# Duchoux explained — Short Fiction > Chapter companion for Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant. ## What happens Baron Mordiane, feeling the weight of loneliness and old age, decides to travel to Marseilles to secretly observe the son he fathered years ago. He finds the son, now a provincial architect named Duchoux, living in a messy, garlic-scented home with his wife and children. The encounter fills Mordiane with horror and revulsion at the vulgarity of his offspring, and he flees in panic, haunted by memories of the boy's mother. ## Themes in this chapter ### Isolation and Loneliness Baron Mordiane's profound loneliness and the burden of his solitary life drive him to seek out his son, only to be repelled by the reality. ### Illusion vs. Reality The baron's romanticized memory of his past love clashes harshly with the vulgar, garlic-scented reality of his son and his household. ### Social Class and Money The baron's aristocratic sensibilities are offended by the provincial, unrefined lifestyle of Duchoux, highlighting class divides. ## Character check-ins ### Baron Mordiane An aging, lonely bachelor who decides to visit his unknown son in the South of France, but is repulsed by the encounter. ### Duchoux The baron's illegitimate son, now a provincial architect with a strong Southern accent, a messy home, and a garlicky odor. ## Key lines > For some years he had felt the burden of loneliness which sometimes overwhelms old bachelors. He had been increasingly oppressed by the solitude that often afflicts elderly unmarried men. _Highlights the baron's growing sense of isolation._ > He considered that a woman was only worth attention so long as one knew very little about her, while she was still mysterious and unfathomed, vague and perplexing. He believed women were interesting only as long as they remained enigmatic and unknown. _Reflects the baron's cynical view of relationships._ > The memory of the gentle, blue, devoted look in those eyes came back to him as he watched the round blue but vacant eyes of this ridiculous little man who was so like his mother, and yet.⁠ ⁠… He recalled the tender, loving gaze of his former mistress while looking into the empty, round eyes of her son, who resembled her in a grotesque way. _Emphasizes the painful contrast between past romance and present disappointment._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/duchoux - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters