The story is set in the Swiss Alps and introduces two mountain guides, the old guide Gaspard Hari and young guide Ulrich Kunsi. Gaspard goes out hunting one morning but does not return. As time passes, Ulrich, who is alone at the inn with only the dog Sam, becomes increasingly afraid and paranoid under the effects of heavy drinking. He begins hearing noises outside and fears Gaspard may be dead. The story climaxes as Ulrich opens the door in a panic but lets in a gust of cold wind. When found later, Ulrich is revealed to have gone mad in his loneliness and fear over the winter in the Alps.

1. BY GUY DE MAUPASSANT
THE INN

2. CHARACTERS
 INDIRECT CHARACTERS
The family of Jean Hauser
The old guide, Gaspard Hari.
The young guide, Ulrich Kunsi.
Sam, the great mountain dog.
The mother, Jeanne Hauser.
The daughter Louise.

3. SETTING
 The setting of the story is in the High
Alps situated at the foot of glaciers in
the barren rocky gorges that intersect
the summits of the mountains.

4. PLOT
 The story introduced Gaspard who always went out
the abode so one day, there was a feast in the inn at
Schwarenbach that people could find fresh meat.
One morning he went out as usual. The thermometer
outside marked eighteen degrees of frost, and as the
sun had not yet risen, the hunter hoped to surprise
the animals at the approaches to the Wildstrubel.

5.  He wanted to go there before climbing the slopes
which led to Wildstrubel.
 While Ulrich was thinking about the problems that
Gaspard might be living, Ulrich and Sam were in the
abode and went out to Wildstrubel.

6. INTERNAL CONFLICT
 Ulrich was afraid because he was alone at home and
he was starting to think if Gaspard was dead.
Suddenly, they heard something like if someone was
trying to enter the home and Sam started to bark and
to defend Ulrich who was under the effects of the
alcohol.

7. EXPOSTION
 Gaspard was lost in the mountains while Ulrich was
at home with Sam. Ulrich who was under the effect
of the alcohol, started to hear some noise if someone
were outside of house.

8. RISING ACTION
 After three weeks, Ulrich had consumed his stock of
ardent spirits. But his continual drunkenness only
lulled his terror.

9. CLIMAX
 He sprang to the door and opened it, to see who was
calling him and to force him to keep quiet, but such a
gust of cold wind blew into his face that it chilled him
to the bone, and he closed and bolted the door again
immediately, without noticing that Sam had rushed
out.

10. FALLING ACTION
 The one was continually walking round the house
and scraped the walls with his nails so vigorously
that it seemed as if he wished to destroy them, while
the other, inside, followed all his movements,
stooping down and holding his ear to the walls and
replying to all his appeals with terrible cries.

11. RESOLUTION
 The winter was over and the Gemmi Pass was
practicable again, so the Hauser family started off to
return to their inn.
 The family and the doctors found that he was mad,
and nobody ever found out what had become of his
companion.

12. POINT OF VIEW
 Third person point of view.

13. THEMES
 Loneliness
 Fear
 Desperation