The Lucky Mill by Ioan Slavici
original title: Moara cu noroc
The short story (a word derived from the Italian novella) is one of the epic species in prose, in which events are narrated on a single epic thread, generated by a strong conflict, in the center of which is a complex character.
The short story "Moara cu noroc" by Ioan Slavici, published in the volume "Novele din popor" in 1881, is a realistic prose of psychological analysis because it has a rigorous construction, with a single narrative thread.
The theme supports the psychological character of the short story: the harmful and dehumanizing effects of the desire to learn, against the background of the Transylvanian society at the end of the 19th century. From a social perspective, the short story presents Ghita's attempt to change her social status; from a moralizing perspective, it presents the dramatic consequences of the thirst for learning, the writer considering that the pursuit of wealth shakes the peace of mind and leads to perdition. From a psychological perspective, the short story presents the inner conflict experienced by Ghita, which is torn by desires as strong as they are contradictory: the desire to remain an honest man, on the one hand, and the desire to get rich with Lica, on the other.
Poor but honest shoemaker, hardworking and hardworking, Ghita rents the tavern from Moara with luck, for a quick money gain. The Lucky Mill pub is located at the crossroads, isolated from the rest of the world, surrounded by dark wastelands. Lică's arrival changes him profoundly and definitively, as he has an almost magical power. Weak, unable to really oppose her, attracted by the spell of winning, Ghita will shut herself up more and more in silence, isolating herself even from Ana. His actions become hasty, betraying fear and loneliness, he buys two pistols, he takes a strong servant, on March, he takes two dogs. The dehumanization goes so far that Ghiţa regrets the existence of the family, considering it an obstacle in the way of his enrichment: "For the first time, in his life he would have wanted not to have a wife and children".
The action takes place during a year, between two temporal landmarks with religious value: from Saint George to Easter, and finally, water and fire purify the place. Composed of 17 chapters, the short story has a focused subject, with rich openings. The short story presents, at the beginning, a moral perception springing from the old wisdom uttered by the mother-in-law: "Let the man be content with his poverty, for, if it is a question, it is not wealth, but the peace of your hut that makes you happy." The end of the short story is represented, like the beginning, by the words of the old woman, who had turned and sat with the children on a stone, crying with bitter tears the ruthless fate: “- It can be seen that they left the windows open [. . .] I felt it wasn't going to work out; but that's how it was given to them ", supporting the symmetry of the speech.
The realistic narrative is objective, made in the third person by an omniscient, omnipresent, uninvolved narrator.
The conflict of the short story is complex, of a social, psychological and moral nature. The title of the short story is rather ironic. The chosen topos, the tavern called the Mill of Luck, actually means the mill of bad luck, the mill that brings misfortune, because the ease of gain here hides serious ethical deviations. The noun mill, in the title, also expresses the soul grinding of the characters in the whirlwind of passions.
The style of the short story is sober, concise, without ornaments. The modes of exposition fulfill a number of epic functions in narrative discourse. The initial description has, in addition to the usual role of fixing the spatial and temporal coordinates, a symbolic function of anticipation. The objective narrative fulfills its function of representing reality through the absence of the marks of subjectivity. The dialogue contributes to the indirect characterization of the characters, supports the veracity of the relations between them. The inner monologue, of traditional invoice, the addressed inner monologue, the free indirect style are the main means of psychological investigation of the main character.
The literary work Moara cu noroc by Ioan Slavici is a psychological short story, because it has all the features of this literary species: it analyzes the inner conflict of the main character, follows the process of Ghita's alienation from his family and his moral degradation caused by the temptation of enrichment.
