Day One in Paris

The novel I read for this class was George Sand's novel Horace. This novel was and interesting one for me since I started the novel in Oklahoma and finished it in Paris. As I was reading the novel at home I was intrigued by the attitude and nature of the main characters and the Parisian lifestyle that they lead. I came to Paris with the assumption that the attitudes of the characters were either something imagined by Sand herself to try and capture the spirit of the city in the characters or an attitude lost to time; similar to the beat/hippie attitude of sixties America. After I had spent time in Paris I began to see that the attitudes of the characters are not something that was imagined for artistic purposes of the author, but instead a reflection of the real attitudes and personalities of the people.

As I read the novel I had difficulty deciding on a character that I could pick as a favorite for myself. As I read the novel my affections for the characters changed as their action as attitudes changed. In the beginning of the novel I liked Horace; in spite of his shortcomings I enjoyed his attitude on life and the way that he just didn’t take himself or his life to seriously. His attitude was, to me, a great representation of the Parisian lifestyle; one that involves lots of fashion and cafes and enjoying long strolls in the park. As the novel progressed and the real attitudes of the characters became more apparent I was more bothered by the attitude of Horace. After he and Marthe have moved in together and the creditors come knocking, Horace’s irresponsibility just started to bother me. I am unsure of whom he was based on, (not being to up to date on the famous Parisians of the time is not helping and Google has failed me!) I do wonder about who he could have been based on so that I could try and compare their actual life to that of Horace.

In regards to my actual time spent in Paris on the first day I have a few comments to make as well. As I read the book I began to make mental notes of where in Paris the activities were taking place so that I could look for them once in Paris. I believe that the location of Theophile and Eugenie’s apartment I was able to find, but once I arrived in Paris I found myself so amazed by all of the other beautiful buildings that my attentions to finding the locations in the novel were moved far to the back burner. When we arrived at the courtyard in front of the Louvre that first night is was a truly breathtaking experience to see all of the architecture all around me and to be able to appreciate all of the care that has had to have been put into keeping these buildings looking as they are. Even though my brain was barely functioning at that point after off of the air travel my first real view of Paris was a memorable experience