Fresh Water for Flowers

Philippe is the earliest introduced character in Violette’s life, and for the novel’s first half, the reader sees him only through Violette’s eyes. He is presented as deeply sensual but ultimately cold and unfeeling. Even Violette can see this, reflecting:

Philippe Toussaint was like one of those swans that are so handsome on water and yet hobble on land. He turned our bed into a paradise, was considerate and sensual when making love, but as soon as he got up, was vertical, left our horizontal love behind, he lost a good deal of color (63).

Philippe takes advantage of Violette’s need to belong because she knows no other kind of love.

Philippe had a very privileged upbringing, with wealthy parents who were never able to see his destructive flaws or how his classically good looks allowed him the freedom to indulge his impulses without consequence. This gave him a dehumanized view of others, extending to Violette and even Léonine and Françoise. His treatment of Geneviève shows how completely eroded his sense of humanity is, as he sees a woman with whom he is intimate as nothing more than a commodity.

In the latter half of the book, the author begins exploring the events of the story through Philippe’s perspective. While his actions are never excused, the reader can see some of his feelings and perceptions toward his behavior. This culminates in the events leading to Philippe’s death. Receiving Violette’s letter undoes his meticulous compartmentalization. As he feels a rush of love for Léonine, he finally discovers the man he might have been: “He had understood nothing because he had been a bad father, he would become a daddy for the first time, there, where he would be back with her” (469). In this moment Philippe concludes that the person he wants to be cannot exist in this world after all he has done, so he goes looking for that part of himself in another one.

Nono, Elvis, and Gaston are the cemetery’s gravediggers. Each of them is a distinct person, yet they form a larger whole and are an integral piece of Violette’s new support network and community. Elvis is characterized by his near-religious love for the singer Elvis Presley, which Violette compares to Cédric’s devotion to his god. Elvis has never been known to be in a relationship. Gaston is characterized by his clumsiness: “Beneath Gaston’s feet there’s a permanent earthquake” (19). Even though the others are cautious around him—knowing there’s a high likelihood that something will be broken at any moment—he is still accepted with love as part of the cemetery family.

Nono seems the most human of all of them, and he has a closer relationship with Violette. Perrin briefly explores his background before his role as a gravedigger and how his estrangement from his wife and transition into single fatherhood led to his current position. His outlook on life is one of positivity and optimism, a trait he shares with Violette; they both stubbornly believe that happiness is a choice rather than a gift, which is why they find solidarity in each other.

The gravediggers not only accept Violette as one of their own but also make her feel wanted and needed in a way that Philippe never did. At the same time, they never take advantage of her hospitality but instead create a sense of found family in her cemetery home.

Julien enters Violette’s life early in the novel but does not introduce himself by name until much later, and when he does, he speaks to the gravediggers rather than Violette. This suggests a thematic contrast between Violette’s relationships with him and with Philippe, whose name features prominently from the moment they meet.

Julien is a police chief, although this adds little to the story apart from the resources at his disposal, which he uses to locate the missing Philippe. More prominently, he appears at the cemetery with a mission and a mystery: to leave the ashes of his late mother at an unknown man’s graveside. Julien seems almost more interested in the story behind his mother’s dying wish than in his mother herself; when prompted for information about her to write a funerary speech, he comes up with very little. The reader learns more about his mother, Irène, from her diary entries than they do from Julien. In her diary, Julien features very seldom. This, along with his reticence about and surprise at her hidden life, suggests a distant, impersonal relationship. This is foreshadowed by his surname, “Seul,” which means “alone.”

Very quickly, Julien becomes a positive force in Violette’s life. He makes it clear that he would like them to be together, but he does not push her into a choice before she is ready. When Violette compares the way he loves to the experiences she has had with other men, it suggests that the connection they have is much more caring and healthier than anything she has known before. Through him, she rediscovers her own needs and has a chance at a fresh life.