Short Fiction · Chapter
XXXV explained
The narrator reflects on a withered rose from last year's carnival, recalling how he offered it to Madame de Hautcastel before a ball.
What happens
The narrator reflects on a withered rose from last year's carnival, recalling how he offered it to Madame de Hautcastel before a ball. She was so absorbed in her own reflection and dress preparations that she barely acknowledged him. Frustrated, he left without saying goodbye, and she only commented on her dress to her maid. The narrator refrains from drawing general conclusions about women's affections but offers advice to men: on ball days, a lover is forgotten, and a husband is merely part of the ball's scenery.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Loss
The narrator's unrequited gesture with the rose and his subsequent frustration highlight the theme of love and loss in romantic pursuits.
The Ordinary as Extraordinary
A simple withered rose becomes the focal point of a chapter, elevating an ordinary object to a symbol of romantic disappointment and social observation.
Characters to notice
- Madame de Hautcastel
The narrator recalls offering her a rose before a ball; she was preoccupied with her reflection and dress, ignoring him.
Key passages
“I could readily write a chapter upon that dry rose. It is a flower of last year's carnival. I gathered it myself in the Valentino.”
The narrator could easily write a chapter about that dried rose, which he picked himself at the Valentino during last year's carnival.
Introduces the rose as a symbol of a past event.
“She took it, and without looking at it or me, placed it upon her toilette-table.”
She accepted the rose without any glance at it or at him, simply setting it on her dressing table.
Highlights Madame de Hautcastel's indifference.
“I held out humbly in my hand a number of pins arranged in order. But her pincushion being more within reach, she took them from her pincushion, and when I brought my hand nearer, she took them from my hand, quite indifferently.”
He offered pins in his hand, but she used her own pincushion; only when he moved closer did she take pins from him, still without interest.
Shows the narrator's futile attempts to gain her attention.
“I put down the looking-glass I had been holding, and went out angrily without taking leave.”
He set down the mirror he was holding and left in anger, not saying goodbye.
The narrator's frustration leads to his abrupt departure.
“Impress well upon your minds this fact, that your mistress is no longer yours on the day of a ball.”
Remember that on the day of a ball, your mistress is not yours anymore.
The narrator's cynical advice to men about romantic priorities during social events.