Short Fiction · Chapter
A Sale explained
In a courtroom, two peasants, Brument and Cornu, are tried for attempting to drown Brument's wife in a barrel.
What happens
In a courtroom, two peasants, Brument and Cornu, are tried for attempting to drown Brument's wife in a barrel. The trial reveals a drunken scheme where Brument agrees to sell his wife to Cornu by the cubic meter, leading to a farcical measurement attempt that ends with the wife being dunked in water. The jury acquits the men but issues strictures on the sanctity of marriage.
Themes in this chapter
Marriage and Domesticity
The story portrays marriage as a transactional arrangement, with Brument selling his wife and the jury upholding the sanctity of marriage despite the farcical crime.
Social Class and Money
The peasant defendants' obsession with money and measurement underscores the dehumanizing effects of poverty and commerce.
Cruelty and Suffering
The wife is subjected to physical and emotional abuse, including being nearly drowned, yet the court treats the event with levity.
Characters to notice
- Césaire Houlbrèque
Defendant Brument, a pig breeder, who drunkenly conspires to sell his wife by the cubic meter.
- Simon Bombard
Defendant Cornu, a publican, who agrees to buy Brument's wife and participates in the drowning attempt.
- Madame Lefèvre
The victim, Brument's wife, who is forced into a barrel of water and later testifies against the men.
Key passages
“I says to him: ‘How much the cubic metre?’ “He answers: “ ‘Two thousand francs.’ “I gives a jump like a rabbit, and then I think to myself that a woman can’t weigh more than three hundred litres.”
Cornu asks Brument the price per cubic meter for his wife, and when told two thousand francs, he calculates that a woman's volume is less than three hundred liters.
Highlights the absurd commodification of a human being through literal measurement.
“I takes off my bonnet, and then my bodice, and then my petticoat, and then my sabots. Brument says to me: ‘Keep your stockings on, we’re decent fellows, we are.’”
The wife strips down to her chemise and stockings as instructed, with the men ironically claiming decency.
Illustrates the degradation and mock modesty in the transaction.
“The jury, overwhelmed, retired to consider their verdict. They returned an hour later and acquitted the accused with severe strictures bearing on the sanctity of marriage, and setting forth in precise terms the limits set to commercial transactions.”
The jury acquits the men but condemns the commercialization of marriage, drawing a line between trade and matrimony.
Shows the court's contradictory stance: punishing the idea while letting the perpetrators go free.