The Ladies’ Paradise

At 7:30 the next morning, Denise waits outside of the Ladies’ Paradise. The shop assistants are just arriving, hurrying into the store, their collars turned up against the cold wind. Several men stare at Denise as they pass, and she walks around the block, too timid to enter with them. A man who is also waiting outside the Paradise asks Denise if she is a salesgirl. They discover that they are both applying for jobs, and they blush and separate. Sales assistants continue to pass, and Denise feels conspicuous. A tall man with gold eyes glances at her as he enters the Paradise, and his look disturbs her. She walks around the block again.

The man with gold eyes is Octave Mouret, the owner of the Ladies’ Paradise. He spent the night at a stockbroker’s house after a party and is wearing dress clothes under his coat. After entering the Paradise, he washes his face and goes to his big office. He looks at a portrait of Madame Hédouin on the wall and thanks her for giving him the Paradise through marriage. There is a knock and a man named Bourdoncle enters. Bourdoncle started at the Paradise when Mouret took over and eventually became the overall supervisor. Bourdoncle teases Mouret for his partying, and Mouret teases Bourdoncle for being boring.

Bourdoncle used to have mistresses. Now, he hates women and pours his energy into the Ladies’ Paradise, where he can exploit customers instead. Mouret, on the other hand, loves women and sleeps with them to get them to come to the Ladies’ Paradise. While he signs bills, Mouret raves about Madame Desforges, a woman he saw at a ball the night before. Bourdoncle warns Mouret that the women will get their revenge—that one woman will avenge the rest. Mouret brushes him off.

After a silence, Bourdoncle mentions the winter sale starting Monday. For this sale, Mouret spent all his money and yet is guaranteed to make millions, a method that makes Bourdoncle nervous. Mouret says that the store is still too small and alludes to a plan involving Madame Desforges. He laughs at Bourdoncle’s reluctance. Mouret tells Bourdoncle that he plans to offer a commission for every error that clerks find in the sales book. This is in keeping with Mouret’s sales method: offering commissions that evoke a “struggle for survival,” exploiting people’s passions to make them work hard.

Bourdoncle and Mouret go down to the receiving room in the basement, where packages of goods are streaming in on silver chutes. Mouret watches the “flood” and reflects on his task of launching these goods all around Paris. A gang of men receive the packages and go through the contents while the heads of the departments check invoices. Mouret asks Bouthemont, a successful buyer at the Paradise who started a rivalry with his father when he left his drapery shop, about the new goods.

Bourdoncle picks up a piece of new silk and examines it. Bouthemont, who visits factories throughout Paris and negotiates with manufacturers every month, explains that the manufacturer charged extra for this fine design. Mouret suggests they price the silk just under cost, and Bouthemont agrees. Bourdoncle (whose commission is based on total profits) is wary of Bouthemont (whose commission is based on total sales) lowering the prices to increase sales. Getting angry, Mouret says he wants to give the silk away to his customers to gain their absolute trust. He wants all of Paris to be talking about his cheap silk.

The assistants smile to hear Mouret talk. Bouthemont says that the manufacturers are upset and claim that the Ladies’ Paradise is running them out of business. Mouret says that the manufacturers should be pleased. The assistants go back to checking the invoices while Mouret watches. Then, he and Bourdoncle continue though the basement, passing the stock room and cafeteria before coming to the dispatch room, where there are cubbyholes for the districts of Paris. Mouret asks the dispatch supervisor about an order that was not delivered. The man replies that the cash desk wrote the address down incorrectly.

Before going to the cash desk, Mouret and Bourdoncle go upstairs to the mail room. When Mouret asks one of many clerks opening letters, the man replies that they received 534 letters that morning. Mouret and Bourdoncle go downstairs to the counting office (one of a network of offices that deals with payouts), where a huge safe is built into the wall. Mouret tells some laughing cashiers about the new commission for detecting errors, and they suddenly get serious. Bourdoncle and Mouret then go to the cash desk to see Albert Lhomme, the son of the ladieswear buyer Madame Aurélie.

