Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Ladies’ Paradise, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Consumerism and Excess
Women, Exploitation, and Power
Tradition vs. Modernity
Class and Mobility
Summary
Analysis
That Monday, the sun finally shines after a weekend of rain. By 8 a.m., the windows of the Ladies’ Paradise are shining with colorful merchandise, and flags announcing the sale are waving in the breeze. The local tradesmen gather in their doorways and glare at four delivery vans leaving the Paradise. These vans are painted with bright colors and advertise the Monday sale. At this time of the morning, only a few customers enter the store. The customers are greeted by a huge display of antique carpets arranged by the door. This “oriental hall” was Mouret’s idea—a “harem scene” of vibrant goods from all over Eastern Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
The fact that the day of the sale dawns sunny draws an association between the Ladies’ Paradise and cheerfulness. When Denise was at the Baudus’, it rained the entire weekend, flooding the street outside Baudu’s shop. This vision depressed Denise and reminded her of “old Paris.” By contrast, the sunny morning that provides the context for the sale suggests that the Ladies’ Paradise represents “new Paris”—a Paris of uplifted spirits.
Themes
Meanwhile, Denise is beginning her first day of work at the Ladies’ Paradise. She is shown her cubicle room in the attic where the other salesgirls sleep. There she finds her uniform—a black silk dress—and puts it on. Not noticing that her hair is messy and her dress too big, she runs downstairs to the ladieswear department where Clara and Marguerite are arguing about the order of their names on the selling roster. They laugh when they see Denise’s messy appearance. Denise notices that the salesgirls all have pencils shoved in their bodices, and that they try to distinguish themselves with their hairdos.
Working at the Ladies’ Paradise immediately makes a person resemble someone of a higher class thanks to the silk dress, which is luxurious (though the pencils in the salesladies’ bodices suggest that they’re here to work and take notes, not shop themselves). At this point, Denise isn’t used to navigating such a high-class environment, so she’s struggling to read social cues and conform. This highlights how naïve she is at this point—she’s totally blind to the fact that she doesn’t fit in. This then becomes the starting point from which Denise can mature throughout the rest of the novel.
Themes
Madame Aurélie pulls Denise to a mirror and tweaks at her appearance. She comments that Denise’s hair—ankle-length and blonde—could be beautiful if she didn’t just pile it in a messy bun. Clara tries to insult Denise to a girl from the lingerie department, but this girl defends Denise, remembering her own first day. Madame Aurélie tells Denise to look better tomorrow, and to spend her first day learning the ways of the shop. Denise hopes she can prove herself; she wants to earn 1,200 francs a year so she can support her brothers. Since there are no customers, she tries to look busy. By lunchtime, several employees murmur that the sale has been a failure.
Denise is excited to work at the Ladies’ Paradise not because of its flashy environment but because she sees it as the place where she can make the most money. From what she witnessed at Baudu’s, the small shops are only barely scraping by, and the people who work there live practically in squalor. Denise does not have fancy tastes, but she has two brothers whom she wants to support, and she sees The Paradise as capable of giving her this opportunity.
Themes
At 11 o’clock, a few customers appear. Madame Aurélie greets one of the ladies and calls for her salesgirls. Denise and Clara jump forward. Denise insists that it is her turn, but Madame Aurélie snaps at her to hold back till she knows what to do. Tears welling in her eyes, Denise retreats to the window. She looks down at the Vieil Elbeuf, wishing that she had begged Baudu to employ her there; she is afraid for her future, and feels lost and alone. Madame Aurélie chastises Denise for doing nothing, and orders her to fold the clothes that the salesgirls pulled out for customers earlier.
Although Denise found Baudu’s unbearably depressing, she longs for it when she witnesses the hostile and competitive environment of the Ladies’ Paradise. This suggests that Baudu’s—with its traditional ways—is, although gloomy, at least comfortable; it is the norm that Denise is used to. The dynamics of the Ladies’ Paradise—although it offers the prospect of wealth and success—are so new and modern that it scares Denise.
Themes
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Suddenly, Mouret appears in the ladieswear department. Denise feels afraid, but Mouret doesn’t notice her. He has been surveying the empty store, and he fears that his sale will be a failure. Mouret watches the customer leave the ladieswear department without buying anything. He exchanges a few urgent words with Madame Aurélie, telling her to make use of Denise if the store gets busy. Mouret goes to the balustrade, avoiding Bourdoncle (whose pessimistic comments irritate him), and looks down over his empty store. The silence breaks his heart, and he feels that his “great machine” is coming to a standstill.
