Analyse af 'The Night Of The Full Moon'

In this short story we get to know Malan and Minnie, a mother and daughter from India. The story takes place in a village in India, where everybody knows each other.

Minnie is Malans daughter, and people do not stop complimenting them, even though Malan is older than Minnie. Minnie is due to wed in the upcoming week, and it is tradition in India that when women get married, they go and live with their husband and his family. On the surface Malan seems proud and glad, but deep down inside she is anxious about it. Her husband is determined to have a son, so he also has occasional intercourse with Malan. Malan only conceived girls, and was only able to raise one of them, Minnie. Malan has another man in her life that nobody knows about. It is a man she has known for many years and who is deeply infatuated with her. Every month on the night of the full moon, he comes to see her, but she is torn between passion and reason every time. The thought of how her life could be with this other man makes her shiver with pleasure. One day, next morning, an angry woman interrupted her peace of mind. The woman accuses Minnie for spending a night out with a man, because she thinks it was her she saw last night. Since Malan wore Minnie’s scarf and bracelets, everyone thinks it was Minnie who had acted shamefully.