The Piece of String (thing)

"The Piece of String", originally published as "La Ficelle" and also translated as "A Piece of String" and "The String", is a short story written by Guy de Maupassant in 1883. Like much of his stories, it is a socially realistic look at the lives of peasantry in Normandy, combined with a slightly melodramatic and ironic twist.

Maitre Hauchecorne sees a piece of string in the road and picks it up. This happens at the same time as a pocketbook with a large quantity of money is lost, and someone who say him picks up the string reports him as a thief. Even when the pocketbook is returned by someone else the next day, and Hauchecorne is released from legal trouble---but not from suspicion. His neighbors assume he was working with a partner, and the more he honesty denies it, the more they assume he was running an especially clever plot. His frustration at being seen as a thief becomes so severe that he dies of grief. (This part seemed on the melodramatic side to me).

For me, much of the irony came as part of the conflict between two value systems: for the residents of the town, Hauchecorne's theft is seen as a type of jovial roguery, almost like a game or sport, while to Hauchecorne himself (who the story suggests is a clever man), it is seen as a a serious moral matter that compromises him as a person. It is certainly a dichotomy that I still see in contemporary times---some crimes are seen as serious, while others are seen as almost jokes.

Also, after reading several of Maupassant's stories, I am starting to understand just how his dry sense of irony works.