“The conjugal life” of Bazin in the summary
By the lips of his hero, the provincial lawyer Abel Brétodo, the author, year after year, from 1953 to 1967, chronicles the daily life of the family. According to Abel, novelists usually only care about the beginning and end of love, but not its middle. “And where, you ask, is the marriage life itself?” he exclaims. However, the author’s attitude toward marriage is partly expressed in the epigraph explaining the title of the novel: “I call the word Matrimoine everything that in marriage depends on the woman, and everything that today tends to turn the lioness’s share into the lion’s share.”
The beginning lawyer Abel Bretodo, the only son in the family, falls in love with the daughter of the shopkeeper Mariette Guimarsh. In the family of Gimarsh, besides Mariette, there are four other children: two unmarried sisters of Simon and Arlette, elder sister Ren, who married a wealthy Parisian aristocrat much older than herself, and Eric, whose
Every day Mariette “hangs” for a long time on the phone – she was used to consulting with Madame Gimarsh. The town of Angers, where both families live, is small, so the mother-in-law often visits young spouses. The benefits of her visits: the dishes cooked by Mariette under her direction are much more edible than those she cooks herself.
At the end of the first year of living together, Abel, who loves to sum up, compiles a list of the advantages and disadvantages of his wife: eight qualities speak in her favor and as much against. And one more disappointing conclusion: the wife spends too much. Abel takes up any work, but there is still not enough money, because the women’s magazines that Mariette reads constantly
And here is an event, eagerly awaited by Mariette: they will have a child. Abel is happy, but it is still difficult for him to determine his attitude to what happened.
After the birth of Nicolas, the wife becomes primarily a mother. The son is the center and the meaning of its existence. “On the stove, the steak is fried for the father and mayonnaise is almost whipped – it does not matter: let the meat burn, let the mayonnaise fall, but only a special alarm clock gave a signal – of course, throw everything.” Delay can not be. ” Problems associated with the persona of her husband, completely disappear.
Mariette completely submits herself to the baby. It seems to Abel that “it is the child, and nothing else, that truly allows us to experience the main disaster of a married life: these constant transitions from the unspeakable to the foolish, from admiration to disgust, from honey to litter, are terrible.” Abel perfectly understands parents who hand over babysitters to children, and thus maintain their habits, their daily routine, and also their respectability. The latter is especially important for Abel’s work: clients come to him, and childish squeals do not contribute to business conversations. The wife’s desire to ensure that the child “had everything”, he regards as an attempt to limit, first of all, his requests. After all, money in the family flows like water. “My wife gave me a child, I give her my wallet,” Abel mused sadly. Soon Louis is born, and then twins – Marianne and Yvonne. Abel is horrified: in small Angers there are no major criminals, so there is no hope for noisy processes. So how can a lawyer increase his budget? “Fathers’ hearts ache under the wallet, which is scratching.” Mothers rejoice at heart under the breast, “his uncle Tio comforts Abel.
And now – money is being destroyed mercilessly. But at the same time everything becomes terribly simple: “Madame Breton is no more, or almost no.” Mariette barely scoops an hour a day to take the children out. “She neglects her toilet so that she can easily be mistaken by mistaking her for a governess from a good house. several hasty outings to the department stores, Mariette became as invisible as the good half of the female population of Angers. ” Between the husband and wife grows a wall of apron and household utensils.
What are we talking about in family conversations? Of course, about the children. Mariette completely ceased to be interested in her husband’s work, but regularly requires money for children and household. Abel seems that Mariette does too much for the children. “In fact, she has no time to live alone,” he concludes.
Quarrels between spouses become rare – they are rarely seen – but thorough: balanced Abel, feeling like a “wicked shark” in the shower, breaks into a scream. Gimarshi, the manners of which Mr. Bratodo mentions only as “syrup,” act as peacekeepers and give the family a new large refrigerator, which Abel does not have money for.
And now the lawyer, who lost the battle at the level of reason, gives the floor to Abel, who is trying to comprehend what is happening to him and his wife. It seems to him that the “cackling of the hen” has forever replaced the old “cooing of a dove.” He argues: “From time to time you start running away from home: you have to speak at the trial in Rennes, Mans, in Type. You will readily agree to departures, even start looking for them to get a breather.” Two or three times, no more than – because rapprochement is also an art, and besides, money is needed and there is not enough time – you will use these trips to have some fun with some strangers, and if one of them tells you at dawn that she is married, it will outrage you and will cause the thought: “Here is a whore, if Mariette did this to me?” However, in You will clearly understand, that this is not the same thing. You will not be left feeling that you have not violated marital fidelity, as you were married, married and stay and are not going to encroach on the peace of your family. “
Abel is betraying his wife with her young relative Annik. But in a small town the life of each of its residents proceeds in front of everyone, and their romance quickly ends. In fact, Abel is happy about this – he does not have the strength to break with his family.
Abel does not know whether Mariette knows about his betrayal. Intending to restore peace in the family, he notes with surprise that his wife visited the barbershop. Moreover, it is accepted to do gymnastics and follow a diet. Abel begins to look at his wife in a new way: how can he reproach her for the constant fuss? Education, received by his wife, “as if completely erased the elastic band”, but what did he do to prevent this? “Have you heard of a continuous working day? Without any reward, without leave, without a pension,” he remarks with a sarcastic remark Mariette. And among seemingly hopeless everyday life Abel still finds a ray of happiness: these are the smiles of his children.
And now – the result, which brings the hero. “My dear, I dream, I ask myself, where is the one I married, here she is, here, and where is the one for whom you married, and he too, here, as we have now become.” Much for us Both of them have already ended, I wanted to say, the thought of the end of everything could have ended otherwise, but what will the future be for us? My God, it depends on the good will of each of us. It is enough to admit that there is no complete happiness in the world, and then the sense of disaster will disappear, because the marriage was not successful, you will find it purely relative and will cease be touched their sorrows. “
The evening has not yet arrived, the transparent twilight still lasts, the time of the summer solstice is so long that it’s light enough that a sunset beam penetrates into the latticed shutter, and it’s clear how the motes dance with it. I breathe in and breathe them, they are in you and in me. “There is not a single house or family where they do not exist.” We know that in us there is something that, flushed, can illuminate them at times, and they will light up. “
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