A moment ago, Denise felt afraid of the Ladies’ Paradise, and now, she feels fear in Mouret’s presence. Denise’s fear in regard to The Paradise is also mixed with a feeling of excitement, suggesting that her feeling of fear around Mouret conceals excitement too. Mouret is afraid that his sale is failing, a fear that coexists alongside the rash excitement that it will succeed. In this way, fear is an important element in going after success.
Themes
Downstairs, Hutin points out Mouret standing at the balustrade to Favier. Hutin then tells Favier that he needs to have 100 francs by Sunday, and that he’s counting on this sale. He lost a bet last week and now needs to take five people out to dinner. Favier and Hutin chat about gambling; they are both driven by the need for money and compete with each other and Robineau—the buyer of their department—for sales.
In contrast to Denise—who needs the money she earns to take care of her brothers—Hutin and Favier want money so they can party and gamble. Although of a different order, the desire for money motivates each to sell, engaging in Mouret’s intended “struggle for existence.”
Themes
A customer comes in, and Hutin—guessing she is not the type to buy anything—hides behind the counter so as to forego his turn and get the next customer, a woman he knows. Robineau notices this trick and gives the next customer to Favier instead. When Favier’s customer leaves, Hutin asks him how the “tart” was. Favier says that she spent 293 francs, and Hutin suppresses his rage. Hutin and Favier have an ongoing rivalry; Favier pretends to be Hutin’s inferior so that, when he makes a big sale, Hutin is particularly humiliated.
The Ladies’ Paradise creates hostility between coworkers. Hutin and Favier can see that there’s an opportunity to move up in their department, and this motivates them to compete with each other to climb to the highest places. In this way, the Ladies’ Paradise—in providing opportunity—creates hostility but also brings out each person’s natural ability for success. Notice too that Hutin echoes Bourdoncle’s dim view of women when he calls the customer a “tart,” an unflattering term suggesting the woman is promiscuous.
Themes
Meanwhile, Mouret still stands at the upstairs balustrade where he can survey the whole store. Mouret’s faith in his sale is restored when he sees that the store is becoming more crowded by the minute. He can hear the rattle of coins at the cash-desk, and senses that his machine is coming back to life. Mouret spots Vallagnosc, greets him, and begins to give him a tour.
Mouret’s description of the Ladies’ Paradise as a machine illustrates it as a modern operation. It also suggests the store is somewhat impersonal: the customers feed the store in an unwilling, automatic way. In contrast, the small shops operate on a few customer interactions, and don’t resemble machines.
Themes
Downstairs, Hutin becomes enraged as Favier takes more of his sales. He notices Madame Desforges, whom he knows is Mouret’s girlfriend, trying on gloves with Mignot, an assistant with whom Hutin has a rivalry. Egged on by Favier, Hutin decides to usurp Madame Desforges soon. Meanwhile, Madame Desforges holds out her hand aloofly as Mignot puts gloves on for her. She can’t smell the leather and feels disconnected from the gloves. However, she sends several to the cash-desk to purchase. Then she goes to the wool department for material for a dress for her cook. There, middle-class women are sifting through piles of wool.
Madame Desforges’s experience buying gloves shows that the customer’s obsession with the Ladies’ Paradise is not based on the quality or artistry of the goods. Madame Desforges feels disconnected from the making of the gloves and is not impressed with the leather they are made from. However, she buys the gloves anyway, proving that the shopping environment and the prices of the Ladies’ Paradise are seductive enough to make quality inconsequential. Noting that there are middle-class women shopping in the wool department also highlights that the Paradise brings women of all classes together, as seemingly women of all classes can’t pass up a bargain.
Themes
In the wool department, Madame Desforges approaches Lienard, a salesman who tries to work as little as possible. Lienard suggests a few wools on the lowest shelves, but Madame Desforges is unsatisfied. Lienard is forced to take down heavy bolts from the top shelves, but, to his chagrin, Madame Desforges sends Lienard to the cash-desk with the first wool she looked at. Madame Desforges notices Madame Marty, and the two rave about the “oriental hall.” Madame Marty is looking for material for a coat. Her daughter Valentine thinks the materials are “common,” but Madame Desforges persuades them to look at the silk. They go to the silk department where colorful silks cascade from every shelf.
