POST 3: Tétiyette and the Devil

The short story "Tétiyette and the Devil" is a literary text that has a much deeper meaning behind it, than shown. The story is about a young girl who does not listen to her parents and chooses a man based solely off of his looks. This was a mistake though because he was not who she thought he was, and ended up being "a terrible devil" that was "eating her up". The anonymous author of the story had a rhetorical stance that can be found by reading in between the lines. I believe that the intended audience of the short story is young, naive girls in the Caribbean that choose men and/or other things based off of appearance. The purpose of the story is to teach people that things are not always as they appear and although you might have made a mistake, you can be saved before you are completely gone/oblivious to the situation. The message is being conveyed when the author writes on page two, "The young girl looked down to see the young man, and found a good-looking gentleman. She was pleased. She said: 'Have him come up, have him come up, I want him'" (Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam). By reading those lines, you can assume that the girl made her decision based off of the man's looks. Then near the end of the story the author included that the girl regretted her decision and cried out for help from her family. Although they are her parents, they did not go help her and instead her brother did. The author wrote on page four, "When he reached the room, the devil had swallowed half of his sister's last toe. He slit the devil's belly with one single blow, and his sister emerged all whole" (Green Cane and Juicy Flotsam). The meaning behind this line was that although his sisters toe was the only thing left when he came, he was able to save his sister as a whole, before she was completely "swallowed". I believe that this short story was very interesting, and semi weird to say the least but as I continued to reread it, the author's rhetorical stance revealed itself.