Book “The Piece of String” has the basic elements of a work of fiction. First, it has an exposition and a conflict. The exposition describes the setting in a small town called Goderville and describes the entire scene when Maître Hauchecorne picks up the piece of string.
It also introduces some of the characters. The conflict is that Maître Hauchecorne was accused of stealing a pocket book with a lot of money in it. Therefore, people continued to question him. Next, this short story has three complicating events.
They include when Maître Hauchecorne’s enemy Maître Malandain watched Maître Hauchecorne pick up something and looked embarrassed. Also, Maître Hauchecorne kept telling his story so many times that people continued not to believe him. It did not help that he started to add extra events to his string story to prove that he was innocent. The climax of the story was when Maître Hauchecorne discovered that no one believed him even after the wallet was returned.
The resolution was very sad. The story ended when Maître Hauchecorne died. He was still trying to prove his innocence. “The Piece of String” has a lot of character roles. The protagonist in this short story is Maître Hauchecorne. He is a stereotype character. This is because his role was easily known based on the author’s description. He can also be a dynamic character. In the beginning of the story, he was a kind, innocent, and truthful man. After the accusation, he became a greedy, lying man due to injustice. The antagonist is Maître Malandain.
