58 pages • 1 hour read
Lucy FoleyThe Paris Apartment
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Apartment Building
The apartment building is both a setting and a symbol. Sophie calls the building a “gilded cage,” implying its outer beauty is a foil for the inner reality. The infrastructure is rich with metaphor: The cellar was once used as a prison by the Nazis, and the maids’ stairwell and quarters represent a time in France’s history when class divisions were extreme due to the oppressive classist culture. The building holds secret histories, and it guards the secrets of its residents.
Additionally, all of the characters are stuck in this building. The concierge is forced to stay through her loyalty to her secret granddaughter. Sophie is forced to stay for survival. Mimi stays because of her father’s tyranny. Nick returns to the building because he feels unable to forge his own path without his father’s money. Antoine is bound to the building by a desperate desire for his father’s approval. Ben is seduced by the family’s wealth and the promise of a good story, and Jess is tied to the building by her desire to save her last remaining family member. The apartment building is outwardly beautiful but inwardly deplorable, symbolizing the superficiality and corruptive potential of materialist wealth.
Ben’s Cat
On the simplest level, Ben’s cat facilitates the literary device of suspense and elevates the story’s uneasy mood: The cat is stealthy, so its movements add drama when Jess is on edge and suspicious of every sound in the apartment. However, Ben’s cat has a more complex purpose as a mystery-thriller trope whereby an animal’s presence enlivens or complicates the characters’ relationships and propels the plot. For instance, the cat’s abandonment in the apartment is a clue that something happened to Ben, who otherwise would never leave the cat without a sitter. The cat’s gaze represents the surveillance throughout the building, as the cat also bears witness to the murder of Jacques and hints at the foreboding details: When the cat tries to clean blood off its paws, the blood is evidence of violence. In Western literature, particularly that with a Gothic influence, cats are often associated with mystery, evil, and superstition. The cat also represents Ben’s role in the novel, as both Ben and the cat are observers to the Meunier family dramas.
Physical Appearance
The physical appearances of characters and settings are important metaphors for the dynamics of power. Sophie’s glamorous beauty hides her unhappiness. Mimi’s Halloween costume, a face of tears, represents the battles in her psyche. Jess is one of the only characters whose physical appearance accurately represents her inner self. She is easily identifiable as working class, and since her appearance is not a site of psychological stress as it is for the other characters, she is freer to maneuver without caring what others think of her. Jess can trust her instincts precisely because she is not concerned with others’ perceptions of her, and her appearance reflects this independence. For other characters, physical appearance masks their vulnerabilities. Even the apartment building exudes an image of wealth and ease, whereas, in reality, the lives of its residents are fraught with insecurity and tension. Only those who go unnoticed in this environment, such as the concierge, are free.
Fraught Sexuality
While sex is often a mode of intimacy, the novel portrays sexuality primarily as a source of conflict and even violence. The motif accentuates the imbalance in the plot’s central relationships, often highlighting an idea of unjust power dynamics. Sophie’s affair with Ben begins because she is frustrated with her life, Nick’s infatuation with Ben drives him toward dangerous feelings of envy, and Mimi’s obsession with Ben takes on an extremity from its very inception. Additionally, Mimi’s sexual perspective is profoundly conflicted due to her sexual repression and confusion, and this tension builds up for years before exploding into acts of violence, such as cutting up her own portraits or killing Jacques out of love for Ben. The novel’s primary symbol of sexualized violence, however, is in the core plotline of sex trafficking. The symbolism even appears in the name of the secret club: “La Petite Mort” literally translates as “the little death,” a euphemism for an orgasm. The name implies that death is pleasurable, and that sex and death are intertwined.
Related Titles
By Lucy Foley
