7Group 7

Alyaa Savina (210222627660)

Dimas Ary Kresna M (210222627620)
Mochammad Wafi Hasan Mustofa (210222627631)

Reading English Fiction G-GH

“A Dead Woman's Secret by Guy de Maupassant”

Introductory Paragraph:

A Dead Woman’s Secret, a short story written by Guy de Maupassant, tells about an
old woman who has a secret letter, then her family finds it. The letter contains a secret
relationship with her. These letters were expressing someone's feelings. One letter stated “I
love you, I love you! You have driven me mad”, which is little evidence that the story has a
theme of love. Also, there are the children that’s very sad because of the death of their
mother. Then, they love their mother, so they can't let their mother leave them. This story
mentions that this story has a theme of love from there. Therefore, this essay will aim to
analyze the theme from the secret letter, her children and her marriage because she is
holding out on her marriage because of her beliefs and for the sake of her children.

Body Paragraph:

A dead woman has a lot of letters, one of the letters is her secret letter that has the title
“father”. The letters are found by the nun when she opens the drawer to put the letters. Then, she read
it and found the secret letter. One of the first words of the letter mentions “my dear” and the letter
stated, “My adored one, I love you wildly…..”. The letters explained how the writer cannot move on
with his lover. He writes about kissing her, caressing her, and loving her. Moreover, he repeatedly
phrases “I love you” which means she really loves his lover. Then the judge, one of their children
found that the sender is not their father but someone who has the name “Henry”. Also, there is another
letter that stated "I can no longer live without your caresses." Therefore, the sender still loves the dead
woman, even though they are no longer in their relationship.
The dead woman’s children are the characters who love their mother so much. At the
beginning of the story, the children mourn and cry nonstop while grieving and contemplating life
without their mother. Moreover, the daughter kisses her mother's hand wildly. They remember
their mother as their personal hero. The mother looked after them and taught them religion and
morals, so they succeeded to be judge and nun. They loved her more the day when she was on her
deathbed. They don’t want to leave their mother’s room because they think that is the last chance
to see and wish to be together with their mother. At last, the daughter gives her brother the idea to
read their mother’s old letter to reminisce about her memories.
There is a different love between the family and their father. The story mentions that the
mother is an unhappy person with her husband and the children almost don’t know their mother.
When the children found the relics of the letter in which the word “Father” was written.
Eventually one of the letters is not from the dead woman’s husband, but it from her secret lover.
Moreover, The letters hint that their mother had a secret relationship that might have ruined her
marriage. Thus, their marriage life is not going well because they don’t love each other.
Concluding Paragraph:
In conclusion, the love theme has shown that the dead woman has a secret letter. Furthermore, the
letter explained about the sender who can’t move on, and the sender is the person who has the
name “henry”. The children are part of the love theme too. In the story, the children love his
mother because their mother has raised them to be a successful person. However, the love theme
is also shown in different views in father. because the story mentions that the mother doesn’t love
him anymore, so she has a secret relationship with the sender of the secret letter.