Fear (Maupassant): Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 20:22, 29 May 2023

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Fear

Summary of the Short Story

Microsummary: Two men on a train discussed their experiences with fear, focusing on the unknown and supernatural, and shared stories of their encounters with inexplicable events and creatures.

A man was traveling on a train through France on a moonless, airless, and burning night. He was alone, facing an old gentleman who was looking out of the window. They had left Paris three hours before and were approaching the heart of France. Suddenly, they saw a strange apparition in a forest: a big fire and two men standing around it. The two travelers wondered what these people could be doing in the forest at midnight and in the height of summer.

👴

The Narrator — narrator; an old gentleman with a cultured and eccentric demeanor; appreciates mystery and the supernatural.

👨

The Listener — narrator's companion on the train; engaged in conversation about fear and the supernatural.

The old gentleman began to talk about how the world was full of mystery in the old days and how the supernatural had disappeared from the earth.

How disturbing the world must have been in the old days when it was full of mystery!

He believed that people were truly afraid only of what they did not understand.

We are truly afraid only of what we do not understand.

The man then shared a story told by a Russian storyteller, Tourgeniev, about a terrifying encounter with a madwoman in a Russian forest. The storyteller had been swimming in a river when he felt a hand touch his shoulder and saw a frightful creature staring at him. He swam frantically to the shore, but the monster followed him. Eventually, a boy with a whip came to his rescue and chased the creature away.

The old gentleman then shared his own experience of fear while traveling in Brittany. He had been walking at night when he heard a rolling sound approaching him. He hid in a ditch and saw a wheelbarrow running all by itself. He was paralyzed with fear and could not move. Later, he realized that a barefooted child must have been pushing the wheelbarrow, but the fear of the unknown had terrified him.

The old gentleman also spoke about the cholera outbreak in Toulouse, which he believed was more than just a disease. He thought it was a malevolent spirit that had come back to the world, causing people to dance and celebrate in defiance of the unseen enemy.

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 | Literary form = short story
 | Year of publication =
-| Microsummary = A man shared two experiences of fear, one in Africa where a mysterious drum sound haunted him, and another in a French forest where a group of people were terrorized by a ghostly presence.
+| Microsummary = Two men on a train discussed their experiences with fear, focusing on the unknown and supernatural, and shared stories of their encounters with inexplicable events and creatures.
 }}
 {{Start of text}}
-A group of men, including a captain and a well-traveled man with a sunburned face, were on a ship sailing towards Africa. The captain shared a story of a time when he was frightened, but the sunburned man disagreed, saying that fear is different from anxiety or restlessness.
+A man was traveling on a train through France on a moonless, airless, and burning night. He was alone, facing an old gentleman who was looking out of the window. They had left Paris three hours before and were approaching the heart of France. Suddenly, they saw a strange apparition in a forest: a big fire and two men standing around it. The two travelers wondered what these people could be doing in the forest at midnight and in the height of summer.
 {{Character
 | Name = The Narrator
-| Description = narrator; experienced traveler; brave, adventurous, and curious
+| Description = narrator; an old gentleman with a cultured and eccentric demeanor; appreciates mystery and the supernatural
-| Emoji = 👨🏻‍🎓
+| Emoji = 👴
 }}
 {{Character
-| Name = The Captain
+| Name = The Listener
-| Description = ship captain; experienced sailor; friendly, open, and willing to share his experiences
+| Description = narrator's companion on the train; engaged in conversation about fear and the supernatural
-| Emoji = 👨🏻‍✈️
+| Emoji = 👨
 }}
-He then shared two instances when he experienced true fear. The first instance took place in Africa, where he and a small group were traveling through a desert. They heard the mysterious sound of a drum, which terrified the locals. His friend suddenly died from sunstroke, and the drumming continued for two hours, filling him with dread.
+The old gentleman began to talk about how the world was full of mystery in the old days and how the supernatural had disappeared from the earth.
 {{Quote
-| Text = Fear (and the bravest men can experience it) is sometimes terrible, a dreadful sensation; it can be compared to the decomposition of the soul.
+| Text = How disturbing the world must have been in the old days when it was full of mystery!
-| Context = The narrator explains his understanding of fear to the captain and other men on the ship, emphasizing that even the bravest people can experience it in certain situations.
+| Context = The narrator expresses his longing for the past when the world was filled with mystery and the supernatural, during their conversation on the train.
 }}
-The second instance occurred in a forest in northeastern France during a stormy night. He and a guide sought shelter in a forester's home, where the family was terrified because the forester had killed a poacher two years prior and believed his ghost would return. The family dog began to howl, sensing something unseen, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.
+He believed that people were truly afraid only of what they did not understand.
 {{Quote
-| Text = For one whole hour the dog howled without moving; he howled as if in the throes of a nightmare, and fear, horrible, stealthy fear, was slowly taking possession of me.
+| Text = We are truly afraid only of what we do not understand.
-| Context = The narrator describes the fear he felt while staying in a French forest cottage, as the dog's howling intensified the group's terror and anticipation of a ghostly presence.
+| Context = The narrator and his companion discuss the nature of fear, agreeing that the unknown and inexplicable are the sources of true terror.
 }}
-The guide threw the dog outside, and they heard something scratching at the door. A white head with flaming eyes appeared at the window, and the forester shot at it. The next morning, they discovered the dog dead outside, having been shot by the forester.
+The man then shared a story told by a Russian storyteller, Tourgeniev, about a terrifying encounter with a madwoman in a Russian forest. The storyteller had been swimming in a river when he felt a hand touch his shoulder and saw a frightful creature staring at him. He swam frantically to the shore, but the monster followed him. Eventually, a boy with a whip came to his rescue and chased the creature away.
-{{Quote
+The old gentleman then shared his own experience of fear while traveling in Brittany. He had been walking at night when he heard a rolling sound approaching him. He hid in a ditch and saw a wheelbarrow running all by itself. He was paralyzed with fear and could not move. Later, he realized that a barefooted child must have been pushing the wheelbarrow, but the fear of the unknown had terrified him.
-| Text = He had got out of the yard by digging a hole under the fence.
-| Context = The narrator reveals that the ghostly presence was actually the old dog, which had been shot by the old forester in a panic. The dog had escaped the yard and caused the fear-inducing events.
+The old gentleman also spoke about the cholera outbreak in Toulouse, which he believed was more than just a disease. He thought it was a malevolent spirit that had come back to the world, causing people to dance and celebrate in defiance of the unseen enemy.
-}}
-The sunburned man concluded that he would rather face real dangers than experience the fear he felt during those two instances.
 {{End of text}}