44 pages • 1 hour read
Prosper MerimeeCarmen
Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1840A 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
Lodgings
Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novella’s racist and inaccurate portrayal of Romani people and culture, which includes racist slurs. The novella also includes other instances of racism and exoticism, as well as depictions of domestic violence against women cumulating in murder.
A recurring motif throughout the novella is the poverty described in the rooms and lodgings owned by Roma. Their sparseness, uncleanliness, and general poor condition represent the widespread poverty suffered by Roma in Spain, as well as Prosper Mérimée’s racist and unsubstantiated claims about Roma’s general lack of cleanliness as a race. For example, the narrator and Don José stay at the inn Venta del Cuervo, a sparsely furnished cottage run by a young girl and old woman. In lieu of beds, they have only bedbug-infested mule blankets on the floor, and a single curtain to separate the proprietors from their guests. The rooms to which Carmen takes Don José in Seville are similarly lacking in luxury, as is the Roma lodging in Vosges described by the narrator in Chapter 4. This low standard of living contrasts with the excessive luxury of the rooms owned by the Englishman who Carmen seduces in Gibraltar, highlighting the extent of wealth disparities in society at the time.
Sharing Tobacco
In the novella, sharing tobacco reflects human connection. When the narrator befriends Don José, he does so by sharing a cigar with him. He then cements their friendship by gifting Don José cigars, first for his journey fleeing the soldiers and then for his time in prison prior to execution.
The narrator likens the custom of sharing a cigarette in Spain with that of sharing a meal in Eastern cultures, an act of communion, thereby creating a bond of host/guest that each are honor-bound not to violate. The sharing of tobacco between Don José and the narrator symbolizes the bond between them, which encompasses how Don José spares the narrator’s life when he falls afoul of Carmen, and the narrator’s helping Don José carry out his last wishes and listening to his story. Don José returns part of the cigars from his final gift, showing that their friendship is to be cut short by Don José’s execution and that there are limits to the benefits afforded by the narrator’s largess.
Carmen also accepts a cigarette from the narrator, but does not feel bound to respect the implied honor code of not harming him. This symbolizes that she is functioning on a different value system—the Roma code of conduct rather than that of non-Romani people.
Flowers
Flowers are a recurring motif associated with Carmen. She is introduced by the narrator wearing jasmine in her hair, and first seen by Don José with a bouquet of acacia blossoms. Flowers have a longstanding literary tradition of representing feminine beauty and voluptuousness. They were a common adornment worn by young women of all social classes during the 19th century, particularly those attempting to attract suitors. Carmen’s flowers symbolize her seductive beauty, and her willingness to flaunt and utilize her looks for her advantage.
Flowers represent the offensive stereotypes of sexual promiscuity and mysticism that Mérimée associates with Roma. In the novella, flowers are associated with a kind of witchcraft. The narrator describes jasmine, which Carmen wears in her hair, as “intoxicating.” Don José describes the “sweet scent” of the acacia blossom she’d tossed at him as lingering through his time in prison, making him liken Carmen to a witch. In this way, Carmen’s seductive powers are elevated to the point of sorcery; her feminine wiles are a source of power for her, as is her apparent aptitude for fortune telling.
The acacia blossom symbolizes the relationship between Carmen and Don José, and how he grows increasingly possessive while she yearns for freedom. Although Carmen instigates by tossing the flower to Don José, she does so mockingly and on a whim. It is Don José who keeps and cherishes the symbol of her attention, if not her affection, long after the bloom has faded, just as he clings to their relationship long past the point of its souring.
The Narrator’s Repeater
A repeater is an adaptation of the clock, which became popular among the upper echelons of Western Europe during the 19th century. The device has a mechanism integrated into its clockwork which is activated by the pull of a cord or the flip of a switch. This allows one to either hear or feel the vibration of a number and pattern of strikes corresponding to the approximate time. Repeaters were particularly useful for telling the time in low lighting, and gradually faded from use after widespread adoption of the gas light. Repeaters were very complex and specialized pieces of clockwork produced by a relatively small number of manufacturers, and were prohibitively expensive. Only a tiny percentage of the population could afford to own a repeater. Portable repeaters akin to pocket watches were the most difficult to produce and expensive to purchase of all.
In Chapter 2, the narrator’s possession of a repeater symbolizes his wealth and high status. Carmen is impressed with the device that the narrator carries and uses so casually, highlighting the social and financial gulf between them. Carmen symbolically traverses—or at least violates—this divide by stealing the repeater for herself.
