7.35 Maupassant — Boule de suif III — Epoché
What you will be able to do Read the last part of Maupassant's Boule de suif , from the company's conspiracy to the end of the journey. Follow how the narrator describes a moral collapse in the polite language of the people who commit it. Understand the ending, in which the respectable passengers reject the woman they have sacrificed, and the meaning of the song Cornudet whistles. Discuss the story as a whole: its characters, its irony and its judgement of a society. Sentences from this text, before the notes. Read the French aloud; all of them come back below. French English Elle aurait pu sauver les apparences en faisant dire à l’officier qu’elle prenait en pitié leur détresse. She could have saved appearances by having the officer told that she took pity on their plight. On se tut brusquement et un certain embarras empêcha d’abord de lui parler. They fell silent all at once, and a certain awkwardness at first kept them from speaking to her. On prépara longuement le blocus, comme pour une forteresse investie. They spent a long time preparing the blockade, as if for a besieged fortress. Ce fut d’abord une conversation vague sur le dévouement. At first there was a vague conversation about self-sacrifice. soit simplement par l’effet d’une inintelligence heureuse, d’une secourable bêtise, or simply through a happy lack of understanding, a helpful stupidity, La comtesse, mettant à profit l’autorité sacrée de sa complice inattendue, The countess, making use of the sacred authority of her unexpected accomplice, Prerequisites : 7.34 — this reading completes 7.33 Reading and 7.34 Reading . At the end of the last part, Boule de suif had revealed that the Prussian officer would let the coach leave only if she slept with him, and the whole company was indignant. About this text Note: this text contains sexual coercion and insults. This is the last third of Boule de suif , about 3,750 words, from the evening of the second day to the arrival at Dieppe. Three short passages are left out and marked […] : a walk in the village, some of Loiseau's jokes at the celebration, and a card game in the coach. The text is that of the first edition, Les Soirées de Médan , published in Paris by Charpentier in 1880, as transcribed in French Wikisource. Over two more days the indignation turns into impatience, then into a plan. The wives, the husbands, a nun and the count each play a part in persuading Boule de suif. She gives in. The next morning the coach leaves, and the passengers who owe their freedom to her turn away from her. Reading the ending Military metaphors. The narrator describes the persuasion as a siege: le blocus , une forteresse investie , les attaques , l'assaut , cette citadelle vivante . The bourgeois who fled the war rather than fight it now wage a war of their own, against a single woman, to deliver her to the enemy. Polite words for an ugly act. Nobody says plainly what is being asked. The ladies find des subtilités d'expression charmantes ; the conversation at table is about le dévouement , heroic women of history, and the saints. The nun's maxim, that the end justifies the means, gives the plan a religious cover. The count's walk with Boule de suif is a masterpiece of condescension. Who speaks the truth. Only Cornudet calls it une infamie , and the company laughs at him because he too had wanted her. On the last day the narration, close to her own feelings, calls the passengers ces gredins honnêtes , these respectable scoundrels. The last scene. The meal in the coach repeats the meal of the first day in reverse: now everyone has food except Boule de suif, and nobody offers her any. Cornudet whistles La Marseillaise , the anthem of the Republic, to torment the conservatives, and the story ends in the dark with her sobs. Reading it a second time, part by part The change of mood. After another night at the inn, the passengers begin to resent Boule de suif for not giving in secretly. Loiseau suggests leaving her behind; the officer refuses. The conspiracy. Mme Loiseau says aloud what everyone thinks. The company plans the siege of Boule de suif, while Cornudet keeps apart. The persuasion. At lunch, stories of heroic women who gave themselves for their country; at dinner, the old nun's argument that a good intention justifies any act. The next day the count takes her aside. The surrender. She does not come down to dinner; Follenvie confirms that she has gone to the officer. The company celebrates with champagne. Cornudet calls it an infamy; Loiseau tells the story of the corridor, and everyone laughs. The departure. In the bright morning the passengers turn their backs on Boule de suif. In the coach they eat their own food and offer her nothing. She cries, while Cornudet whistles La Marseillaise all the way to Dieppe. Full translation An English translation of the whole text, made for this course and kept close to the original. The numbers are the paragraph numbers of the original text, so you can move between the two. Boule de suif The ladies withdrew early; and the men, smoking all the while, got up a game of écarté , to which they invited M. Follenvie, whom they meant to question cleverly about the means to be used to overcome the officer's resistance. But he thought only of his cards, listening to nothing, answering nothing; and he kept repeating: "Play, gentlemen, play." His attention was so strained that he forgot to spit, which at times left long held notes in his chest. His wheezing lungs sounded the whole scale of asthma, from the deep, low notes to the shrill hoarseness of young cockerels trying to crow. He even refused to go upstairs when his wife, who was dropping with sleep, came to fetch him. So she went off alone, for she was "a morning person", always up with the sun, while her husband was "an evening person", always ready to spend the night with friends. He called after her: "Put my eggnog in front of the fire," and went back to his game. When they saw clearly that nothing could