Story 3.1
This muteness, as the author states at the end of the story, serves to underline the power of speech (often associated with women). It would seem that, at the beginning of the story, Masetto’s muteness makes him prosperous, because his poor situation gets him sympathy from the Abbess: “Find out if he knows how to garden and try to keep him here; give him a pair of shoes and an old cloak; praise him, pamper him, and give him plenty to eat” (196). (This differs greatly from Nuto’s experience, in which the nun’s had no sympathy for him.) However, it is soon revealed that the power of speech and its rewards are much greater than the rewards of being mute.
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