Ces derniers jours, j’ai lu Toine, un conte de Guy de MAUPASSANT, c’ est une histoire intéressante. Maupassant choisit généralement les menus événements de la vie quotidienne comme le sujet de ses œuvres, on s’informe et synthétise les vérités vivantes de la vie par les exemples typiques.
D’abord, je me suis familiarisée avec le style de vie des hameaux paysans de la France au dix-neuvième siècle. Les Toines sont une famille typique aux champs à Normandie.
Maupassant est un romancier qui a bien dépeint ses personnages, surtout leur caractère. Le père Toine, le cabaretier de Tournevent, est un homme gros et optimiste, qui se livrait au vin et se plaisait à rester oisif tout le temps. Au contraire, sa femme, qui se querellait avec lui tous les jours, on la connaît par beaucoup d’intrigues dans ce conte, elle était dure, elle était toujours préoccupée, elle avait la culte de l’argent, elle était mécontente de tout, toute la rancœur qu’elle avait amassée contre son mari et leur vie éclataient chaque jour.
Quant au sujet de ce conte, « faire son mari paralysé ouver des œufs» est une idée ridicule, très drôle, certainement, ce n’est pas une idée sérieuse, à mon avis, c’est assez plaisant! Je crois que Maupassant exagéra un peu sur cette affaire, avec un regard acéré, il ironisa les paysans cupides, ils étaient avide de profit maximum, ils profitaient de toutes les occasions pour commettre des méfaits, en d’autres termes, ils étaient habiles et diligents, bien qu’au commencement on croyait «couver des œufs» est une plaisanterie laborieuse, après le père Toine a réussi à éclore des œufs, comme une mère enceinte suant d’angoisse et d’inquiétude, ce travail a devenu glorieux, même sacré! J’ai vu ce film Toine, adapté du conte Toine et realisé par Jacques Santamaria en 2007, Il y a beaucoup d’assistants curieux à la chambre à ce jour-là, mais y compris un rôle ajouté, le docteur qui soignait Toine, quand le mère Toine l’invita à s’asseoir, il dit : « On se sent si petit devant le mistère de la vie. En attendant une naissance, la science se doit rester debout». Il est à noter que malgré l’esprit étroit des paysans, la société de la France et les sciences humaines en ce temps-là étaient influencés par le développement de l’industrialisation et les pensées de la révolution.
Bref, Toine est un conte satirique, il me rappelle Le Père Goriot et Eugénie Grandet, les héros courent après l’argent, ils sont capables de tout pour gagner ou épargner plus d’or, toutefois, la différence la plus grande entre ces œuvres est leur fin, Toine est une comédie humaine, le père Toine et sa femme ont finalement obtenu un succès fou, de plus, ils continueraient à faire ça, leur vie aurait connu une certaine amélioration. En tout cas, c’est une histoire avec espoir. Le projet absurde sera réalisé si l’on le prend comme une chose sérieuse et y accorde de l’importance. A cet époque, je suis sûre qu’on ne le fait plus, évidemment. J’apprécie quand même le style précis de Maupassant, la créativité littéraire est de grande portée pour un écrivain, la source littéraire de Maupassant est réelle, en outre, il avait des vues pénétrants, ainsi, Toine est une de ses œuvres les plus célèbres et ce conte est connu parfaitement par le public.
===================================================================
These days, I read Toine, a story by Guy de Maupassant, it is an interesting story. Maupassant usually selects the menu events of daily life as the subject of his works, so we can synthesize the truths of living life by those typical examples.
First of all, I am familiar with the lifestyle of agricultural settlements of France in the nineteenth century. The Toines were a typical peasant family in Normandy.
Maupassant is a novelist who has portrayed his characters meticulously, especially their personalities. Father Toine, the innkeeper in Tournevent, is a huge and optimistic man, who was engaged in the wine and loved to be idle all the time. Instead, his wife, who quarreled with him every day, which could be known by a lot of details in this tale, she was stern and always anxious, she had the cult of money, she was dissatisfied with everything, the resentment she had raised against her husband broke every day.
As for the subject of this story, “let her husband hatch eggs” is a ridiculous idea, very hilarious, indeed, this is not a serious idea, in my opinion, it’s pretty funny! I think Maupassant exaggerated a little on this matter, in an incisive style, he quipped greed of peasants, they were eager to maximize profit, they took advantage of every opportunity to make money, in other words, they were skilled and diligent, although initially we thought “hatching eggs” is impossible, after the father Toine was able to hatch eggs as a pregnant mother sweating with anxiety and worries, this work has become glorious, even sacred! I saw the movie Toine, which is adapted and directed by Jacques Santamaria in 2007, There were many curious villagers in the room that day, including a new role– the doctor who treated Toine, when mother Toine invited him to sit down, he said: “You feel so small before the mystery of life. Science must stand when the new life is coming. ” It should be noted that despite these peasants were narrow-minded, the society of France and the humanities at that time were influenced by the development of industrialization and the thoughts of revolution.
In short, Toine is a satirical story, it reminds me of Father Goriot and Eugenie Grandet, the heroes all run after money, they would like to earn or save more gold by doing everthing, however, the greatest difference between these works is their end, Toine is a comedy, the father Toine and his wife finally got a hit, in addition, they would continue to do that, their lives might have more improvements. We could say this is a story with hope. Even an absurd project could be carried out if we take it as a serious matter and attach importance to it. I’m sure that, nowadays, nobody would do that anymore. I still appreciate the particular style of Maupassant, literary creativity is of importance for an author, the literary source of Maupassant is actual, moreover, he had a penetrating mind, that’s why Toine is one of his most famous works and this story is perfectly known by the public.
I agree with most of what you have written however I don’t think the source of the wife’s bitterness was that she had the “cult of the money”. Money wasn’t real problem, she was making some, Toine was also making some, the wife’s problem was that Toine was not working as hard as she was to earn the money. This can be interpreted in many ways maybe Toine and his wife are the representation of two different economic systems, one in which wealth is acquired by being in a position of power, let’s think about a feudal system, and another one where wealth is reached through hard work, let’s think of a production based economy.
Also, I don’t believe that the other friends adviced the wife to put eggs under Toine’s arms because they were thinking about making more money, I am sure they didn’t think it would actually work. I believe they did this first because they wanted have a laugh at Toine’s expense and second because they wanted to mess with this woman that they disliked so much. If we read between the lines maybe this could be interpreted as XIX century french peasants rejecting the new socioeconomic system that was being implemented. Who knows.
I agree with your argument. Maybe I didn’t make it clear, I don’t think their friends were trying to advise Toine’s wife to earn more money by suggesting this idea neither, as what you said, that was a sarcasm to his wife, this idea wasn’t serious, for sure.
The equilibrium of Toine’s wife was upset, she thought it was unfair to her, who kept working all the time, but her husband just lying on the bed, playing games. This is the principal reason for his wife to decide carry out this absurd idea. But I noticed lots of details in the story and the movie, which explained that Toine’s wife was stingy, so her husband became a “hen” is win-win to her, which eliminates her complaint and makes more money as well.