Short Fiction · Chapter
In the Spring explained
A narrator describes the intoxicating effect of spring in Paris, which leads him to take a steamboat on the Seine.
What happens
A narrator describes the intoxicating effect of spring in Paris, which leads him to take a steamboat on the Seine. There he becomes infatuated with a young working-girl. A stranger intervenes, warning him of the dangers of love, and recounts his own story of marrying a woman he met in similar circumstances, only to find himself trapped in a miserable domestic life.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
The narrator's sudden infatuation with a young woman on the boat, and the stranger's cautionary tale about the dangers of romantic desire.
Illusion vs. Reality
The stranger's story contrasts the idealistic dream of love with the harsh reality of a mismatched marriage.
Marriage and Domesticity
The stranger's marriage is depicted as a trap, filled with daily quarrels and disillusionment.
Characters to notice
- Guy de Maupassant
The narrator, who is swept up by the spring atmosphere and becomes infatuated with a young woman on the boat.
- Mouche
The steamboat Mouche 6, which carries the narrator and other passengers to Saint-Cloud.
Key passages
“When the first fine spring days come, and the earth awakes and assumes its garment of verdure, when the perfumed warmth of the air blows on our faces and fills our lungs, and even appears to penetrate our heart, we feel vague longings for undefined happiness, a wish to run, to walk at random, to inhale the spring.”
The arrival of warm spring weather stirs a restless yearning for happiness and freedom.
The narrator describes the universal feeling of spring fever.
“Monsieur, beware of love! It is lying in ambush everywhere; it is watching for you at every corner; all its snares are laid, all its weapons are sharpened, all its guiles are prepared! Beware of love. It is more dangerous than colds, bronchitis, or pleurisy! It never forgives, and makes everybody commit irreparable follies.”
Love is a hidden danger that can cause more harm than any illness.
The stranger warns the narrator about the perils of falling in love.
“I saw her on the following Sunday, and the next Sunday, and every Sunday. I took her to Bougival, Saint-Germain, Maisons-Lafitte, Poissy; to every suburban resort of lovers. The little jade, in turn, pretended to love me, until, at last, I altogether lost my head, and three months later I married her.”
He courted her every weekend at popular romantic spots, and she feigned affection until he proposed.
The stranger recounts how his whirlwind romance led to a hasty marriage.