Essay Questions

What is Guy de Maupassant depicting the ‘Hand’ story as the most creepy and murky feature?

There are weird happenings in the story ‘Hand’ which make it spine-chilling and murky. While reading the story, the reader comes across a person who has over the years straddled a human hand on his wall. This is unique and unusual because it is beyond fancy that someone can keep a hand of a dead person. The reader also learns that the hand belongs to a person who was killed and the police are following up that case.

In the story 'Pierrot', why is the wealthy woman making up her mind to get rid of the watchdog?

The wealthy woman first decides to acquire a watchdog to protect her farm from intruders who are stealing her onions. After purchasing the dog, she later realizes that the tax burden for dog owners is huge and she cannot cope. Therefore, she decides to get rid of it by placing it in a quarry. However, she feels remorseful and gets worried about how the dog is going to survive there. She decides to drop Pierrot crumbs into the quarry so that the dog can get something to it. However, she stops this routine when she realizes that there is another dog placed in the same quarry.

What is the symbolic meaning of the prostitutes which appear in the Prussian and soldiers' stories?

The reader does not easily recognize the precise symbolic meaning of the prostitutes because of its paradoxical nature. However, a deeper analysis of the stories reveals that prostitutes represent economics because those engaged in prostitution are doing it for monetary gains. However, those engaged in prostitution are seen as evil and lesser beings. Despite that notion, prostitution has a higher value and those involved are better off economically.