# Calvary — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Calvary by Octave Mirbeau.

- [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/i.md): The narrator describes his mother's mysterious and debilitating mental and physical ailments, tracing them to a traumatic childhood event—finding her own mother hanged—and a hereditary curse of suicide. Her marriage fail
- [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/ii.md): The narrator describes the chaos and fear among French soldiers and refugees as the Prussian army approaches. Peasants flee, soldiers prepare defenses, and the general issues orders to fell trees and build barriers. The 
- [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/iii.md): The narrator reflects on his failed literary ambitions, feeling that his published work lacks originality and is merely a pastiche of other writers. He envies the self-contentment of mediocrity and longs to return to Sai
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/iv.md): The narrator persuades Juliette to reveal her troubled past, including her father's abuse and her mother's abandonment. He becomes increasingly possessive and jealous of her social circle, particularly Gabrielle Bernier 
- [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/v.md): The narrator and Juliette move into a lavish new apartment on Rue de Balzac. While Juliette delights in decorating and arranging their home, the narrator feels growing unease, regret, and a premonition of doom. He is hau

> 7 more chapter companions — [open a free preview](https://www.betterreads.dev/reader?bookId=calvary_se_515kb&preview=1) to unlock the rest.

- [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/vi.md)
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/vii.md)
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/viii.md)
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/ix.md)
- [Chapter X](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/x.md)
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/xi.md)
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters/xii.md)

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/calvary_se/chapters