The mood of “Boule de Suife” shifts between devastating and lighthearted. Maupassant opens the story in a war-torn part of France—a very bleak scene—and with characters who are actively escaping the Prussian military occupation. The devastation of the French soldiers and citizens is palpable. As the 10 characters fleeing their town get to know each other during their carriage ride—with the snobbish, well-off characters opening up to the lower-class Miss Rousset as she shares her food—the mood perceptively shifts into a lighthearted and humorous place, as seen in the following passage:
They could not eat this girl’s provisions without speaking to her. And so they chatted, with reserve at first; then, as she carried herself well, with more abandon. The ladies De Breville and Carré-Lamadon, who were acquainted with the ins and outs of good-breeding, were gracious with a certain delicacy. The Countess, especially, showed that amiable condescension of very noble ladies who do not fear being spoiled by contact with anyone, and was charming.
This scene is a pivotal moment in which the icy countenance of the characters moves into a friendlier place, and the 10 compatriots become something of a unit. The humorous mood also comes across in the ways that Maupassant satirically portrays the self-importance of upper-class people, such as how “the ladies De Breville and Carré-Lamadon […] were acquainted with the ins and outs of good-breeding” and the Countess “showed that amiable condescension of very noble ladies.”
As the group faces their first major challenge—the German commander holding them hostage in the town of Totes until Miss Rousset agrees to sleep with him—the mood shifts into a more suspenseful (but still lighthearted) place. Ultimately, however, the mood ends up once more in a devastating place after Miss Rousset sleeps with the commander to secure their freedom and her nine compatriots end up shunning and rejecting her for it. The story ends with her “weeping continually” while those who exploited her for her body (by encouraging her to sleep with the commander) pretend not to see.
