The two figures in the background and the ?˜bird of the devil that is keeping watch?? as Gauguin called it; seem to be conspiring against the reclining woman. She lies awake; perhaps conscious of being watched. The title evokes Edgar Allan Poe?™s The Raven; in which a poet; driven mad by the loss of his love; hears a raven repeating endlessly ?˜Nevermore?? Here; Gauguin suggests the loss of innocence. He was deeply disappointed by Tahiti; where he had moved from Paris; hoping to find a primitive and unspoilt paradise. Instead; he found a society marred by corruption and colonialism.