The central theme of this text is the importance of human intimacy. When the audience is first introduced to Baron de Coutelier, he is described as a man with “only one insatiable passion, love of sport” (Maupassant 856). As a result of this obsession, he spends every single day of his life outside hunting both birds and animals in the woods, rather than socializing with others. Additionally, it was explained that he “spoke of nothing but shooting and hunting, he (even) dreamed of it” (Maupassant 856). This intense dedication to sport that has segregated Baron de Coutelier from the outside world has ultimately begun to deteriorate him both mentally and physically, which Maupassant demonstrates multiple times throughout the story. First,
