Boule De Suif

Cornudet is a troublemaking republican known as “the demon.” He is critical of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie and supports the installation of a democratic government. Initially, he befriends Boule de Suif, praising her patriotism in attacking the Prussian soldier. However, Cornudet is also a man of what seems like insatiable appetites, drinking beer and smoking a pipe in a corner of the kitchen; that he appears to proposition Boule de Suif twice casts doubt on his motives for showing friendliness toward her. Likewise, his republicanism proves largely superficial. When he hears how some of the French common folk are cooperating with the occupying Prussian soldiers, Cornudet shows no sympathy for the plight of the working classes during a time of war but is rather “indignant at the friendly understanding established between the victors and the vanquished” (31). The story ultimately undercuts this seeming patriotism as well. Cornudet upbraids his fellow travelers when they are celebrating their successful efforts to coax Boule de Suif into sleeping with the Prussian officer, saying that their actions are “an infamy.” However, the story implies that his anger is merely jealousy and hurt pride. In the end, Cornudet ignores Boule de Suif along with the others when they are on the road again, eating eggs, singing, and whistling as if the whole situation had not happened.

Monsieur and Madame Loiseau are snobbish and greedy wholesale wine merchants and are depicted as hypocrites willing to abandon their principles to protect their own interests. Loiseau also takes a salacious interest in Boule de Suif; for example, he peeps through his room’s keyhole to see Cornudet proposition Boule de Suif and is excited by the intrigue. Later, he delights in telling the others about the incident. By contrast, Madame Loiseau is judgmental and self-righteous. However, husband and wife are united in their frustration with Boule de Suif for refusing the Prussian officer, with Loiseau questioning “[h]ow long […] this fool of a girl [is] going to keep them hanging on in this hole,” while his wife says Boule de Suif has no “right” to decline sex (38).

Monsieur and Madame Carré-Lamadon are also members of the bourgeoisie, though of a slightly higher class. At first glance, they seem like a polite and sophisticated wealthy couple. Monsieur Carré-Lamadon is “a man of weight; an authority on cotton, proprietor of three branch businesses, officer of the Legion of Honor and member of the General Council” (10). His wife is young, pretty, and genteel. However, they ultimately prove to be just as selfish and hypocritical as the Loiseaus. Taken together, the couples symbolize the hypocrisy and moral bankruptcy of the 19th-century bourgeoisie.

The count is an elderly gentleman bearing one of the noblest and most ancient names in Normandy. The countess has “an air of grandeur” (11). Together they represent the aristocracy and throughout the story seem more concerned with their own status and comfort than the plight of others—most notably Boule de Suif, whose persuasion they spearhead. Guy de Maupassant explicitly links their skill in influencing Boule de Suif to their social position: The countess is “more versed than the others in the duplicities of the drawing-room” (42), while her husband “coming of three generations of ambassadors [… is] on the side of skill as opposed to brute force” (40). The overall picture is of a calculating upper class coolly manipulating the lower classes for their own ends. In the final scene, the count and countess show no remorse and prove their prior words about patriotism and sacrifice hollow and self-serving. They do not even seem to realize they have done anything wrong. When the countess sees Boule de Suif crying silently in her seat, she nudges the count, who “shrug[s] his shoulders as much as to say, ‘What can you expect? It is not my fault’” (52).