Was It A Dream by Guy De Maupassant Analysis

Many people choose to live out their lives and never fall in love. People do this because they fear the pain and sheer loneliness that may come as an outcome from heartbreak. Guy De Maupassant, a French author from the 18th century, explored these profound feelings of sorrow in a short story. From a psychoanalytic lens, Maupassant’s “Was It A Dream” portrays the fear of abandonment, trauma, and repression through a heartbroken protagonist. 

Our protagonist reveals their fear of abandonment through some of the text written in the story. Text such as “Why does one love? Why does one love?” and “How horrible! I sobbed with my forehead on the ground, and I stopped there for a long time, a long time” expresses how much of a nightmare the protagonist's loss was for them. This failure to cope reveals a fear of abandonment that had existed prior to the death of the main character’s partner. Another piece of evidence that proves this theory is shown in the text “ She was buried! Buried! She! In that hole! Some people came-female friends. I made my escape and ran away; I ran, and then I walked through the streets, and went home”. The protagonist, unable to handle their lover’s funeral, felt as if they needed to “escape” the event being held. This certainly seems like an odd action to take, however it begins to make sense when realizing that the protagonist only felt this way because they were abandoned by the person they were in love with. 

The ending of the story reveals that the protagonist’s deceased lover died from getting sick while having an affair. After learning about this, it becomes apparent that many of the main character’s despairing  emotions resulted from their lover’s deceiving act. According to mental health professionals, some of the key signs that an individual is facing trauma due to betrayal are; difficulty managing emotions, depression, nightmares, and thoughts of suicide. We see the main character struggle with these key signs on every page of the story. The amount of repetition 

that occurs throughout the story symbolizes the overwhelming and unstable condition the protagonist finds themself in. What makes the traumatization even more evident is the connection the protagonist made between the mirror and their lover in the text, “And I stopped short in front of that looking-glass in which she had so often been reflected. So often, so often, that it also must have retained her reflection. I was standing there, trembling with my eyes fixed on the glass-on that flat, profound, empty glass-which had contained her entirely”. As traumatized as they are, the protagonist can’t help but make a meaningless connection of an inanimate object to their deceased lover. 

After the story concluded, it became clear that repression had a major role influencing the main character’s thought process. The text, “When I spoke to her, she answered me, but I do not remember what we said. I have forgotten everything, everything, everything! She died, and I very well remember her slight, feeble sigh” is strange for numerous reasons. Not only does the protagonist contradict themself immediately after they claim to have forgotten everything, but a much more significant contradiction occurs right before the story’s conclusion. Dreams are created by using knowledge and memories in which the brain manages to store, and as the protagonist’s dream reveals their lover’s secret, the dream also reveals what the protagonist’s lover said to them before they had passed away.  The protagonist claims to have forgotten their lover’s final words, but their dream proves this to be untrue. The protagonist’s motive for lying to themself was to reduce the amount of overwhelming emotions and repress the memory so they would be less hurt. 

Guy De Maupassant captures the despondency that comes as a result of abandonment, trauma, and repression, through a character that is struggling with a disheartening event. Maupassant’s technique of making one character come off as mentally broken and scarred has had a positive effect on the reading experience that he is providing. Viewing this story from a psychoanalytic perspective, Maupassant inspires readers to question a fictional character and what is perceived as reality.