
“I wish I could console the poor lark,” thought the daisy. It could not move one of its
leaves, but the fragrance of its delicate petals streamed forth, and was much stronger than such
flowers usually have: the bird noticed it, although it was dying with thirst, and in its pain tore up
the green blades of grass, but did not touch the flower.
The evening came, and nobody appeared to bring the poor bird a drop of water; it opened its
beautiful wings, and fluttered about in its anguish; a faint and mournful “Tweet, tweet,” was all it
could utter, then it bent its little head towards the flower, and its heart broke for want and
longing. The flower could not, as on the previous evening, fold up its petals and sleep; it dropped
sorrowfully. The boys only came the next morning; when they saw the dead bird, they began to
cry bitterly, dug a nice grave for it, and adorned it with flowers. The bird’s body was placed in a
pretty red box; they wished to bury it with royal honours. While it was alive and sang they forgot
it, and let it suffer want in the cage; now, they cried over it and covered it with flowers. The
piece of turf, with the little daisy in it, was thrown out on the dusty highway. Nobody thought of
the flower which had felt so much for the bird and had so greatly desired to comfort it.

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Genre: Classic Realistic Fiction

Point of View: First person

Literary Techniques – There are lot of literary devices used, the predominant is ‘Satire’.
You can also find use of Irony and Flashback.

Satire Example:
1. The plan of the artists works because of gullible nature of the people. “No! Why, it is
Millet’s, sure enough… Of course I recognize it now.” Rather than accepting and
admitting that they never heard of Francois Millet, they pretended to know him and paid
high prices for the paintings. This satirises the pride of man.
2. The fact that “… in human history: that the merit of many a great artist has never been
acknowledged until after he was starved and dead”. It is one idea satirized in the story. It
satirises the hypocrisy and ignorance of people and reflects the distorted phenomenon
where artistic works was taken as merchandise.

Irony (Dramatic) Example:

1. Readers are well aware of their plan. In reality Francois Millet does not die, he changes
his name and lives a wealthy life.
2. Francois Millet carrying his own coffin disguised as a far relative deceiving the whole
world.

Flashback
1. The success story of four painters is told in flashback.

Structural Technique – The story has used story within a story or dual plot technique.

Characters: Narrator, Smith, Francois Millet (Theophile Magnan), Carl Boulanger, Claude
Frere

Setting: The story takes place in the 19th Century, Mentone, France. Menton is a lovely small
city in the south of France that has the best of everything: a warm climate year-round, beautiful
gardens, excellent French and Italian food, sandy beaches at the foot of the aqua blue
Mediterranean sea, and a colorful and historic old town.

Conflict:
1. External Conflict: Man Vs Society – The painters conflict with the society. Initially when
no one recognized their talent, they had hard time feeding themselves. Nevertheless, it is
solved in a most dramatic manner.

Theme
1. Posthumous Appreciation: Francois Millet becomes illustrious after his fake death.

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 2. Hypocrisy: No one cares about the artists works, no matter how artistic their works were in
the beginning. It is so because their names weren’t illustrious. However, this fact changes
when Francois Millet becomes famous. Everyone would later buy his painting without
looking at the quality.

Summary
The story starts on the French resort, Hotel des Anglais in Mentone. The narrator is acquainted
with one of the rich holidaymakers, alias Smith. Mr. Smith quickly remarks to look at
Theophile Magnan who was making his exit from the hotel and shares a wonderful anecdote of
Hans Christian Anderson ‘The Daisy’. To narrators confusion the topic was left in complete
abruptly. Smith later called the narrator to his room. He then told a story that happened at the
time of his youth; the story revolving around four young artists (Smith, Carl Boulanger, Claude
Frere, and Francois Millet) who had once lived in a small village (Breton).
These Artists drew fine and excellent paintings and kept enlarging their stock; however, they
could seldom sell it. At last, they came to the point of bankruptcy. No shop would give them
further credit. In that poverty stricken situation Carl make a lunatic statement (according to his
friends). He patiently waits through his friends comments and continues his project. He said that
“the merit of many a great artist has never been acknowledged until after he was starved and
dead" and suggested if they want to save themselves from starving, one of them must die. They
debated a lot on the topic, and when Carl explained the whole project clearly, they all agreed to
give a try. When they drew lots, Francois Millet was elected to die.
The plan was "… During the next three months the one who is to die shall paint with all his
might, enlarge his stock all he can--not pictures, no! skeleton sketches, studies, parts of studies,
fragments of studies, a dozen dabs of the brush on each--meaningless, of course, but his, with
his cipher on them; turn out fifty a day, each to contain some peculiarity or mannerism easily
detectable as his--they're the things that sell, you know, and are collected at fabulous prices for
the world's museums, after the great man is gone; we'll have a ton of them ready--a ton! And all
that time the rest of us will be busy supporting the moribund, and working Paris and the
dealers--preparations for the coming event, you know; and when everything is hot and just
right, we'll spring the death on them and have the notorious funeral…"
The project was a great success. When the day came, all friends were back to help during the
final mournful rites with the whole world to help. Carl, Claude, and Smith carried their friend’s
body and surprisingly Francois Millet, disguised as relative helped carry his own coffin. This
was kept secret between the four for years. Now, he then says, the man they saw in the morning
was Francois Millet.

Connection between Hans Christian Anderson’s ‘The Daisy’ and Is he Living or Is he

Dead?
In ‘The Daisy’ “…The evening came, and nobody appeared to bring the poor bird a drop of
water; it opened its beautiful wings, and fluttered about in its anguish; a faint and mournful
“Tweet, tweet,” was all it could utter, then it bent its little head towards the flower, and its heart
broke for want and longing. The flower could not, as on the previous evening, fold up its petals
and sleep; it dropped sorrowfully. The boys only came the next morning; when they saw the
dead bird, they began to cry bitterly, dug a nice grave for it, and adorned it with flowers. The
bird’s body was placed in a pretty red box; they wished to bury it with royal honours. While it

Laguman Gurung 5
was alive and sang they forgot it, and let it suffer want in the cage; now, they cried over it and
covered it with flowers.”
Similarly in ‘Is he Living or Is he Dead’ by Mark Twain, he go on to prove through his
fiction that “the merit of many a great artist has never been acknowledged until after he was
starved and dead.” The bird symbolizes young unrecognized talents in the story. In addition,
these talents are ignored when they are alive. People only learn to appreciate their talent when
they are dead. The characters of the story did make a great fortune out of gullible nature of
human, which is justifiable.
The question is, Are humans and society cruel? Well, it depends. Nevertheless, one thing is
clear; we sometimes forget to appreciate what we already got in life. Appreciate and let us help
each other make this society a better one.

Questions
1. The characters in the story are portrayed as high-spirited man. Support the statement with
few examples from the story.
2. Would you choose to live the life as of Millet’s? Why?
3. State few reasons why Mr. Smith decides to break the seal.
4. Mr. Smith reveals what he and his friends did to become rich, but why do he and the
narrator not reveal his name? State two possible answer.
5. How is this story applicable in Bhutanese Context?

References

Library of America. (2018, November 24). Retrieved from http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2018/11/is-he-

living-or-is-he-dead.html
Nahem, R. (2020, july 25). Retrieved from Travel Awaits: https://www.travelawaits.com/2550951/why-
menton-is-the-best-kept-secret-in-france/
Wikipedia. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Angelus_(painting)

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