The Elegance of the Hedgehog— Muriel Barbery's Writing Style

The novel "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" by Muriel Barbery is narrated by both Renée, a concierge of a Parisian luxury apartment building, and Paloma, the twelve-year-old daughter of a rich parliamentarian who lives in the building.  The novel is structured in short chapters from Renée's point of view with Paloma's journal entries mixed in throughout.
Renée's chapters are written in a conversational, yet learned style.  She asks rhetorical questions and refers to the reader as "you".  Renée often asks the reader "does this never happen to you?" while chronicling an event in her life or a thought she has had (Barbery 173). The style of Renée's chapters cause the reader to feel as if he or she is listening to Renée share her life story while interjecting background information such as "I am a widow, I am short, ugly, and plump, ... I correspond so very well to what social prejudice had collectively construed to be a typical French concierge," to add context (19).  Although concierges are stereotypically  uneducated and uncultured, Renée is a proletarian autodidact and is secretly very intelligent. She is "a complete slave to vocabulary," as reflected by the erudite diction in her chapters (82).  For example, she says that "the preeminence of human consciousness seems to many to be the manifestation of something divine" when speaking of phenomenology (59).  The conversational aspect of the style of Renée's chapters represent her humble and light personality while her insightful use of vocabulary and flawless syntax represent her worldly knowledge.
Paloma's perspective is shared through journal entries titled either profound thoughts or journals of the movement of the world.  Paloma has decided to "have the greatest number possible of profound thoughts, and to write them down in this notebook" before she commits suicide on her thirteenth birthday (26).  Her profound thoughts begin with haikus or tankas such as "What do you drink/ What do you read/ At breakfast/ And I know who/ You are" which demonstrates her love of Japanese culture, while her journals of the movement of the world begin with one-line sayings that summarize the main messages of her writing (92).  As "an intellectual (who makes fun of other intellectuals)," Paloma's entries are full of social satire and mockery (37).  For example, she describes her father as "a kid who's playing the dead serious grown-up" to describe that he lacks maturity and only pretends to be an important man (93). It is understandable why Paloma is so annoyed and disgusted by those around her, for she is surrounded by shallow elite who care only of material and social power, but her writing style so lacks humility that she often appears to have a holier-than-thou attitude when it comes to her own morality and intellect. Barbery's style in writing both Renée and Paloma's sections gives the reader insight into the intellect that both characters hide from the outside world.

"Without literature, life is hell" - Charles Bukowski, relating to The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The quote "without literature, life is hell" by Charles Bukowski applies to Renée's life in The Elegance of the Hedgehog. She has "read history, philosophy, economics, sociology, psychology, pedagogy, psychoanalysis, and, of course— above all— literature" to escape from her boring life (Barbery 71).  Renée is a concierge in a Parisian luxury apartment building where she feels that she must hide worldly intelligence and love of literature to fit the mold as a stereotypical culturally oblivious, stumpy concierge.  When Renée feels lonely, which she often does, she takes "a trip to the realm of literary memory" and is instantly transported pre-1910 Russia (122).  As a widow with only one friend, Renée relies on literature for company and comfort.  Renée is a true autodidact who has become far more intelligent than the highly-educated elite that live in her building.  Nevertheless, she serves them dutifully from her loge, for literature makes "the fulfillment of [her] essential duties more bearable" (248). Renée feels that "literature has been [her] whole life," and without it, I do not think anything would have stopped Renée from becoming the dull, frumpy concierge that she pretends to be (71).

Lahiri's Inspiration for Unaccustomed Earth

I think Jhumpa Lahiri found inspiration for Unaccustomed Earth from both a quote by Nathaniel Hawthorne and her own life.  The beginning of the novel features a saying from Hawthorne's "The Custom-House" that reads "Human nature will not flourish, any more than a potato, if it be planted and replanted, for too long a series of generations, in the same worn-out soil.   My children have had other birthplaces, and, so far as their fortunes may be within my control, shall strike their roots into unaccustomed earth." Hawthorne is saying that people are supposed to move, to leave their homes and families, and start over in a new place.  I think this saying was especially meaningful to Lahiri, for she was born in London, the daughter of Bengali immigrants, and moved to the United States at a very young age.
In the eight stories that make up Unaccustomed Earth, Lahiri focuses on Bengali-Americans who, like herself, have dealt with the transition of moving to new places.  For example, Sudha from "Only Goodness" was born in London and, "transporting no evidence of their years in London," moved to Massachusetts when she was four (Lahiri 135).  Just like Sang from "Nobody's Business," Lahiri went to college in New York City and graduate school in Boston.
Lahiri draws from her own life in more ways than just geographically in Unaccustomed Earth.  Many of the stories focus on mixed Bengali-American families like Amit and Megan in "A Choice of Accommodations," Ruma and Adam in "Unaccustomed Earth," and Sudha and Roger in "Only Goodness," which may have been inspired by Lahiri's own marriage to a non-Bengali man.  Lahiri also chooses to writer under the nickname, Jhumpa, just like Sang goes by a nickname.  Lahiri found inspiration from the saying by Nathaniel Hawthorne in writing the eight stories that mimic her own life and culture in Unaccustomed Earth.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog Six-Word-Story

Renée and Paloma hide behind stereotypes.