In “The Terror” by Guy de Maupassant a man, who remains nameless, tries to persuade the reader that he is not completely crazy by explaining the situation which led him to this. First he says that he will marry a woman he has only seen four or five times because he is afraid of being alone. He tells the reader not to judge him until he explains himself. He continues to explain by setting up a scenario that he has experienced. One evening he returned home, entered his room, which he had always left locked, and found it open. He enters and sees a man sitting in his chair by the fire. He is not alarmed by the man, thinking that he is a friend who has come to visit him. He approaches the man and reaches out to wake him where he has fallen asleep. Suddenly the man is not there, he has vanished into thin air. To fully appreciate this story, one must revisit the themes of Maupassant's life and his other stories. During his life, Maupassant suffered from syphilis, which later turned into a serious mental disorder, which was in full swing during his writing career. Maupassant was an atheist...