Short Fiction · Chapter
The Cripple explained
The narrator encounters a crippled former officer, Captain Revalière, on a train.
What happens
The narrator encounters a crippled former officer, Captain Revalière, on a train. Through conversation, he learns that Revalière was engaged to Mlle. de Mandal before the war, but after losing both legs, he refused to marry her, believing his deformity would condemn her to a life of suffering. Mlle. de Mandal later married M. de Fleurel, and Revalière remains unmarried, though he maintains a friendly relationship with the family. The narrator reflects on the tension between romantic ideals of sacrifice and the harsh realities of daily life.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Desire
Revalière's decision to break off his engagement is framed as an act of love, sparing Mlle. de Mandal from a life with a disabled husband.
Cruelty and Suffering
Revalière's physical and emotional suffering is central; he describes his rage at his own stumps and the daily torment of his condition.
Illusion vs. Reality
The narrator initially imagines a romantic sacrifice, but the reality is more complex—Revalière's refusal to marry is pragmatic, not heroic.
Characters to notice
- Guy de Maupassant
The narrator, who recounts the chance encounter on a train and reflects on the story of Captain Revalière.
- Duc de Servigny
Not present in this chapter; no match found.
Key passages
“People are wrong, sir, to couple my name with Mme. de Fleurel's. When I returned from the war, without my feet, alas, I would never, never have allowed her to become my wife.”
Revalière insists that he never married Mlle. de Mandal after his injury, contrary to public gossip.
Revalière clarifies the truth about his broken engagement.
“One does not marry to make a parade of generosity, sir: one marries to live every day, every hour, every minute, every second with one man; and if this man is deformed, as I am, to marry him is to be condemned to a suffering which will last until death.”
Marriage is a daily reality, not a public gesture; a disabled husband would cause his wife lifelong misery.
Revalière explains his reasoning for not marrying.
“When I hear, on the floor of my room, the clatter of my stumps and my crutches, the noise like a mill-wheel that I make with every step I take, I feel exasperated to the verge of strangling my servant.”
The sound of his artificial limbs infuriates him so much he nearly attacks his servant.
Revalière describes his daily frustration with his disability.