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In Suite Francaise, Irène Némirovsky describes Paris as two-tiered, divided between the wealthy and the working class. How does she describe...

In Suite Francaise, Madame Pericand represents the wealthier tier of Parisians. As the Germans approach Paris, she is prepared and resigned to her fate. "How they do get carried away" (page 8), she thinks of her working-class servants. Madame Pericand is briskly efficient as she considers that she has time between her children's bath time and dinner to listen to them recite their school lessons. Monsieur Pericand calmly plans for his wife and children to leave in two cars with their furniture and other belongings, and Madame Pericand "refused to bow beneath the burden" (page 14). She sets her mind to pack her five children, her father-in-law, the servants, and the silver into the car. They seem to have control over their fate at first. Eventually, as food runs out, they hoard what they have and refuse to share it.


The Michauds, working-class employees of a bank, have far less control over their lives and their evacuation from Paris. As the city is closing down, they walk to work, where their employer will decide their fate. Their only son, Jean-Marie, is already serving in the army, and they have to wait for the director of the bank to decide whether they will leave. When their orders come to leave, the wealthy Pericands have already left Paris with great care, the elder Monsier Pericand wrapped carefully in a shawl. The Michauds, on the other hand, can only bring what is absolutely necessary--clothes and toiletries. Their places in the director's car are given away, and they wind up, like most of the working-class, walking out of the city. As they walk, they share experiences with others, as they are more generous than the wealthy Pericand family. 

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