The tone of “Buile de Suif” is simultaneously ironic and earnest. This is because Maupassant is satirically mocking the selfishness of the middle- and upper-class characters in the story while earnestly depicting the challenges faced by the poor and lower-class characters. Maupassant’s ironic tone comes across in the following passage, which shows the change of heart that takes place within Miss Rousset’s nine traveling companions after initially supporting her in her decision not to sleep with the German commander:
The breakfast was very doleful; and it became apparent that a coldness had arisen toward Ball-of-Fat, and that the night, which brings counsel, had slightly modified their judgements. They almost wished now that the Prussian has secretly found this girl, in order to give her companions a pleasant surprise in the morning. What could be more simple? Besides, who would know anything about it? She could save appearances by telling the officer that she took pity on their distress. To her, it would make little difference!
Here, Maupassant is mocking the twisted and self-serving logic of the well-off French characters. They frame the idea of the German commander hypothetically forcing Miss Rousset to sleep with him as “a pleasant surprise." The idea that “it would make little difference” to Miss Rousset if he forced her to sleep with him or not because she is a sex worker is also a clearly ludicrous and self-serving thought. That these same characters were indignant just the day before when they found out about the commander’s proposition of Miss Rousset shows how comically quickly people with privilege (and who are less affected by things like violence and coercion) can have a change of heart.
Compare the language of this passage with the language Maupassant uses when focused on Miss Rousset at the end of the story (after her fellow travelers shun her): "she could not speak, her exasperation strangled her"; "the tears came and glistened in the corners of her eyes." Such a comparison makes it quite clear that Maupassant's tone is more earnest when it comes to the victimized, lower-class protagonist. He similarly writes with an earnest tone about the foot soldiers (on both sides of the war) and how much they have lost while fighting a war waged by those in power.
