The short story The Night of the Full Moon takes place at a little village in India. We are introduced to the main characters Malan and Minnie, Malan is the mother to Minnie. The story is about how the decisions you choose have an impact on your life and the present situation in India. Minnie and Malan look very much alike. “No one believed that Malan and Minnie were mother and daughter. They looked like sisters. ” (p. 26, 16-17) Minnie and Malan are very beautiful and it says that Minnie looks like a pearl and was as charming as she was beautiful. They have both long black hair and beautiful brown eyes like a gazelle.
There's a specialist from your university waiting to help you with that essay.
Tell us what you need to have done now!
order now
Though Minnie and Malan look like one another they are very different underneath the surface. Minnie is a reflection of Malan and all the feelings and love that have fated over the years in her relationship with Minnie’s father are transferred to her daughter. “She had a full bosomed wantonness which often made Malan think that all her frustrated passions had been rekindled in her daughter’s body. ” (p. 28, 28-31) Minnie is due to wed in the upcoming week and her mother Malan is on the surface proud and happy, but beneath the surface Malan is apprehensive.
Malan worries because she have to live alone with her husband who works hard and late and therefore always falls asleep after eating his meal. “He always came home tired: he ate his meal and fell fast asleep. ” (p. 28, 18-19) There is no love in the relationship between Malan and her husband. The husband is determined to have a son, so he also has occasional intercourse with Malan “These midnight efforts had produced a daughter every year. The girls came to the world uninvited and departed without leave. ” (p. 28, l. 2-24) Malan is very anxious about Minnie leaving her because she is the only one to love and support her. But also fears the terrible situation with man who doesn’t love her and don’t support her.
The Night of the Full Moon refers to Malan’s secret lover, who comes on visit when the moon is full. Malan has a burning desire to be with the secret lover when the full moon shows and only then. She has known the lover for many years. “An age has passed and now the afternoon shadows had lengthened across life’s courtyard. ” (p. 27, l. 7-8) hen her lover visits her, she sends him away with no encouragement but that don’t change the fact that he comes to see her every full moon. Malan’s feelings and desires are forbidden but one day she decides to answer his call and goes with him. She is dressed beautifully and wears 12 of Minnie’s bracelets and Minnie’s shawl. Malan gets the feeling she has not felt for a long time. The following morning she is calm, serenity of mind and fell asleep peacefully but is awaked by an angry neighbor woman who claims to have seen a young woman being followed home by a stranger.
The neighbor woman accuses Minnie for being that young woman with the basis that the young woman was wearing the same shawl and looked precisely like Minnie. When Malan is confronted with the news her ”body went cold, her life-blood draining from her veins, a deathly pallor spread over her face” (p. 32, 21-22) The whole situation is tragically because Minnie is about to be married and then such secret lovers are not popular. Malan is horrified of what would happen to her if she declares herself guilty so she decides not to stand up for her daughter.
The villagers become rougher towards Minnie and almost everyone is trying to prove Minnie’s guilty by saying when and where they saw her. Minnie’s uncle proves his beliefs with one of Minnie’s red bracelets, which Malan apparently had lost in his field when she ran off with her lover. Minnie is helpless and afraid of the consequences the episode will have for her life “A broken engagement was a broken life. What would Minnie do now that she would never find a husband” (p. 35, 12-13) Minnie decides to commit suicide by jump into the well because she can’t see a way out of her ruined life.
Malan’s nightmare has become reality, she is now alone and she has ruined her daughter’s life. She has been paying the highest price for a taste of the sweeter life, a taste of love, the meaning and the feeling of being special. Malan has only a burning desire to be with her lover when the full moon shows and the full moon is normally associated with a temporal insanity. The full moon`s light makes Malan lunatic and that could be the superstitious explanation why Malan take the huge risk of being together with her lover.
