The Devil and Miss Prym is a novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian novelist Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho

Paulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...

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The book tries to find an answer to the question: "Are people bad?

Problem of evil

In the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a god and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely...

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Plot summary

For almost fifteen years, old Berta had spent everyday sitting outside, watching over the little village Viscos, talking with her deceased husband. She is waiting for the devil

Devil

The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

 to come, as her husband predicted. One day a stranger appears with the intention of staying one week in the village.

In the woods he buries 11 bars of gold. On the way back he meets Chantal Prym, a young and beautiful barmaid, who is bored of the idyllic scenery and slow pace of life. Regularly she seduces tourists in the hope that one of them will prove to be her escape route. The stranger shows her the buried treasure and promises that it will belong to the villagers if they agree to kill someone.

There is a ferocious battle within the young woman; a battle between her angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

 and her devil. She sees in the gold the ticket to finally escape. Still, something holds her back.

After some days, she decides to tell what the stranger has proposed, trusting that they will refuse. The people’s reaction, however, plants the seed of doubt inside of Chantal. Now she fears for her own life. As an act of desperation, she plans to abandon Viscos with one of the stranger’s bars. Destiny sends a rogue wolf, which threatens Chantal’s life. The stranger arrives, and both escape.

Meanwhile the villagers assemble to choose their victim. The scapegoat

Scapegoat

Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...

 they choose is Berta, since she is already old and serves no purpose in the village. Before the villagers shoot a sedated Berta, Chantal convinces them that under no circumstances murder is justified; our conduct is a matter of control and choice.

The stranger

A man persecuted by the ghosts of his painful past comes to Viscos desperately searching for answers. Once he had been a good man when at a whim of destiny his life was torn apart. His family had been kidnapped by a group of terrorists who threatened to kill them unless he agreed to hand over a huge amount of weapons. He however made the mistake to call in the police and thus sacrificing what he held near and dear. The loss of his family held a pain seemingly unbearable and at the moment in which the aching was the strongest he became accompanied by the devil. There was a burning desire within him to take vengeance for the injustice that has befallen him and since the terrorists have already died - his object was now in his eyes the evil humanity.

Old Berta

The widow passed her days with watching the village and the nature surrounding it. Often enough she had a little chat with her already deceased husband. She had the ability to see ghosts, the peoples’ emotions, devils, and angels as well, which was the reason for the villagers calling her a witch. Berta can also read signs of nature so she took the hint when there was a storm approaching the moment the stranger arrived in the village.
The inhabitants of Viscos decided her to die as a sacrifice for the welfare of the village and agreed to pay her back with building a fountain. Even when she didn’t have to die she got her fountain.

Major themes

it shows that even everyday life of an ordinary person is actually a divine dance between good and evil, both trying to overpower the other but it is finally our choice which makes all the difference.
The book is deep in meaning; It teaches one to believe in nature but also makes one responsible for actions happening around them.

1) Fear
2) Temptation

Temptation

A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological , health, economic, etc...

3) Good & Evil