The aristocratic ladies slowly become seduced by the Ladies’ Paradise. Although Valentine’s first impression is that the goods are “common,” she is soon persuaded to go take a closer look, proving that the environment and low prices of the Paradise make up for the lack of quality. Madame Desforges tries to conceal her unsophisticated interest in the Paradise by talking down to the staff. However, it is clear that The Paradise has the equalizing effect of bringing aristocrats down to a pedestrian level.
Themes
In the silk department, Madame Desforges and Madame Marty find Madame Bourdelais, another of Madame Desforges’ friends. Madame Bourdelais raves about the “oriental hall,” then says she’s needed at home. She departs, first giving her address to Albert Lhomme for a delivery of a quantity of Paris-Paradise—the famous Ladies’ Paradise silk.
The Ladies’ Paradise gains popularity through word of mouth. As the ladies encounter each other while shopping, they affirm each other’s enthusiasm for what they have seen, thereby accelerating their collective slide into a consumer culture.
Themes
Back in the silk department, Madame Desforges and Madame Marty can’t find an available assistant. The department is filled with ladies poring over the Paris-Paradise. Assistants swiftly cut lengths of the silk as it sells. Madame Desforges declares that the silk is a bargain, but Madame Marty and Valentine are disappointed. Bouthemont comes up to Madame Desforges and acts outraged that she hasn’t been served. Hutin, furious at a customer who wasted his time, hands his customer to Robineau and hurries over to Madame Desforges and Madame Marty. He asserts that he knows just what Madame Marty wants and unrolls a bolt of the Paris-Paradise. Madame Marty examines the silk, offering a few complaints.
This scene illustrates how as more customers decide to buy the Paris-Paradise, exponentially more customers who were on the fence move closer to buying it too. In this way, Mouret’s business model plays off of people’s tendency to go with the herd. Because of this universal tendency in people, the key to Mouret’s success is simple: the more customers he gets, the many more customers he gets soon after. This illustrates why Mouret focuses on selling as much as possible, instead of charging high prices.
Themes
Madame Guibal spots Madame Desforges and Madame Marty examining the Paris-Paradise. They chat about the great crowd, and then Madame Guibal wanders off. Returning to the subject of the Paris-Paradise, Madame Desforges advises Madame Marty to get a pre-made coat from the ladieswear department and she agrees. Incensed to lose another sale, Hutin escorts Madame Desforges and Madame Marty upstairs.
This scene shows how the department store model is lucrative. Because Madame Marty didn’t like the silk, she thinks of another way to fulfill her wants and finds other possibilities in the other departments. In this way, the Ladies’ Paradise ensures that its customers buy by providing them with endless alternatives to satisfy their unique wants.
Themes
Hutin leads Madame Desforges and Madame Marty through the “commercial battle” in which salesmen are holding the “army of women” at their mercy. The Ladies’ Paradise is so packed with the commotion of shopping that it is hard to move. Looking up, Madame Desforges notices Mouret standing at the balustrade. She smiles, but Mouret is busy giving Vallagnosc a tour. By the time they get upstairs, Mouret has disappeared. In the lace department, they run into Madame de Boves and Blanche. The ladies remark on the “dazzling” spectacle. Madame de Boves is plunging her hands into piles of lace, even though she only has money for a cab in her purse.
There is a reciprocal power dynamic between the salespeople and the customers at The Paradise. The salesmen hold the women at their mercy, but the women also constitute an attacking army. The customers believe they are outsmarting the salespeople by resisting spending or getting deals, and the salespeople know they are profiting off the customers. Madame de Boves also highlights that shopping here has a sinister, almost addictive underbelly: she’s going to spend money she doesn’t have because it makes her feel good.
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The ladies continue to chat. Finally, Madame de Boves and Blanche break off, planning to meet Madame Marty and Madame Desforges later in the “oriental hall.” The latter two continue towards the ladieswear department with Hutin, who is silently fuming; there is a rivalry between the ladieswear department and the materials departments as they always take each other’s customers, and he’s missing sales downstairs. In the ladieswear department, Hutin calls for Clara and Marguerite, but both are busy. Even though they are girls, Hutin hates Marguerite and Clara just as he hates the salesmen who take his sales.
