XV explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Money and Greed

  The chapter highlights the immense wealth acquired through the Morocco conquest and financial speculation, with Duroy's envy and the Walters' ostentatious display of riches.

• Hypocrisy and Moral Decay

  The reception is a display of social hypocrisy, where guests attend out of curiosity and envy, while Duroy's resentment and Madame Walter's desperate affair reveal moral decay beneath the surface.

• Manipulation and Seduction

  Madame Walter manipulates the situation to arrange a private meeting with Duroy, who uses her feelings to his advantage, showing the power dynamics in their relationship.

• Social Climbing and Ambition

  The Walters' rise to prominence and their attempt to gain social acceptance through lavish displays reflect the theme of social climbing, while Duroy's own ambitions are fueled by envy.

Characters to notice

• George Duroy

  Furious at the Walters' triumph and Laroche-Mathieu's success, he reluctantly attends the reception, feeling poor despite his earlier gains. He agrees to meet Madame Walter in the garden, showing his manipulative nature.

• Madeleine Forestier

  Duroy's wife, who urges him to attend the reception and is seen seated with Laroche-Mathieu in the greenhouse, indicating her own social maneuvering.

• Madame Walter

  Desperately seeks a private meeting with Duroy, having written to him daily. She arranges a rendezvous in the garden, revealing her emotional vulnerability and obsession.

• Clotilde de Marelle

  Attends the reception with Duroy, commenting on the Walters' success. She mentions that Laurine remains angry with Duroy.

• Laroche-Mathieu

  The minister who profited from the Morocco conquest, now a dominant figure in the Du Roy household, dining there twice a week and seen with Madeleine at the reception.

• Suzanne Walter

  One of the Walters' daughters, who takes Clotilde to see her room, showing her role in the social event.

• Monsieur Walter

  The wealthy host, having made millions from the Morocco loan and mines, now displaying his new mansion and masterpiece to Parisian society.

• Jacques Rival

  Present at the reception, he detains Duroy with conversation, nearly making him late for his meeting with Madame Walter.

Key passages

• “Du Roy was furious at the governor’s triumph. He had thought himself rich with the five hundred thousand francs extorted from his wife, and now he held himself to be poor, fearfully poor, when comparing his modest fortune with the shower of millions that had fallen around him, without his being able to pick any of it up.”

  Duroy felt enraged at the governor's success. He had believed he was wealthy with the half-million francs taken from his wife, but now he saw himself as miserably poor compared to the millions that had rained down around him, none of which he could claim.

  Highlights Duroy's envy and dissatisfaction despite his own gains.

• “He was no longer the Jew Walter, head of a shady bank, manager of a fishy paper, deputy suspected of illicit jobbery. He was Monsieur Walter, the wealthy Israelite.”

  Walter was no longer the disreputable Jewish banker and newspaper owner, but now the wealthy and respectable Monsieur Walter.

  Shows Walter's social transformation through wealth.

• “She had seized him round the neck, and with her lips close to his, said: 'But what have I done to you? You are behaving towards me like a wretch. What have I done to you?'”

  She grabbed him by the neck and, with her mouth near his, asked what she had done to deserve his cruel treatment.

  Illustrates Madame Walter's desperation and emotional turmoil.