Olympia's Look Assignment

The Tale of Suzanne Manet

The tale of Suzanne Manet’s struggles with confidence and sense of worth are predominant in the story Olympia’s Look by Susan Vreeland. Suzanne goes through the story as a woman who is always trying to live up to what is expected of her. She learns French, becomes accustomed to the Parisian way of life, and even disguises her own son as a “brother” so that the disapproving father of her love, Edouard, will not be upset. Her entire world was devoted to the happiness of Edouard, until that is, that world no longer existed.

As Edouard wasted away from the effects of syphilis, the devotion that Suzanne had for him still persisted. She held him in his nightmares, held him during the amputation of his leg, and she held him as his last moments faded away. Only when forced by the loss of her love did Suzanne begin to realize she would have to “do things that satisfied her, not anyone else.” This first step towards confidence and self assurance came as she left the side of Edouard. She opened the doors of the church that his funeral service was being held at and stepped into the “different life” that would lead her to the realization and acceptance of her true worth. This is the first time Suzanne stops living a reactionary life and begins living her own life. Only when the reins were thrust into her hands was she willing to take them. As she is consoled by the mass of people who attended the funeral just “to be seen”, her first experience living a non-reactionary life, one of confidence and self-reliance, is realized. Edouard’s most recent “collaborator”, Isabelle Lemonnier expresses her condolences and is curtly brought back to the shame of her ways by Suzanne. This moment seems to be a breakthrough for the normally in her place woman. This instant is a catalyst for the final confrontation between Suzanne and the woman who can either be pictured as a symbol of ill repute, or as playing a pivotal role in the revolution of Suzanne’s character.

Victorine Meurent “started it”. This dying quote by Edouard is used shrewdly by Vreeland. The focus of the first half of the story was Edouard’s painting Olympia that was a depiction of Victorine. Suzanne seems to yearn for the brazen certainty that Victorine conveys in her eyes through the painting as her naked body lies unashamed on the canvas. Suzanne finds what she so previously wanted in a visit to the real Olympia. She confronts the cool Victorine and finds her nerve in a flash. The person who is expected is nowhere to be found; instead an assertive, convicted woman who has a fierce loyalty for the man she loved is at hand. She speaks of the years that Edouard and her had together, through happiness and through despondency. As Suzanne goes on with her diatribe directed towards the arrogant air of Victorine, she has an awakening. The intimacy Suzanne so greatly craved with Edouard is only satisfied through the realization that she was the only who supported him over the years, the only one who witnessed his illness and cared for him, the only one who saw him “frightened and powerless”, the only one who he loved “for herself”. As the story finishes, Vreeland allows Suzanne to develop a sense of acceptance. She accepts the past transgressions by Edouard, she accepts the life she will lead without him, and most importantly she accepts her new spirit, the spirit that will allow her to carry on independently, confidently, freely.