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Preamble, Marx: Chapters 1-2 and Profound Thought No. 1 Summary
This novel was originally written by Muriel Barbery in French. The translation was written by Alison Anderson.
In Chapter 1, the son of a tenant in the building where Renee Michel is the concierge comments that Marx has changed the way he sees the world. Renee suggests that he read The German Ideology. The young man stares at Renee as though she has gone insane because concierges are not supposed to understand such things. Renee quickly tells him to say hello to his mother, content in the fact that his wealthy outlook on life will allow him to forget what Renee had said previously.
In Chapter 2, Renee has been concierge of the building at number 7, rue de Grenelle for more than twenty years. All of Renee's clients are exceptionally wealthy, therefore they have the belief that all concierges, who are far below them in social class, are unintelligent. Renee likes to keep up this charade, therefore she hides her intelligence by leaving the television on all day and keeping conversations with clients to a bare minimum. However, Renee loves to read, is a big fan of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, and is currently making her way through several writers on philosophy.
In Profound Thought No. 1, Paloma Josse is a very intelligent and precocious twelve-year-old girl. Paloma knows that her future as a wealthy person will require her to live in something of a gold fish bowl. For this reason, Paloma has decided to end her life on her thirteenth birthday. As a great fan of everything Japanese, Paloma at first thought of committing suicide in Japanese tradition, but ruled it out because she has no desire to suffer. Instead, Paloma intends to take an overdose of her mother's sleeping pills after setting fire to her family's apartment to rid the world of this example of wealth.
Preamble, Marx: Chapters 1-2 and Profound Thought No. 1 Analysis
In the preamble, the author has introduced her two main characters and the conflict that will propel the plot of the novel. The first main character is Renee Michel, a highly intelligent woman who has had the misfortune of being born poor. Renee has it in her mind that poor people are not supposed to be intelligent, therefore she hides her intelligence from the people around her, going to great lengths to create an appearance that shows lack of intelligence and imagination as well as a general disinterest in the world around her. To the contrary, Renee is quite intelligent, taking great joy from reading literature and philosophy, as well as watching artistic movies and studying great art. Renee is a complex person who hides her intelligence behind a mask to keep the world from intruding on her carefully created world.
At the same time, the reader is introduced to Paloma, a twelve-year-old girl who is also highly intelligent. Paloma feels as though her life as the daughter of wealthy people places her in a fishbowl where she does not want to be. Paloma too feels as though the world perceives her in a particular way, but that her true person is not the one in which people see. For this reason, Paloma has chosen to end her life on her thirteenth birthday.
The crisis that will propel the plot in this novel is self-identity. Neither of the main characters of this novel feel as though they can or are perceived by the person they truly are on the inside. Both feels the need to hide for one reason or another. The book, therefore, will take the reader along as each character finds a way to deal with their secrets and their reality.
Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 1-4, Journal of the Movement No. 1 and Profound Thought No. 2 Summary
Renee has tea with her friend, Manuela. Manuela is a maid who works for several of the families at number 7, rue de Grenelle. Manuela is from Portugal and is always scheming to go back. Renee thinks of Manuela as an aristocrat who is too refined for her current station in life. As Renee and Manuela gossip about the tenants in the building, Pierre Arthens, a local food critic and tenant in the building, stops by to ask Renee to bring a package to him when it arrives. Renee is somewhat annoyed with Arthens speaks to her as though she is unintelligent.
Journal of the Movement of the World No. 1. While reluctantly watching rugby with her father, Paloma notices how one of the players seems to move without motion. Paloma is fascinated by this man and decides that before she dies she will try to seek out as many of these types of movement without motion as she can.
Renee has never had any formal education, though there was once a teacher who took special interest in her. Since Renee's family was one that never spoke or showed affection, Renee was deeply affected by this teacher, which led to her interest in learning. However, Renee was forced to leave school at the age of twelve to work in the fields on her family farm.
Renee thinks of concierges as poodles, an ugly dog that is annoying, but somewhat necessary. Renee was once married, but her husband died many years ago. Renee feels it was easier to keep up her charade of unintelligent concierge when her husband was alive because he was a common man who did not share her interests in literature, art, and philosophy. Renee still recalls how surprised she was that her husband would be interested in her, an unattractive, but intelligent young woman. Renee still remembers how her husband told her what he wanted in a wife and how it changed her thoughts of herself. Renee compares her marriage to that of the Greniers, a couple who keeps house for the Arthens, and feels she married well.
In Profound Thought No. 2, Paloma tells the reader that her family is a group of people who have lost the ability to feel emotion.
In Chapter 4, Renee has been reading Husserl and his thoughts on phenomenology. However, Renee admits that Husserl is beyond her comprehension despite her extensive reading on philosophy.
Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 1-4, Journal of the Movement No. 1 and Profound Thought No. 2 Analysis
The author introduces Manuela in this section of chapters. Manuela is a maid with whom Renee is friends. In fact, Manuela is Renee's only friend. With Manuela Renee does not have to hide as much of her true self and she feels happy sharing her thoughts and feelings with Manuela. In Renee's mind, Manuela is much like her because she carries herself like an aristocrat even though she is a maid. In this way, Renee feels that Manuela is a step above her and yet still gracious enough to be her friend. This friendship will play an important role in the novel.
Renee tells the reader what she thinks of the tenants of her building. Renee is not terribly impressed with most of the tenants, looking down on them because they are so filled with their own beliefs that they cannot see what is right in front of them. For this reason, Renee feels somewhat superior to the wealthy tenants of the building. Renee also tells the reader how she is mainly uneducated, only learning how to read because a teacher took special interest in the affection starved child she once was. This too is how Renee ended up married to her husband, because he saw past the masks and her ugliness to see the woman underneath. Renee feels that although her husband was not her intellectual equal, he was a good man and they had a good marriage. This is an important distinction to Renee and the reader should make notice of it. It is clear to the reader at this point that like her tenants, Renee has certain thoughts of what it means to be of a certain social class and it is she, not others, who is placing her in a box.
Paloma continues her journals, discussing the strange phenomenon of movement without motion. Paloma also discusses her family, three people whom Paloma sees as lacking strong emotion. Paloma compares her family to her pet cats, giving the reader the impression that like Renee, Paloma sees herself as better than those around her but suppressed by them anyway.
Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 5-10, Journal of the Movement of the World No. 2 and Profound Thoughts Nos. 3-5 Summary
In Profound Thought No. 3, Paloma hears a statement at a dinner party that she believes is totally wrong, but which comes with another profound thought. Paloma realizes that in the world it is words that have power, not deeds.
In Chapter 5, Renee has decided that phenomenology is a fraud. Renee has studied Husserl and decided that it is a bunch of nonsense.
In Chapter 6., Renee uses Kant to further her argument against phenomenology.
In Chapter 7, Renee and Manuela are having tea again and they gossip about Madame de Broglie, another tenant of the building. This leads to a discussion about Neptune, Madame de Broglie's sad and deprived dog.
In Journal of the Movement of the World No. 2., Paloma relates how she saw Neptune, Madame de Broglie's dog, attempt to mate with Athena, a cocker spaniel belonging to another tenant named Diane Badoise. As the two owners waited for the elevator with their dogs, Neptune mounted Athena. The two owners tried to separate the dogs and Madame Badoise injured her ankle in the process. Paloma finds the entire episode amusing.
In Chapter 8, although Renee is a big fan of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, she also enjoys modern fiction such as Michael Connelly. Renee also likes modern cinema.
In Chapter 9, one of Renee's favorite movies is the Hunt for Red October. Not only does Renee find this movie to be of exceptional quality, but it is also the last movie she saw with her husband before his death of cancer.
In Profound Thought No. 4, Paloma thinks the only important thing to her mother is her plants and that she ignores everything else. Paloma's mother has been in therapy and taking anti-anxiety drugs for more than ten years.
In Chapter 10, Chabrot, Pierre Arthens' personal physician, rings at Renee's loge and tells her that Maître Arthens is dying. Chabrot is polite and requests that Renee not allow anyone up to see the Arthens except for his nephew.
In Profound Thought No. 5, Paloma beieves that life is a constant battle in which the only way to learn is to crush all opponents. Paloma's sister Columbe has taught her this. Paloma feels as though it is Columbe's goal in life to crush her.
Part 1, Camellias: Chapters 5-10, Journal of the Movement of the World No. 2 and Profound Thoughts Nos. 3-5 Analysis
In these chapters, Renee tells the reader more about her intelligence by indulging in a discussion of Husserl's phenomenology and why she believes it all a fraud. Later, Renee makes excuses for her enjoyment of simple fiction and movies by relating a touching story about the last time she and her husband saw a movie together. This gives the reader not only insight into Renee's psyche, but also the emotional turmoil that has caused her to become a recluse in her own world.
As the reader learns more about Renee, the reader also learns more about Paloma. In Paloma's journal entries, it soon becomes clear that she feels persecuted by her sister and ignored by her mother, both normal teenager complaints. However, these complaints are compounded by Paloma's incredible intelligence and insight into the world. Paloma feels as if no one truly sees her or understands her, the opposite of what she claims is her reason for wanting to commit suicide, leading the reader to better understand that Paloma is a normal child with normal complaints, a child with similar emotional baggage to that which Renee carries around. These two characters clearly have a great deal in common.
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