The story may have a double meaning because only one side of the story is told. And it can also prove that most of the time we are blind to what is really happening in our daily lives. Some might say that it clearly has an antagonist – Mrs. Lantin – while others might strongly disagree with that idea. The fact is that the author – Guy De Maupassant – did not provide the audience with the answer to the main questions of the story – whether Mrs. Lantin cheated on her husband and, if so, what were her reasons. Making us wonder if she was selfish or just trying to help her husband with his financial stability. Maupassant gave us only Mr. Lantin's point of view and excluded Mrs. Lantin, leaving us in doubt as to what really happened. This is the crux of possible disagreement among critics of this literary work. It must be said that the facts that could provide an answer to those questions were scattered throughout the text. For example, a sentence like “The man who finds her will be lucky. No one could find a girl prettier than that” and “such was the charm of her person” is perceived differently if one rereads the story (De Maupassant 90 ) At first, one might suggest that the future Mrs. Lantin was indeed a woman with high moral standards, but after considering her expensive assets one could not help but conclude that she has been lying to her husband all along. and for all six years of their happy family life was not so “ideal” (De Maupassant 90). to entrust one's future” (De Maupassant 90). Another theme of interest in this story is the contrast between the fir ...... middle of the paper ...... the fact is that Mr. Lantin, like many other people, he seemed to forget his problems when he suddenly found himself rich (Sanders). Mr. Lantin thought to himself, “How fortunate are the men who have fortunes” (De Maupassant 93). The atmosphere of the whole story changes radically when the protagonist no longer worries about the troubles caused by his deceased wife: “For the first time in his life he went to the theater without being bored by the show; and spent the night in revelry and debauchery” (De Maupassant). This is a clue that the widower – Mr. Lantin – was no better than his late wife – he also began to care about money more than anything else when he had the opportunity to waste it as he pleased, such as when he “had breakfast at Voisin's restaurant, and ordered wine at 20 francs a bottle" in a luxury restaurant (De Maupassant 95).