Monsieur Parent

Madame Lefèvre

Madame Lefèvre and Monsieur Parent are acquaintances who interact within their small-town social circle.

Madame Tellier

Madame Tellier and Monsieur Parent have a business-like relationship, possibly as client and madam.

Mother Magloire

Monsieur Parent and Mother Magloire are casual acquaintances, often interacting in domestic settings.

Mademoiselle Henriette

Mademoiselle Henriette shares a flirtatious and possibly secret romantic bond with Monsieur Parent.

Paul Limousin

Monsieur Parent and Paul Limousin are close friends who share confidences and leisure time.

Mother Magloire

Monsieur Parent and Mother Magloire are casual acquaintances, often interacting in domestic settings.

Madame Lefèvre

Madame Lefèvre and Monsieur Parent are acquaintances who interact within their small-town social circle.

Mother Magloire

Monsieur Parent and Mother Magloire are casual acquaintances, often interacting in domestic settings.

Mademoiselle Henriette

Mademoiselle Henriette shares a flirtatious and possibly secret romantic bond with Monsieur Parent.

Madame Lefèvre

Madame Lefèvre and Monsieur Parent are acquaintances who interact within their small-town social circle.

Madame Tellier

Madame Tellier and Monsieur Parent have a business-like relationship, possibly as client and madam.

Madame Tellier

Madame Tellier and Monsieur Parent have a business-like relationship, possibly as client and madam.

How the Dean Placed His Hopes in Eclecticism, the Doctor in Revelation and the Warden in Digestion

The Dean, who mediates the discussion and laughs boisterously at the end.

Les Dimanches d'Un Bourgeois

The central bourgeois figure whose Sunday experiences are chronicled.

I: Preparing for Excursions

The protagonist, a fifty-two-year-old clerk who decides to take up walking excursions after a health scare.

VII: A Sad Story

The melancholy gentleman on the bench who tells his sad story to Patissot.

A Dinner and Some Ideas

Chief clerk in the bureau, attends the dinner and engages in the political debate.

A Cock Crowed

The oblivious husband, described as stout and bald, who lives apart from his wife.

My Uncle Sosthène

Uncle Sosthène, a freethinker and Freemason who becomes the victim of the narrator's joke.

A Reckless Passion

Appears as Jean Renoldi, the reluctant lover who becomes trapped in a passionate affair with Madame Poinçot.

An Old Man

M. Daron, the protagonist, an 86-year-old man obsessed with hygiene and longevity, who uses the elderly residents of Rondelis as an experimental field to learn how to avoid death.

A Parricide

The young joiner, Georges Louis, known as 'The Gentleman,' who confesses to the murder of his parents.

The Pardon

Berthe's husband, a stockbroker who has been having an affair with Madame Rosset.

A Million

Léopold Bonnin, a conventional and painstaking government clerk, is the husband whose desperate efforts to conceive for the inheritance nearly ruin his health and marriage.

Madame Baptiste

The narrator who follows the funeral and learns the tragic story.

My Wife

Likely the character George Duportin, who comments on marriage and introduces the story.

Christmas Eve

Henri Templier, the protagonist who tells the story of his disastrous Christmas Eve.

The Awakening

Jeanne's husband, who is kind and trusting but fails to perceive her inner turmoil.

The Jewels

The protagonist, a chief clerk who marries a woman he adores, only to discover after her death that her false jewels were real, leading to a crisis of trust and a new life of wealth.

Friend Joseph

The conservative, methodical husband who reconnects with his old friend Joseph Mourador, only to be overwhelmed by his radical behavior.

The Greenhouse

The jovial, fat husband who endures his wife's harsh treatment and later discovers the maid's secret in the greenhouse.

André’s Disease

The lawyer, Mathilde's husband, who returns from Paris and discovers the bruises on André.

My Uncle Jules

Joseph Davranche, the main narrator of the inner story, who recalls his family's history with Uncle Jules.

The Little One

A widowed draper who adored his wife and spoils their son Jean; he commits suicide after learning the boy is not his own.

A Vendetta

Antoine Saverini, the murdered son, is the catalyst for the vendetta.

The Avenger

Antoine Leuillet, the protagonist, marries his friend's widow and becomes consumed by posthumous jealousy.

Suspense

Referred to as 'illustrious Master' or 'illustrious Advocate'; the lawyer telling the story.

The Father

The protagonist, a lonely bureaucrat who falls in love with a woman on the omnibus, fathers a child, abandons her, and later seeks to reconnect with his son.

A Wise Man

Blérot, the friend who marries a woman with an insatiable sexual appetite, leading to his physical decline and near death.

The First Fall of Snow

The unnamed wife of Henri de Parville, who suffers from the cold and her husband's neglect.

Misti

Emma's husband, a civil servant who is often away, leaving the narrator and Emma free to meet.

The Patron

Jean Marin, the protagonist, is a State Councillor who revels in his newfound status and patronizes everyone he meets.

My Landlady

George Kervelen, the narrator and protagonist, a young law student from Brittany.

The Drunkard

The protagonist, whose drinking leads to his ruin.

The Confession

The strict, austere officer who confesses his infidelity to his wife.

The Dowry

Maître Simon Lebrument, the notary who marries Jeanne for her dowry and then flees with the money.

The Legacy

Husband of Madame Serbois; initially hopeful for a legacy, then suspicious and accusatory, ultimately pragmatic and eager to accept the inheritance by dividing it.

Berthe

Berthe's father, who consults the doctor about the possibility of marrying Berthe in hopes that motherhood might awaken her intelligence.

The Confession

The narrator of the confession, a young man in Paris who takes a mistress and fathers a child, leading to his moral crisis.

Old Mongilet

Old Mongilet, the eccentric clerk who never leaves Paris.

Monsieur Parent

Confronted by his servant Julie with accusations of his wife's infidelity and doubts about his son's paternity, he spirals into confusion and obsessive scrutiny.

II

Parent is consumed by loneliness and obsessive thoughts about his son's paternity. He follows his ex-wife and her lover, plotting revenge, but ultimately sinks into a stagnant, solitary life.

II

The husband who is caught in the trap.

III

The narrator, referred to as 'sonny' by Monsieur Chantal, who asks about Mademoiselle Pearl's origin.

Are We to Teach Latin?

The narrator's father, who places him as a day-boarder at the school and later sends him away after the escapade.

The Hole

The accused upholsterer who claims the death was an accident during a fight over a fishing hole.

Love

The cousin Karl de Rauville, a country gentleman who hosts the narrator and participates in the hunt.

In the Wood

The husband, a draper from Paris, caught in the woods with his wife; he is ashamed and blames her for the situation.

The Door

The husband in the story, who orchestrates a scheme to reveal his wife's unflattering appearance.

Moiron

Not directly present; no relevant appearance in this chapter.

Divorce

The retired notary and client who narrates his unfortunate marriage and discovery of his wife's secret.

I

A retired tradesman living in Saint Germain, placid and logical, who argues that a deceived husband is not necessarily dishonored.

II

Bondel is the protagonist of this chapter, tormented by doubt and suspicion about his wife.

III

Bondel (likely an alias for Monsieur Parent) orchestrates a reconciliation between his wife and Tancret, but is shocked by his wife's affectionate response.

III

Not present in this chapter.