Ambivalence
Circumstances
can quickly change causing human beings who are friends turn into enemies. The dictionary defines ambivalence as “the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person simultaneously drawing him or her in
opposite directions.” Guy De Maupassant’s “Mother Savage” shows a perfect
example of ambivalence between a French mother and four Prussian soldiers who
are billeted in her cottage.
The story was
set during the Franco-Prussian War in the 1800’s and this would fit as the
author himself was a Frenchmen who lived during these times. The mother whose name is given as “Mother
Savage” has a son who volunteers to go to war leaving her alone. During these times, Mother Savage is forced
to quarter four soldiers from the same country her son is fighting
against. At first, the mother treats the
soldiers with respect and takes care of them as “she liked them well enough…
those four enemies of hers; for country people don’t as a rule feel patriotic
hatred-those feelings are reserved for the upper class” (Maupassant 78).
Although they are supposed to be her enemies because of the war, Mother Savage
does not treat them this way because she feels these men have done nothing
wrong to her. The soldiers were also
considerate to her as they took care of the chores around the cottage.
Feelings direly changed as one day the mother received
a letter that stated her son had been killed during the war. This event totally
changed the way the mother felt about the Prussian soldiers. She wanted revenge
for what had happened to her son and she wanted the mothers of these soldiers
to feel the same way she did. Maupassant uses the literary device of
foreshadowing to show a terrible event is about to happen as Mother Savage “watched
the [soldiers] from the corners of her eyes, not speaking turning an idea over
and over in her head” (Maupassant 80).
The Mother ends up locking the four soldiers in the house and setting it
on fire. With no regret to what she did,
she calmly told everybody why she killed the men and was later executed.
One event can certainly change the way
we feel about other people in a good or bad way. Did Mother Savage have the right to kill
these soldiers who had nothing to do with the death of her son? One will never know what they did would do
unless it happened to them, but I feel she had no right to kill the
soldiers. These men were considerate and
treated her with the utmost respect as “they took pains to show her all
possible consideration and did everything they could to save her trouble or
expense” (Maupassant 78). Also, should
one pay one bad deed with another bad deed? If this was so, then this would be
a never-ending cycle of murdering. The
author as well showed the terrible effects war can have on people who before
the war were best friends, but because of nationality, could turn into hated enemies.
Works Cited
De Maupassant, Guy. "Mother Savage." Fiction:
A Pocket Anthology. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 2012.
76-83. Print.
Revenge is a funny thing, she knows that the soldiers had nothing to do with her sons death but that did not matter, she was always looked at a sweet old lady that never has done anything wrong, but the death of her son changed her she became malevolent. I believe Mother Savage is her nickname and she earned it from what she did to those poor soldiers. In the end she got what she deserved from the Point of view of the Prussians. But was she entirely in the wrong? these were enemy soldiers on her land, If there were more civilians like her the Prussians would be high tailing their way out of the village.
ReplyDeleteYes she was a sweet woman, but people can change their entire nature when they go through horrific events. Its like Sherman Alexie said in "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven", "People can do things completely against their nature, completely. It's like some tiny earthquake comes roaring through your body and soul, and it's the only earthquake you'll ever feel. but it damges so much, cracks the foundations of your life forever"(Alexe 209). Alexie describes exactly how Mother Savage might have felt as she watched the house and the men inside burn.
DeleteI don't think Mother Savage was justified in killing the soldiers. They treated her and her property with the utmost respect, helped with chores, and were no more of a burden then they had to be. But Mother Savage was blinded by grief. To her, every Prussian soldier was the soldier who killed her son, and one of the 4 soldiers she killed may very well have been the one who killed her son, but war is war. As for bad deeds being repaid with bad deeds, I think that's more of a case by case basis. Though I completely understand and sympathize with her motivations, I don't think killing the Prussian soldiers because of her son's death was right, but I think executing Mother Savage was justified. Did anyone else see a parallel between Mother Savage's death and her son's death?
ReplyDeleteI do see some some parallel between Mother Savage's execution and her son's death. They were both killed by the Prussians and I think its very interesting how Maupassant described both of their deaths. When the Prussians killed the son he was cut in two by the cannonball. When Mother Savage was executed Maupassant describes, "She had been cut almost in two, and her stiffened fingers still clutched the letter, bathed in blood"(Maupassant 82). Why would the author convey the image of when Mother Savage and her son died, they both looked like they were cut in half?
DeleteI think if you are going to use the phrase "war is war" I think that Mother Savage is justified in her actions because she was getting revenge for something she saw going wrong in her country. If there are invading soldiers in your house and you have no investment in the war then there would be no reason to kill them but when you find out that your own family members have been killed by this army then where is the wrong in taking their lives the same as they did to her son. Also I think the parallels are kind of creepy to a point but still a great image showing that the mother and her son are killed the same way by the same war.
DeleteThere was a parallels to both their deaths in that they were cut in half. Its easy to imagine a cannon ball bouncing on the ground and cutting you into two, when i read that scene in the book i had vivid images of the Scene in the Patriot where the soldier was but in two by the cannon ball. But how about the execution of mother savage, how many times have you heard of someone being torn into by bullet fire? its interesting i do think their was a message in the way she died. I cant take all the credit Mrs. Grover gave me the idea, but everyone has two sides and maybe being torn in half symbolizes the two different sides of a person. we don't get to know the son very well but I'm sure he struggled with leaving his elderly mom and going to war to save his country. and mother savage had a "good" and "evil" side to her and it was an internal struggle for her on what she was about to do to them.
DeleteWhen I was a child I was always told that two wrongs do not make a right. I believe mother savage had absolutely no right to kill the soldiers who treated her so well. I like that Michael asked about the parallelism between the sons death and Mother Savages death. Because as I stated earlier about the two wrongs why do I feel it was just that the mother was executed? This discussion is provoking quite a few questions about my own beliefs and now I'm not sure.
ReplyDelete