GUY DE MAUPASSANT BOULE DE SUIF Reading guidelines: 1. What is the narratives structure? Who is the storys narrator?

What is the effect of the narrative perspective the story employs? 2. Who are the storys characters? How are they described? What do we know about their position in society? Does the story have a hero/heroine? 3. How significant is the storys historical context? What relationship between the social/historical context and the characters does the story suggest? Is there a symbolic dimension to Boule de suifs fate? 4. Maupassant describes la grimace humaine find paragraphs in the text that illustrates this point. Maupassant is a naturalist writer how does the novel suggest a deterministic view of man? 5. The short story is constructed on the principle of binary oppositions what are dominant dichotomies it employs? What is their significance? 6. The story juxtaposes not only its characters, but also their worldviews. At the heart of the narrative is the juxtaposition between the philosophical views of utilitarianism and Kants idea of the ethical categorical imperative. What is at the basis of this juxtaposition? Which view does Boule de suif uphold? 7. Maupassant is a sensualist. How does the story emphasise the senses / sensuality? What relationship does it build through the use of nutritional, politico-economic and military codes? 8. What makes the character of Boule de suif ambivalent? Why, in your view, does the story emphasise her corporeality? What relationship does the story suggest between Boule de Suifs sensuality and her profession and the issue of morality? 9. Boule de Suif is a 19th-century woman. What does the story suggest about the status of women in 19th-century society? Is Boule de suif capable of overcoming her circumstances? 10. What is an object of irony in the story? Why?