The competitive dynamic between the employees at the Ladies’ Paradise creates an unusual equality between the sexes. Since the employees equally want money and therefore the most sales, the differences in their sex, previously defined by the different roles in society for the different genders, disappear. Still, this doesn’t make sexism disappear—Hutin looks down on women all the time, and this doesn’t stop when it comes to his female colleagues.
Themes
Catching sight of Denise, Hutin brings Madame Desforges and Madame Marty to her. He takes vindictive pleasure in burdening the new girl with difficult customers. Denise thinks he is being kind to give her customers and watches him go tenderly. When Madame Marty asks to see Denise’s selection of coats, Denise does not know where to look. Madame Aurélie sees that Denise is neglecting the ladies and sends Marguerite for coats. Marguerite convinces Madame Marty that the coats in her budget are cheap and brings out an expensive silk coat lined with fur. Madame Aurélie snaps at Denise to do something useful and makes her model the coat.
At this early stage, Denise can’t see what’s really going on at the Ladies’ Paradise. She doesn’t see the competitive hostility between the employees, and so mistakes Hutin’s sabotage for generosity. Moreover, she doesn’t yet know how to lie to customers to make them buy more or buy something more expensive (which is what Marguerite does when she insists the coats in Madame Marty’s budget are too cheap). Denise has a lot to learn about how the Paradise functions—and she may find some of what she learns morally objectionable, given her honest nature.
Themes
Just then, Mouret comes into the ladieswear department with Vallagnosc. Madame Desforges and Madame Marty congratulate Mouret on his sale. Then they look at Denise, who is being made to spin around in the coat. Madame Marty voices her complaints about the coat, and Madame Aurélie says that Denise’s bad figure makes the coat look bad. Madame Desforges adds that the coat would look better if Denise’s dress weren’t so ill-fitting. Mouret, who wants to please Madame Desforges, says that Denise should have combed her hair. The salesgirls giggle. Denise feels violated and humiliated. She is hurt most by Mouret and Madame Desforges’s comments because she feels that they are intelligent people.
Although Denise expects hostility from some, she does not forgive it from people she knows are intelligent. She does not go so far as to embrace the idea that hostile competition—which the Ladies’ Paradise operates on—is the way the world should work. In this way, Denise is both attracted to and repulsed by the Ladies’ Paradise, a combination which suggests that Denise will either not succeed in the environment of The Paradise, or that she will try to change how it operates.
Themes
Bourdoncle tells Madame Aurélie to make sure that Denise looks better tomorrow. Holding back her tears, Denise goes back to folding clothes. The girl from the lingerie department who defended Denise earlier introduces herself as Pauline, and she tells Denise it will get better with time. Madame Aurélie puts the coat on Madame Marty, and everyone exclaims at its beauty. Mouret leaves, and Vallagnosc joins Blanche. The ladies meet in the “oriental hall” then depart. The crowd ebbs away, leaving the store looking “like a battlefield,” in which an army of women had undressed “in a wave of desire.” In commissions, Favier made 15 francs and Hutin only made 13.
After the sale, the Ladies’ Paradise looks both like a battlefield, and the interior of a woman’s unkempt bedroom. This draws a comparison between defeated soldiers and women overcome with desire, suggesting that desire, like an enemy army, comes over a woman and defeats her. This comparison also reveals the intention of the Ladies’ Paradise isn’t just to satisfy women but to overpower them and force them to surrender. In this way, The Paradise is like a powerful master forcing its customers into consumerism.
Themes
Mouret stands at the balustrade and looks down over the ravaged store. He is triumphant that he has conquered his competitors and Baron Hartmann. He listens to the sound of clerks counting coins and feels the Ladies’ Paradise expanding already. Bourdoncle congratulates Mouret. Lhomme, who is coming up the stairs with the money bags in his one arm, tells them that the store made 8,742 francs.
The wild success of Mouret’s sale means that Baron—to fulfill his end of the deal—will fund Mouret’s expansion plan. In this way, quantity of sales again secures Mouret’s success. The more he sells, the more powerful financiers respect him, and the more they are willing to help further his business.
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That evening, Denise throws herself on her bed. She feels that she doesn’t have the courage to work another day at the Ladies’ Paradise. She puts on her old wool dress, then bursts into tears of despair.
Denise puts on her old wool dress, taking comfort in her traditional self after suffering the pain of trying to become someone new at the Paradise.
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