Whilst talking with her fellow passengers, she reveals her reason for leaving, saying she would have killed the Prussians if she had not have left. She tells her story with such passion for her country, and aggression towards the Prussians, it puts to shame the other travellers’ reasons for leaving their town, for “saving their own skins”, and the fact that they “had not shown such courage”. They congratulate her and talk about patriotism, yet still fail to posses any kind of patriotic characteristic and would leave the country, if needed, to protect their wealth. Money and status come before their country to these people.
The other characters’ true natures really come to the surface when Boule de Suif faces the dilemma in Totes. She has to choose between her country and her companions on the coach trip. She has the choice between having sex with a Prussian, her country’s enemy, or detaining her fellow travellers, who, although she does not know it yet, may prove themselves to be a greater enemy to her then the Prussians. At first, both her and the other passengers are outraged at the proposition, having sex with the enemy was not an option any women should be forced to take, but this view is not upheld as soon as they realise they are unable to leave until she gives into the Prussian officers demands. Here they adopt the attitude that she should just sleep with him, “’Since it’s this woman’s job, why should she refuse one man rather than another?’”. Again, here it shows that they are willing to be on her side and agree with her, but as soon as they realise that it may be of a disadvantage to them, they quickly change their minds. They have no regard for what is the morally right decision, and they do not care that Boule de Suif will have to degrade herself to what she feels will be the lowest indignity she could ever lower herself to, just as long as they manage to get themselves out of the situation.
The other passengers soon decide to plot against Boule de Suif, whilst she is out, to try and persuade her that by sleeping with the Prussian, she is doing the right thing. The articulate, well-educated travellers conspire to use these oratorical skills to gradually persuade Boule de Suif and manipulate her to get her to do what they want her to. Eventually, “they found delicacies of phrase and charming subtleties for the coarsest of ideas” and convince Boule de Suif that she should have sex with the Prussian by using examples of great martyrs who sacrificed themselves to do what is right, and even the nuns contribute. When they are asked by the Comtesse, in front of Boule de Suif, if they “think God accepts any means and pardons any deed, when the motive is pure?” one replies, “Who can doubt it, Madame?”. They actually seem to enjoy exploiting the vulnerable Boule de Suif; “they revelled…tremendously thrilled…stimulated with the sensual pleasure”. All of their stories and revelations eventually round off to one “final conclusion…a women’s only duty was the continual sacrifice, the perpetual surrender of her body to the lust of a licentious soldiery”. At the end of all this, Boule de Suif is left feeling she has no other choice and the right option is to have sex with the Prussian, so her and the other passengers can continue on their journey. While she does, the conspirators celebrate in the room below her, listening to what is going on upstairs and laughing and joking about it. They applaud and announce a toast to her, encouraging her to go through with the act of indignity she feels so ashamed of. In the morning, when they are free to leave the hotel, they are cold and hostile towards her again. They still regard her with the kind of disgust they looked down on her with when she boarded the coach for the first time, even though this time she had sacrificed all of her morals to try and satisfy and help them. “No one was looking at her or thinking of her. She felt overwhelmed by the contempt of these respectable cads, who had first sacrificed her, and then cast her aside as a thing, unclean, for which they had no further use.” Again, here the writer is trying to show the upper class’ exploitation of the working class, how they use them, as objects, only for their own gain. Despite their own sexual histories, the other passengers still look down on Boule de Suif, refusing to offer her food or comfort when she needs it most. They show no form of gratitude or sympathy towards the woman who sacrificed her entire beliefs for her travelling companions and still they call themselves respectable. They are really the most corrupt and unrespectable of all society’s classes and the writer is trying to show that Boule de Suif has many more respectable qualities then the other passengers. Even the nuns do not offer any support to Boule de Suif. After joining in with the conspiracy against her, they sit, continuing to whisper their prayers whilst Boule de Suif cries. The night before, Cornudet had told the other passengers they had done “a shameful thing” and had walked out on the celebrations. Still, he does nothing to discourage the others from conspiring against Boule de Suif nor does he offer he any kind of support or sympathy when she is crying. He knows what has been done is wrong and tries to satisfy his guilt by whistling ‘Le Marsellaise’, a song about patriotism and sacrifice to remind the other passengers about what they have done. Still, he does not act in any way to comfort Boule de Suif. We see these characteristics quite early on in the story. Even Cornudet’s reasons for leaving his hometown demonstrate these attitudes. He is described as “a kindly soul, good natured and obliging”; saying he has the right morals, but never actually acts on them and he also follows the crowd. He is a typical intellectual, who talks a good fight but lacks the courage to back up his convictions.
The writer’s intention when writing this story was to use the story as a medium to put across his ideas and views. He uses the passengers on the coach as a microcosm of French society. The nuns represent the church. Their refusal to offer any kind of support to Boule de Suif reflects Guy de Maupassant’s views of the church, suggesting they turn their back on the poor and needy and that they too are morally corrupt. This is similar to the views reflected in some of William Blake’s poems. The other passengers represent the upper class of French society. Their hypocrisy is reflected in the way the other passengers are willing to overlook their own sexual pasts but sneer and scorn Boule de Suif’s sexual past. They are morally corrupt, and are willing to let other people suffer, just to get what they want. They are cold hearted, and seem not to regret what they do to other people. Every action they make is decided by how much they can gain from it and self gain is the only thing which they are concerned about. Boule de Suif represents the working class and her character greatly contrasts with the other passengers who represent the upper class. She is shown as an honest, dignified woman, who is kind and selfless. She is also shown as very patriotic and deeply caring for her country. She is willing to fight for her country, and shows great bravery. The writer is trying to say that the corrupt upper class use and exploit the honest working class to get what they want. As he writes in the story “It is the rich who make wars” and the poor who they make fight it for them.
I think the writer uses the story to put his ideas across well. It is represents French society in 19th century France and, in some circumstances, is still very relevant even in the present day. Even though the divide between the upper class and working class is more obscure in modern day, the practice of the rich exploiting the poor is still visible. I like the way Guy de Maupassant cleverly uses irony to first build up the picture of how the upper class are perceived to be and then slowly tears this illusion apart as the characters become gradually more corrupt and interest only in themselves and their gain. That is how I think that “In ‘Boule de Suif’ Guy de Maupassant plants a time bomb ticking under the seats of ‘the moneyed class, self assured and solid, respected and dictatorial, pillars of the Church and morality”, because they only appear respectable for so long, before their true characters are exposed.
