Short Fiction · Chapter
Friend Joseph explained
Monsieur de Méroul rekindles his college friendship with Joseph Mourador, a Republican district councillor.
What happens
Monsieur de Méroul rekindles his college friendship with Joseph Mourador, a Republican district councillor. When Joseph visits the Mérouls' country estate, his boisterous, anti-clerical, and democratic manners clash with their conservative, traditional values, culminating in his taking over the household and driving the couple away.
Themes in this chapter
Social Class and Money
The clash between the aristocratic Mérouls and the Republican Mourador underscores differing class values and political ideologies.
Illusion vs. Reality
The Mérouls' illusion of a harmonious visit is shattered by the reality of Joseph's unyielding, domineering personality.
Characters to notice
- Monsieur de Méroul
The conservative, methodical husband who reconnects with his old friend Joseph Mourador, only to be overwhelmed by his radical behavior.
- Madame de Méroul
The pious, kind wife who is shocked by Joseph's disrespect toward the priest and his Republican newspapers, yet remains polite.
- Joseph Mourador
The old friend and Republican district councillor whose casual, anti-clerical, and domineering manner disrupts the Mérouls' household.
Key passages
“For a whole winter in Paris they had been great friends and after losing sight of each other, as is usual, on leaving college, they met again in society when they were both old and grey; the one a bachelor, the other a married man.”
They had been close friends during a winter in Paris, but like many college friendships, they lost touch until meeting again in old age—one still single, the other married.
Sets up the reunion of the two main characters after many years.
“He was calm, methodical by nature; he had no sudden flashes of intelligence, or fits of independence, he spent his time quietly regretting the past, deploring the habits and institutions of the day, and continually repeating to his wife, who raised her eyes and occasionally her hands in sign of complete agreement: “What a government we’ve got, to be sure!””
Monsieur de Méroul was a placid, conventional man who constantly lamented modern changes, and his wife always nodded in full agreement.
Illustrates the conservative, passive nature of the Mérouls.
“He was a Republican, one of those good-natured Republicans who make a virtue of being casual, and who stand for that freedom of speech which borders on brutality.”
Joseph Mourador was a good-humored Republican who prided himself on blunt, often harsh, frankness.
Highlights Joseph's political identity and brash communication style.
“Before his astonished host could prevent it, he had seized the two papers and thrown them out of the window. Then he gravely handed Justice to Madame de Méroul, the Voltaire to her husband, and sank into an armchair to finish the Intransigeant.”
Joseph snatched the Mérouls' conservative newspapers and tossed them outside, then solemnly gave them Republican papers instead, settling into a chair to read his own.
Demonstrates Joseph's domineering imposition of his political views.
“He is still waiting for their return.”
Joseph remains at the house, expecting the Mérouls to come back, but they never do.
The ironic conclusion showing Joseph's obliviousness to having driven his hosts away.