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THE UMBRELLA� A STORY OF THE MIDDLE CLASS

Guy De Maupassant

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Introduction to the Story

This story begins with a detailed description of the main character, Madame (Mme.) Oreille. We see that, 'She {is} a little woman of about forty, very active, rather hasty, wrinkled, very neat and tidy, and with a very short temper.' In addition, she's extremely thrifty, which means she never spends money excessively. Along with her short temper, thrift is her central character trait. In fact, she hates spending money at all, even though she and her husband are not poor. They have no children and a very respectable income.

One day Monsieur (M.) Oreille comes home and asks his wife to buy him a new umbrella. His old one is worn out and patched, and his coworkers continually make fun of him for it. She buys him the cheapest one she can, and his coworkers make fun of him even more. So he comes home and angrily demands that she buy him a silk one and bring him the receipt so he knows she spent around 20 francs on it. She is very angry, and tells him that it had better last him at least five years.

The first evening after M. Oreille takes the umbrella to work, Mme. Oreille looks at it and sees a hole, as if it were burned. She is furious, and he is completely shocked, with no idea where the burn hole might have come from. In fact, we never do learn what caused the hole.

After venting her rage, Mme. Oreille patches the umbrella. Yet the very next day, M. Oreille comes home, and the umbrella is again covered in tiny burns. He still has no idea where they're from. Mme. Oreille is even more angry and refuses to buy him a new umbrella - or to pay to have the old one re-covered.

Theme of the Story

The Middle Class Obsession with the Money is ridiculed through the character of Madame Orielle
The fear and insecurity of the middle class is also made visible in the story
The comic situation that arise out of the characters of the dominating wife and a hen-pecked husband arises in the story

Characteization of Madame Orielle

Madame Orielle is a little woman of about forty, very active, rather hasty, wrinkled, very neat and tidy, and with a very short temper..
Mme. Oreille is married; her husband is long-suffering, for she is a miser with their finances, and though he works as an upper clerk at the War Office, they are well-off and have plenty of money, for she rarely allows Oreille to spend it. At the start of the story, Mme. Oreille is described as

Her miserliness

These initial character descriptions account for many of Mme. Oreille's actions and reactions during the story. However, her desire to save money is a driving force in her personality. It pains her to see any money spent—"it was like tearing at her heartstrings when she had to take any of those nice crown-pieces out of her pocket"—and she sleeps poorly when she is to part with money. Even her servants found it difficult to get any money from her.

Her quarrelsome nature

When it is the question of her money, Madame Orielle can be overtly quarrelsome
She has a “quiverful of maxims” to plead her case of saving the money through her extreme miserliness
She forgets everything, even her dignity as a respectful married lady
She even forgets her guest and the fact that she was to prepare dinner for her guest in her quarrel

Her falsehood

She can even resort to telling a pack of lies to the insurance company so that they consider her case of burnt umbrella for reimbursement

Link for the stories by Maupassant

Link for the notes

Link for the animated movie based on the story