Guy de Maupassant: The Horla (1887)

Venture into the haunting narrative of "The Horla," Guy de Maupassant's masterful exploration of sanity's fragile line and the unknown's unsettling embrace. In this section, with Hellixia as our analytical compass, we will journey through two distinct facets of this chilling tale:

Narrative Analysis: We'll dissect the plot intricacies, key events, and character dynamics, laying bare the psychological currents that drive this unsettling story forward.
Holistic Analysis: Beyond the immediate narrative, we'll step back to capture the broader themes, motifs, and overarching sentiments that give "The Horla" its enduring resonance.

Together, let's plunge into the depths of this classic horror story, using semantic networks to illuminate its layers and offer fresh insights into Maupassant's unsettling vision.

Narrative Analysis

In this section, we'll unravel the plot intricacies, key events, and character dynamics that form the backbone of Maupassant's haunting tale. Through the lens of Hellixia, witness the story's unfolding as we navigate its chilling corridors.

Workflow for Creating the Semantic Network

Start by creating the node "The Horla, by Guy de Maupassant."
Use the Dimension Elicitor, employing the keywords "Context, Developments, Entities, Events, Keywords, Locations, Milestones, Motifs, Progressions, and Relationships," to conduct an exhaustive narrative analysis of the book.
Inspect the dimensions returned by Hellixia and eliminate any that seem superfluous or unrelated to your analysis. Next, disregard the "The Horla, by Guy de Maupassant" node and run the Embedding Generator on all remaining nodes to apprehend the semantic associations of their names and comments.
Use the Maximum Weight Spanning Tree algorithm to generate a semantic network.
Change node styles to Badges to ensure each node's comment is visible. Then, apply the Dynamic Grid Layout to position the nodes on your graph; remember that this algorithm is not deterministic, and its orientation—vertical, horizontal, or mixed—is random. You might need to execute this layout several times to obtain an arrangement that aligns with your taste.
Switch over to Validation Mode and select Skeleton View. Since your network doesn't represent causal relations, Skeleton View will maintain only node connections without indicating a direction.

Workflow for the Node Force analysis

Return to Modeling Mode and change the node styles to Discs.
Use the Symmetric Layout and switch to Validation Mode to run a Node Force analysis.

Workflow for creating the Hierarchical Semantic Network

Execute Variable Clustering: This operation will categorize analogous variables based on semantic relationships.

Open the Class Editor and run Class Description Generator to generate descriptive names for the factors in question. Use the Export Descriptions function, and save the newly created descriptions.
Return to Modeling Mode and run Multiple Clustering to generate latent variables.
Run the structural learning algorithm Taboo. Ensure the "Delete Unfixed Arcs" option is enabled.
Use the descriptions you exported earlier as a Dictionary to rename the latent variables you've created.
Switch to Validation and run Node Force.

Given the size of this network, we can focus on the upper level of the hierarchical network. Below is the Node Force analysis on these factors only, i.e., excluding all manifest variables before the analysis.

Holistic Analysis

Transitioning from the narrative, we now embark on a holistic exploration of "The Horla." With Hellixia's insights, we'll delve into the deeper themes, emotions, and overarching concepts that permeate Maupassant's masterpiece, capturing its essence beyond just the storyline.

Follow the workflow outlined in the Narrative Analysis section, but use this set of keywords: Achievements, Characteristics, Components, Concepts, Considerations, Contributions, Domains, Elements, Emotions, Features, Feelings, Forces, Ideas, Impacts, Perspectives, Purposes, Sentiments, Subjects, Themes, Theses, and Values.