Emre Kahramanlar
Hacettepe Üniversitesi
İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı 4. Sınıf
Eleştirel Okuma

Analysis of Maupassant’s Looking Back

Guy De Maupassant’s Story, Looking Back is a story of Abbe Maudit and his tragic life. It is centered on Maudit’s unfortunate, traumatic childhood , his isolated life, his disappointments and sorrows, which pushes him to choose a career to be a priest, who sacrificed his personal desires to be in service of people.

The Story begins in M. le Cure’s residence. The atmosphere of the house is quite warm we are introduced to lovely grandchildren of M. le Cure’ Whom does Abbe Maudit tenderly love. Right after the children go to bed, M. La Cure is interested in Abbe …show more content…

We see that later in his life, this absence of love leaves him too delicate that over sensitiveness takes him over his entire life. "I reached my sixteenth year. An excessive timidity had arisen from this abnormal sensitiveness”. His solitude is the main reason why he feels this way to his environment as it makes him grow an over sensitive personality, which deprives him of building friendly relationships with his surroundings. Therefore he cannot take anybody in or out of his life.

One of the other themes in the story is being othered. The society does not accept Maudit as people probably think he is too fragile that he is not ready for life. At some part of the story, when Maudit loses his close friend, the dog, Sam and locks himself inside room and does not get out as he is depressive. At this point, his father asks him: “How will it be when you have real grieves—if you lose your wife or children?” Maudit might not be ready to lose his wife or children. But what is important here is the reason why his father asks this question. The answer is, his father sees this world with indifference: marrying some young woman, having children, maintaining his name etc. His father, in this aspect, does not try to understand his own son as his motto is based on indifference, which leaves Maudit alone in the society. In other words, What society thinks about maintaining a life( marrying and having children) and what Maudit undergoes are totally different, which leaves Maudit