Outside Reading Quarter 3: Post 4

At the end of the first section, the author brings out the feeling that the war has torn everyone apart, and caused grief and sorrow to almost everyone. The feeling at the end of the section is that while the beginning of the war didn’t seem too bad, everyone was negatively affected some way. From the rich city dweller, to the poor urban worker and out to humble farmers, friends and family members were lost, as well as a loss of dignity and profit. The author can summarize this feeling by bringing the small short stories in the part of the book to a conclusion. Many of the families returned back to Paris, just to realize its emptiness without their loved ones there. When told her son would return, Madame Michaud now contradicted their opinion, thinking, “No. She didn’t believe it any more”(204). This general negative attitude was clear from others, such as the farmers, who were lucky enough to get their son back. While they weren’t mourning the loss of their son, they rather missed their life of old, and were out substantial money.

In the beginning of the next part of the book the focus turns from many people leaving Paris to a small village in France, about to be occupied for the third time. An interesting mix of attitudes is shown in the next few chapters. The Germans rudely enter the town on Easter Sunday, but later are very nice to the children, and even charming in Angellier house. When the soldier arrived, Lucile thought, “My God, how many Frenchmen has he killed?”(216). It doesn’t take her long though to arrive at the new thought, “That’s how war is; it isn’t this boy’s fault”(216). That accepting attitude seemed to permeate throughout the village, and these Germans weren’t the monsters they were rumored to be. After all, their loved ones were off fighting in the war, and they weren’t monsters at all and didn’t even want to fight. The book reminds us that in almost all situations it is not the soldier’s fault; he is just the one that carries out commands.

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