Nana

Nana accomplishes the meteoric rise she predicted: After quitting the play, she turns herself into the most fashionable and trendsetting woman in Paris. Moreover, she has come to hold men in general responsible for Fontan’s abuse and has become proud of her ability to ruin men, harboring “a natural contempt for the man footing the bill” (247). Muffat has given her an elegant townhouse and a generous monthly allowance, as promised. He tries to insist on her fidelity, but she has rules of her own: He must never get suspicious of her, must allow her private time, and must treat her with respect. He obliges on all counts, but she has no intention of being faithful. She is also so careless with her money that she somehow needs more than Muffat’s allowance, so she begins an affair with Vandeuvres, taking money from him as well.

One year after the gathering at Les Fondettes, Georges pays her a visit, having finally escaped the watchful eye of his mother. They resume their affair, though her passion has worn off. Madame Hugon sends her older son, Philippe, to rescue Georges from Nana’s clutches, but Nana wins him over as spectacularly as she does every other man. Philippe becomes just another of her frequent visitors and lovers.

Nana’s days grow very boring, an endless loop of juggling her lovers and playing with her sickly son and her dog. One day, while on a carriage ride, she passes Satin in the street. Reunited, the two start a relationship. One of Satin’s jealous lovers, Madame Robert, writes to Muffat to tell him about Nana’s many other lovers. When he confronts Nana, she denies the men but admits to her affair with Satin, telling him that this is common and natural—even among aristocratic women. He hesitates to believe her but finds that her affair with Satin bothers him less than the thought of affairs with men.

One night, Nana has dinner with all her lovers gathered around her as guests—Muffat, Georges, Philippe, Vandeuvres, and Satin. Most of them are aware that she is sleeping with all of them. Vandeuvres and Philippe understand that this is what she does, Georges wishes she was his alone but knows she is not, Satin wants to be the one who takes precedence, and only Muffat labors under the extraordinary delusion that she is still faithful to him except for Satin. At the dinner, the atmosphere is strained as Nana and Satin flirt and pet openly and the men make half-joking protestations.

The atmosphere only gets more awkward, as Nana’s increasing drunkenness leads her to talk about her lower-class family with pride, only to then vacillate wildly to the idea that it would be disastrous if the country went back to republican government and common people got to make decisions. Nana hopes that Napoleon III will reign forever. She also decries contemporary literature, with all its “realism” getting in the way of romance.

Late in the evening, Satin convinces Nana to send everyone else away. Satin points out an old alcoholic nicknamed Queen Pomare, a formerly popular courtesan who had a long string of wealthy lovers. They are disturbed at this glimpse of their possible future; Nana compares it to her memory of Irma d’Anglars, the exact opposite of Queen Pomare. They shake off their gloom, however, and commit to enjoying their youth.

Nana arrives at the Paris Grand Prix in style, with a magnificent carriage and dress. Gossiping with her friends, she learns that Steiner has regained his wealth, while the Marquis de Chouard has bought time with Gaga’s daughter, sending Gaga into a depression. La Faloise, meanwhile, has come into his inheritance. To get her attention, he bets on a horse that Vandeuvres has named after her. This horse has extremely long odds, 50-1, but La Faloise and some other members of Nana’s circle begin stirring up the crowd to bet on her. They convince so many people that the odds fall quickly to 40-1, then to 25-1, then to 15-1, and lower.

Auguste Mignon approaches Nana to ask for her help with Rose, who has obtained a letter that Sabine wrote to Fauchery, clearly referencing their affair. Rose wants to publicize it to punish Nana by humiliating Muffat, but Nana is unconcerned.

Vandeuvres shows Nana around the stables distractedly; everyone in his circle knows this race will make or break him because he has squandered so much of his fortune on Nana. He has two horses in the race, the one named after Nana and Frangipane. In the final moments of the race, Nana the horse claims a narrow win. The crowd erupts, thrilled. As they chant the winner’s name, “no one knew if it was the animal or the woman who had captivated every heart” (300).

While this outcome should be good for Vandeuvres, it turns out that he had publicly downplaying the horse’s talents to produce long odds. That way, he could make an enormous sum by betting. Because of Nana’s friends’ last-minute bets, however, the odds on Nana grew so narrow that Vandeuvres’s plan was foiled.

Nana spends that night at a raucous after-party where the attendees become almost animalistic in their drunken revelry. At the same time, Vandeuvres locks himself in his stable and burns himself and his horses alive. When Madame Lerat tells Nana this gruesome news, Nana just wishes he’d told her how good her namesake horse was so she could have won more money. It pleases her to think of his courageous method of suicide, however: “Poor boy, such a magnificent way to go!” (303).