Berthine Berthine is the protagonist of the story.
She is hostile toward the Prussians even though they haven’t harmed her or her mother.
She uses their trust in her to trick them and trap them in the cellar.
Berthine is fearless, unlike her mother.
She has a close relationship with her father.
“Blind anger rose in her heart against the prisoners; she would have been only too glad to kill them all, and so silence them.”
“But as soon as the spike of the last helmet was out of sight Berthine lowered the heavy oaken lid—thick as a wall, hard as steel, furnished with the hinges and bolts of a prison cell—shot the two heavy bolts, and began to laugh long and silently, possessed with a mad longing to dance above the heads of her prisoners.”
“The younger feared nothing, but her mother was always apprehensive, and repeated continually: ‘We’ll come to grief one of these days. You see if we don’t!’”
“‘Prussians in the cellar?’” he asked anxiously. ‘What are they doing?’ The young woman laughed. ‘They are the same as were here yesterday. They lost their way, and I’ve given them free lodgings in the cellar.’ She told the story of how she had alarmed them by firing the revolver, and had shut them up in the cellar.”
Prussian soldiers The Prussian soldiers are seen as the antagonists by the French.
They promise not to harm Berthine and her mother in return for food. They keep their promise.
They naively trust Berthine to protect them when she tells them that the French have attacked the house.
Once they are trapped, they shoot at the French soldiers outside through the vent hole.
Faced with drowning, they swallow their pride and surrender to the French militia.
“‘Never mind,’ replied the soldier, who seemed a decent sort of fellow. ‘We won’t do you any harm, but you must give us something to eat. We are nearly dead with hunger and fatigue.…’ The Prussians lay down on the floor, with their feet to the fire and their heads resting on their rolled-up cloaks. Soon all six snored loudly and uninterruptedly in six different keys.”
“‘There are the French,’ she stammered; ‘at least two hundred of them. If they find you here they’ll burn the house down. For God’s sake, hurry down into the cellar, and don’t make a ‘sound, whatever you do. If you make any noise we are lost.’ ‘We’ll go, we’ll go,’ replied the terrified officer. ‘Which is the way?’”
“He had accomplished about two-thirds of his journey when a long, crimson flame shot forth from the vent-hole.
The enemy was astir now. They could be heard moving the casks about, talking, splashing through the water. Then, about eight o’clock in the morning, a voice came from the vent-hole ‘I want to speak to the French officer.’ Lavigne replied from the window, taking care not to put his head out too far: ‘Do you surrender?’ ‘I surrender.’”
Lavigne and the French soldiers
They symbolize France’s war efforts. Maupassant uses satire to point out their flaws.
Like other French peasants, they dislike the Prussians.
They are far from noble, making fun of and being cruel to even the members of their own militia.
Lavigne and the other French soldiers take credit for capturing the soldiers, but they only captured the soldiers in an ironic, humorous manner, while Berthine is the true hero.
“‘Now we’ll give these German gentlemen something to drink.’ A shout of frenzied admiration, mingled with uproarious laughter, burst from his followers. And the commandant organized relays of men, who were to relieve one another every five minutes. Then he commanded: ‘Pump!!!’”
“He had accomplished about two-thirds of his journey when a long, crimson flame shot forth from the vent-hole. A loud report followed, and the fat baker fell face forward to the ground, uttering a frightful scream. No one went to his assistance. Then he was seen to drag himself, groaning, on all-fours through the snow until he was beyond danger, when he fainted. He was shot in the upper part of the thigh. After the first surprise and fright were over they laughed at him again.”
“Monsieur Lavigne was decorated as a reward for having captured a Prussian advance guard, and the fat baker received the military medal for wounds received at the hands of the enemy.”