LXII explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Death and Decay

  Germinie's body is described as turning to stone, her face rigid and ghostly, and she seems to be in a ghastly tête-à-tête with Disease and the Shadow of Death.

• Female Suffering and Sacrifice

  Germinie's silent, self-contained suffering and her loss of desire for affection or cure highlight the theme of female endurance in the face of death.

Characters to notice

• Germinie Lacerteux

  Lies gravely ill, with a hollow, ghostly face and an impenetrable, rigid demeanor; she is indifferent to her surroundings and seems to be turning to stone.

• Mademoiselle de Varandeuil

  Desperately anxious about Germinie's health, she feels a strange fear and discomfort in the presence of the sick woman's mysterious and self-contained suffering.

Key passages

• “Mademoiselle had a sense of discomfort beside that hollow, ghostly face, which was almost unrecognizable in its implacable rigidity, and which seemed to return to itself, to recover consciousness, only furtively, by fits and starts, in the effort to produce a pallid smile.”

  Mademoiselle felt uneasy next to Germinie's hollow, ghostly face, which was so rigid it was almost unrecognizable and only briefly showed signs of awareness when trying to force a pale smile.

  Describes Mademoiselle's discomfort and Germinie's altered state.

• “She was as immovable as bronze. Mademoiselle, as she looked at her, asked herself what it could be that she brooded over thus without moving; whether it was her life rising in revolt, the dread of death, or a secret remorse for something in her past.”

  Germinie was as still as a bronze statue, and Mademoiselle wondered what she was brooding about—whether it was rebellion against her life, fear of death, or hidden guilt.

  Highlights Germinie's immobility and Mademoiselle's speculation about her inner turmoil.