Analysis of "Tétiyette and the Devil"

In the story “Tétiyette and the Devil”, the author conveys several messages. Though short, there’s a lot of contexts

hidden in the story.

            In the first paragraph, it is established that the young girl is of marrying age and that two other men have tried to take the daughters hand. I think the first message the author is trying to convey is to not judge a person based off of their looks. On page one, two different men have tried but the daughter refused both.

            “I want nothing to do with him, make him go away, he eats grains!” (page 1) and then she follows up the next responding to next man, “-I want nothing to do with him.” (page 2). She has already turned down two different men just based off of their appearances. This shows how subjective the daughter is. In the story, it is stated that the devil roamed around waiting for his opportunity to take and eat the girl. So, seeing her act in a manner of turning down the first two based off of their looks gave the devil insight on how to deceive her.

When the devil shows up, he’s dressed really nice and covered in gold instantly winning the daughter’s hand in marriage. This backfires but leads into the next message the author is trying to convey.

            The next message the author is trying to convey is trusting your family. On page two, the mother warns Tétiyette of the well-dressed man saying he might be the devil. So she gives her a needle and a cloth and says, “ – at night after you go to bed, you will stick your husband with it. If blood flows, he’s a human being but if slime oozes out, he’s a devil.”(page 2). Tétiyette pokes him with the needle and slime runs out instead of blood signifying that he is the devil. Tétiyette ignores this and wash the cloth and marks it with her own blood the ease her parents.

            They marry but on the first night, he begins to eat Tétiyette piece by piece as she cries for help from her parents. They refuse to help as they had already warned her previously but she ignored their warning. As she cries out for help, she calls out to her brother. Whom of which saves her before she is completely eaten. It is evident that the author is conveying the message of trusting family as shown when the brother saves her in the end. Even though her parents ignored her plea, someone who still loved and cared for her came to her rescue.

            The overall message of this short story is an analogy to real life relationships. The daughter was eaten by pieces similar in a toxic relationship you begin to turn into someone else. But before she was swallowed completely by the relationship, her brother came and saved her. Signifying that even though we get sucked up and lost in these relationships we can still make it out before it’s too late.