Classic: G. de Maupassant

• Author: G. de Maupassant
• Title: Une Vie
• Published: 1883 ( first novel)
• Language: French
• List Challenges 2018
  
• Monthly planning
• Classic Club Master list

 

Conclusion:

1. There is more to this book than meets the eye.
2. Maupassant did not want to just tell a story.
3. He wanted us to understand the meaning behind events.
4. This was an eye-opener for me.
5. How often do I read a story and say I liked it or not.
6. I learned in this book to look at the structure..it has a hidden meaning.
7. I noticed if Jeanne (MC) traveled…where to? …and how it changed her.
8. In the first line we read ‘she packed her bags’
9. …this reveals she is moving.
10. “Jeanne, ayant fini ses malles…”
11. Jeanne is in transition…from life during a convent education.
12. to new places
13. She travels 4 times.
14. How did each voyage change her?

 

Themes:  Love, marriage, motherhood, adultery, ruthless ambition

1. What was Maupassant’s message in this book?
2. Marriage is a trap!

Commentary:

1. The decline of the ‘noblesse’ class who are incapable to adapt to the times
2. The provincial morals and values Normandy in the 19th C
3. The power of the Catholic Church and its prelates on the social order.
4. Marriage: woman has the duty to be a good wife and mother
5. …in exchange for losing any control over one’s life!

Look closely at the structure:

• Part 1 is  filled with unbridled happiness.
• This is done to contrast the depths of
• Jeanne’s disillusionment in part 2… at the end of her life.

 

Look for a minor character:

1. Tante Lison:
2. There are many characters in the book
3. …but I singled out one that touched my heart.
4. No one noticed her, cared about her
5. …she was ‘object familier, un meuble viviant.’
6. Her nonexistence her isolation is obvious in the book
7. ….but Maupassant put her in the spotlight!
8. She is in every important scene even
9. …as reader I had the tendency to just pass her by!
10. preparing trousseau for Jeanne’s wedding
11.  is the only guest invited to Jeanne’s wedding
12. godmother to Jeanne’s son Paul
13. discovers Julien’s infidelity
14. cares for Paul’s religious education
15. attends family funerals and
16. ….steps in as second mother to Jeanne.

 

Strong point:

1. I liked the descriptions of nature especially the coast of Normandy.
2. Fishermen, their families, job, boats, beaches and cliffs.
3. You can just smell the salt in the air of
4. his beloved homeland, Etretat, France
5. La mer – Jeanne’s  strong feelings for the coast of Nomandy.
6. The sea represents the infinite that stretches out  before Jeanne
7. and the many possibilities  Une Vie has to offer her.
8. La pluie – represents melancholy.
9. Le soleil – represents joy
10. Mausassant uses the changes in
11. …seasons and nature to reflect Jeanne’s moods.

 

Last thoughts:

1. The main character, Jeanne, is based on
2. …Maupassant’s mother, Laure le Poittevin.
3. She was a victim on an uphappy marriage and submitted
4. herself to an adulterous and violent husband.
5. Laure made a strong move…supported by her friend G. Flaubert
6. and left her husband which was unusual in the 19th C.
7. She concentrated all her attention on her son, Guy.
8. As you read the book you can see the similarities
9. between Laure and Jeanne.
10. I enjoyed this book after I gave it time to settle in my mind.
11. Maupassants’s  Bel-Ami is his most polished novel.
12. Both books are #Classics!