# M. Cachelin — Short Fiction character guide

> M. Cachelin in Short Fiction by Guy de Maupassant.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** M. César Cachelin, papa Cachelin, Cachelin, César

**First appearance:** 0003-short-fiction

## Snapshot

A weathered Norman peasant father whose pride in his son's prospects collides with the family's blunt prejudice when the boy brings home the woman he loves.

## Who they are

Old Antoine Boitelle's father is a small-holding Norman farmer who measures the world by soil, custom, and the approval of neighbors. When his son's happiness threatens to cross the color line, he becomes the voice of a community's unspoken rule, torn between affection for the boy and the shame he imagines before his peers. His refusal is the story's quiet engine, turning a love story into an anatomy of inherited bigotry.

## In the story

### [A Dinner and Some Ideas](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/ix-a-dinner-and-some-ideas)

Elegant young employee, Orléanist in politics.

### [I](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/i)

An old noncommissioned officer turned clerk, he schemes to get promoted and dreams of marrying his daughter to Lesable.

### [II](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/ii)

César Cachelin, the host, introduces Lesable to his sister and daughter, and orchestrates the evening's festivities.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/iii)

Father of Cora, he pressures Lesable to have a child and manages funeral arrangements after his sister's death.

### [IV](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/iv)

Cachelin, Lesable's father-in-law, is hopeful during the country stay but later harasses the couple with coarse epigrams about their childlessness. He receives no bonus at the ministry and is ready to fight when Lesable quarrels with Maze.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/v)

Cachelin, Cora's father, is enraged by Lesable's failure to produce an heir. He verbally abuses Lesable, calls him a 'capon' and 'M. Lecoq,' and tracks the passing days on a calendar, growing more furious as the fortune slips away.

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/vi)

Overjoyed by Cora's pregnancy, dances and plans for the future, orchestrates a dinner with Maze.

### [VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/vii)

Recovers his old gaiety, but feels secret hostility toward Maze and announces Cora's pregnancy to him.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/chapters/viii)

Cachelin retires, takes up scroll-saw work, and serves as godfather at the christening, making heavy jokes enabled by his new wealth.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/characters/m_cachelin
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_23_se/characters