The Little Cask

You gotta love Maupassant. This was an enjoyable read although certainly not his best. Plus, it made me think of Saturday night when I went out with the intention of only having a couple drinks.

Here are some items that encouraged me to think a little bit more (even at 3am on a Monday):

• Duality of Human Nature
• The deal started out innocent enough, and there wasn't any motivation of greed or hostility to begin with. The shift to deceit was foreshadowed by the fowls who dared to steal the potato peels from under her nose. This connection of human greed to animal behavior undermines the validity of humanity if civility is a mere facade over our innate animality. Kind of like Heart of Darkness style. Can anyone show true charity? Is there always an ulterior motive?

•  Good vs. Evil
• This is unoriginally similar to my first item but now I'm talking about it in a interpersonal context vs intrapersonal. I think that most readers would be inclined to take the side of Mother Magloire, saying she was just an old woman who was victimized by a greedy businessman. But perhaps she was the perpetrator of the downward spiral? Her automatic distrust of him brings up the issue of lack of confidence in relationships. She expected him, at the get-go, to take advantage of her, and by one-upping him in order to be the biggest beneficiary of the deal she becomes the one who is taking advantage of him. Instead of taking steps to protect herself from exploitation, she raises the stakes. Maybe she perceives what she is doing as right because she assumed that was what he was going to do to her.

• Mother Magloire doesn't want to take a deal unless she is the one making out, which necessitates a losing party.  This illustrates the perception of a fair deal as an illusion, an unattainable ideal between two people. And so who decides what is right and wrong? In society, it's the law and the character of the lawyer is there as an assurance that what she is doing is just. But the lawyer is an illusory impartial and untrustworthy character. His interpretation of the law is not guided by fairness, rather he is concerned with how to gain his client (therefore himself) the most money and he manipulates the standards (i.e., value of the house) and ethics (i.e., what she deserves) to attain his goal.  

• The Power of Suggestion
• Tying into the title of the story, "The Little Cask", the story proves that one small suggestion is really all it takes. Once the idea was implanted in her head, Mother Magloire ran away with it. Knowing the power of suggestion, Chicot went off thinking he had already won. The other small suggestions include the one from the lawyer about increasing her profit and the one from Chicot about the liquor. The small suggestions, however, are coupled with a great amount of disorientation that Mother Magloire experiences when she considers them which is proof of their powerful effect. 

Disclaimer - The views contained in this blog are not those of the author.  I think that people are always generous and good ;)