Outside Reading Quarter 3: Post 2

In the novel “Suite Francaise”, Irene Nemirovsky writes very short paragraphs, with each paragraph
following a different family. There are around five different stories in the beginning of the novel,
but they start to intertwine as the story progresses. The different characters allow for different
perspective into the same situation, creating an in depth setting. By keeping the paragraphs short,
the story flows well, and sections don’t get to far apart time-wise. I like the style, and it keeps me
reading because every chapter you read you only get a glimpse of what is happening to each character.


Early on there is a lot of tension between the different social classes of people. The morals of the
rich disgust the poor, and the poor get in the way of the affluent. However, as the bombs begin to fall
on the refugees they start to care for each other, disregarding previous differences. A lower class
woman goes out of her way to help lost children find their mothers. Jeanne Michaud takes the children,
“to the cathedral” and directed their parents where to find them (61). Jeanne does this without
thinking of what class the parent of the children is, and simply does it out of an empathetic kindness.
Earlier in the novel every line of Jeanne reflects her view toward other social classes, and here she is seen
helping everyone around her. A wealthy dancer also helps a young man find a room to stay in before
getting to know him. She tells the boy she will, “go downstairs and ask for a room” for him (96). The
boy turns out to be from a wealthy family, but this act of kindness toward another person wasn’t seen any
other time from the actress. The actions of people from all classes changed when they had to leave their
homes. As shown by many characters in “Suite Francaise”, when survival is at the front of people’s mind,
they may act more indifferently towards each other and erase the distinct lines of social class.

Nemirovsky, Irene. “Suite Francaise”. New York: Random House, 2006.