Published: 1880
Category: Hypocrisy
Text available at: Classic Reader
Summary:
A woman of ill-repute generously sacrifices her lunch and her body for the comfort and convenience of nine fellow passengers only to be shunned by them when in need of comfort herself.
Points of interest:
The initial setting is the French town of Rouen as it is being occupied by the Prussian army. de Maupassant's description of the mood of the town and town's people both before and after the occupation paints very vivid pictures.
"But there was something in the air, a something strange and subtle, an intolerable foreign atmosphere like a penetrating odor--the odor of invasion. It permeated dwellings and places of public resort, changed the taste of food, made one imagine one's self in far-distant lands, amid dangerous, barbaric tribes."The title of the piece, Boule de Soif, is a nickname (Tallow Ball) applied to the protagonist; we first meet her well into the story and she is the only character introduced in a sympathetic light, a clue, along with her name, to her importance to the story. While the protagonist is a courtesan and supposedly debased, 'tallow' is used to make soap and candles (light).
Maupassant does not think well of merchants
"Many a round-paunched citizen, emasculated by years devoted to business..."the religious
"...sapped by that devouring faith which is the making of martyrs and visionaries."
"Now, it fell out that many of these [Saints] had committed acts which would be crimes in our eyes, but the Church readily pardons such deeds when they are accomplished for the glory of God or the good of mankind."or the powerful
"You see, sir, poor folk always help one another; it is the great ones of this world who make war."