Bourdoncle reprimands Albert for making a mistake with the address, so Albert calls on another cashier and tries to make the man blame the customer. Bourdoncle chastises Albert again, but then Lhomme—Albert’s father—runs up and asks what is wrong. Mouret wants to look magnanimous, so he brushes aside Albert’s mistake and then engages Lhomme in a discussion about a concert that Mouret had given him tickets to go see.

Mouret and Bourdoncle move on through the silk and linens departments. They stop in the wool department, where one boy is being reprimanded for being tired and another is being scolded for coming to work late. In the glove department, a boy complains about the cafeteria’s food. Mouret—who knows that the chef cuts corners to make a profit out of his small allowance for groceries—gives an empty promise to talk to the chef about the food.

At this point, the man at the door clocking in the employees puts away his book. The salesmen finish dusting and uncover their displays of merchandise. At the silk counter, a young man named Hutin whispers to a man named Favier that Favier should hit Robineau—the assistant buyer whose job Hutin covets. Hutin tries to pit the whole department against Robineau; he even brought in someone to take the vacancy that was promised to Robineau.

Mouret comes up to Hutin, who is now arranging a display of silks. Mouret asks Hutin why he is making the display “easy on the eyes.” He takes the silks and jumbles the colors into a dazzling display. As opposed to Hutin’s symmetrical display, Mouret’s is an avalanche to make customer’s eyes “sore.”

Just then, Denise appears, having finally worked up the courage to enter the Ladies’ Paradise. Mouret’s silk display arouses her, and her cheeks flush. Mouret is touched by Denise’s reaction. Denise goes up to Hutin, who recognizes her as the “tart” he saw earlier in the street, and asks where Madame Aurélie is. Hutin gallantly leads Denise up the stairs to the ladieswear department. Denise is moved by Hutin’s gentlemanliness. Hutin goes back downstairs and jokes to Favier about Denise’s skinniness.

In the ladieswear department, Denise goes up to one of the salesgirls and asks for Madame Aurélie. The salesgirl asks the other salesgirls, and they all tell Denise she’ll have to wait. Denise waits, looking out the window at the depressing sight of the Vieil Elbeuf. The salesgirls—whose names are Clara Prunaire and Marguerite Vadon—whisper about Denise’s shabby boots and say that she won’t make it long.

Suddenly, Madame Aurélie, a majestic woman in a black dress, appears. She rebukes Madame Frédéric, another saleswoman, about something, and then, noticing Denise, asks what she wants. Shaking, Denise gives her name and age, and says that she’s strong despite her frail appearance. Madame Aurélie sends Clara for the application book.

Mouret and Bourdoncle appear and talk to Madame Aurélie about her son Albert’s mistake. Mouret, surprised to see Denise, asks Madame Aurélie what she’s doing there. Bourdoncle then says that Denise is too ugly to work at the Paradise as Clara Prunaire comes back with the book. Denise explains that she has no previous experience in retail in Paris, but Mouret is pleased to hear the name of the store she worked at in Valognes. When asked, Denise says she lives across the street at Baudu’s. She laughs, and her whole being lights up. Mouret whispers to Bourdoncle that she is pretty. Mouret says that he respects Baudu and hopes that Denise will tell him he'll ruin himself by sticking to old-fashioned business.

Denise realizes that this man—the same one she saw in the street—is Mouret. She feels she can see the dead Madame Hédouin in his eyes and feels a complicated emotion akin to fear. Madame Aurélie says she will contact Denise, knowing privately she will hire her just to please Mouret. Denise thanks Madame Aurélie and turns to leave, wondering if she should feel excited or afraid. She has two lasting impressions from her visit to the Paradise: her uneasy feeling around Mouret, and the pleasure she felt at Hutin’s kindness.

Outside the Paradise, Denise runs into the shy man she waited with earlier. As they chat, they discover that they both applied and are both waiting to hear the verdict. They blush. The man introduces himself as Henri Deloche, and they wish each other good luck.