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The Day They Burn the Books by Jean Rhys

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"The Day They Burn the Books" by Jean Rhys is a story of a small girl and her first book that she owns. The narrator was a small girl who cared about being a white, being English, and being pretty.  Her friend Eddie was nice to her. When Eddie's father, Mr. Sawyer, died, she saw Mrs. Sawyer throwing away Mr. Sawyer's book collections. The narrator grabbed a book along with Eddie from the pile of books that was about to be burnt, and she treasured the book she got.

 

At the end of the story, the narrator found out the book she got was "Fort Comme La Mort", but the author didn’t translate the book title to the readers.. One of the "Charting the Story" question asked,

 

"What is the translation of the book title Fort Comme la Mort"? Who wrote it? Why do you suppose Rhys hasn't translated it for her readers?"

 

I looked up Fort Comme la Mort on the Internet, and there is not much information can be found about this 1889 novel. "Fort Comme la Mort" means “Strong as Death” in French by Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893). Even the biography of Maupassant didn't mention “Fort comme la Mort” particularly. I have no idea why Rhys hasn't translated the French book title for the readers.

 

I found some info about the book "Fort Comme la Mort" from http://www.georgeglazer.com/decarts/leatherbindings/maupassant.html.

 

“Fort Comme la Mort, Maupassant's fifth novel, is Olivier Bertin, a painter in artistic decline and at a romantic crossroads, struggling to both recapture his creative momentum and to choose between two women, a countess and her daughter, who reminds him of the countess in her youth. The title comes from a Biblical saying that love is “as strong as death.” The novel explores the mysterious -- and for the protagonist tragic -- interaction of love and creativity.”

Obviously Mrs. Sawyer wasn't too happy with Mr. Sawyer, and she didn't fight back against Mr. Sawyer's unrespectable behaviors. If I was Mrs. Sawyer, I would want to ruin the room my husband used to collect his books, get rid of the books, and start to take total control of the house. If the kid wants books to read, I can as well buy him new books. Some new books especially for the young boy like Eddie, instead of mature books my husband used to read.

 

Whenever I want to move on to a new life, I want to get rid of those old things that I don't want anymore. That could probably be the idea why Mrs. Sawyer burnt the books. However, I believe the motive of writing this story was leaning to the narrator's excitement of her first book she saved.