Submitted to: Sir Adeel

Submitted by: Javeria Zamurd

Reg no: FA20-DPT-047

Subject: English

Course code: ENG-1107

Semester: 1st
Session: 2020-2025
Department: DPT
Date: 27-march-2021
 A Piece of String
(By Guy De Maupassant)

Plot and Setting:

“The Piece of String” takes place in the village of Goderville, in Normandy,
northern France. ... The main setting, however, is the public square of Goderville,
where, despite the throngs of people and the enormous level of activity, not even the
simple act of picking up a piece of string may go unnoticed.

Characters:
The Piece of String” concerns several months in the life of Maitre
Hauchecorne,an old peasant and the protagonist of the short story. Another
character was an enemy of his,the antagonist M. Malandain, a harness maker.
There are several unnamed local peasants, atown crier, and a woman, M.
Houlbreque, who lost a pocketbook containing five hundred francs.Maitre
Hauchercorne is accused of stealing the purse. There is also an appearance by the
chiefof gendarmes, who takes Hauchecorne to see the mayor where he is accused
of stealing thepurse

Conflit:
, the fact that the townspeople and the authorities do not believe Maitre
Hauchecorne's protestations that he merely picked up the piece of string rather than
the stolen pocketbook. Thus, the outcome of the "struggle" between these opposing
forces is that Hauchecorne is given no credibility.

Rising Action:
When public crier announced in Jourdan regarding the missing pocket wallet
and papers, and this announcement brings readers to think of Hauchcorne’s
incident of picking up a piece of string.
Climax:
When Maitre Hauchecome is accused of stealing the wallet by mayor and not
turning itin, this makes people dislike him.

Falling Action:
It is the result of the climax where people call him a "rogue" because he accusedto
have stolen the wallet even though someone else found the wallet and returned it to
the rightowner.

Resolution:
The people calling him a liar and his story is regarded as false and fib, drove
himcrazy that no one believed him and in the end led to his death. The problem is
never really resolved, because he dies still frustrated about how no one believes
that he didn’t steal the pocket book

Review of the story:

In Godville, there lived Maitre Hauchecome and his enemy Maitre
Malandain. One day, Maitre Hauchecome saw a piece of string in the road and
thought that he could make use of it in the future, and so bent to pick it up. He
noticed, however, his enemy Maitre Malandain was watching, and he knew that he
would be embarrassed if Maitre Malandain saw him picking up an itsy bitsy string,
so Maitre Hauchecome acted as if he were searching for something. That day, news
came out that someone lost his wallet. Quickly, Maitre Malandain accused Maitre
Hauchecome of stealing the wallet, and the town believed him, but Maitre
Hauchecome did not steal the wallet. The town of Goderville did not believe
Maitre Hauchecome was innocent, even though someone found the wallet in the
street and returned it. Maitre Hauchecome died of a broken heart, despairing of
being thought a liar.