A Family Affair (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Guy de Maupassant
- First Published: 1881
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: About 1880
- Setting: Paris and its suburbs
- Principal Characters: Alfred Caravan, Madame Caravan, Madame Caravan, Marie-Louise, Philippe-Auguste, Dr. Chenet, Rosalie, Madame Braux
- Genres: Short fiction, Satire, Farce
- Subjects: Suburban life, Comedy, Satire, Pretensions
- Locales: Paris, France
The Story
Monsieur Alfred Caravan is an aged chief clerk in a government office; he has trod the same circuit as commuter and drudge for some thirty years, for which service he is awarded a lapel pin by the bureaucracy. He is fat and officious, with an atrophied mind and a deeply ingrained dread of his superiors. One hot July night, he and his friend Dr. Chenet travel from Paris to their home at Courbevoie on the Neuilly steam-tram, as usual; they pause once more to tipple at the cafe, and part. At home (the story focuses comically and cruelly on the bureaucrat's so-called home...
[The entire page is 1326 words long]
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