Solution Manual for Project Management The Managerial Process 5th Edition by Larson
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- 5. Chapter 01 - Modern Project Management 1-1 Solution Manual for Project Management The Managerial Process 5th Edition by Larson full chapter at: https://testbankbell.com/product/solution- manual-for-project-management-the-managerial-process-5th- edition-by-larson/ Chapter 1 MODERN PROJECT MANAGEMENT Chapter Outline 1. What Is a Project? A. What a Project Is Not B. The Project Life Cycle C. The Project Manager 2. The Importance of Project Management A. Compression of the Product Life Cycle B. Global Competition C. Knowledge Explosion D. Corporate Downsizing E. Increased Customer Focus F. Small Projects Represent Big Problems 3. Project Management Today—An Integrative Approach A. Integration of Projects with the Strategic Plan B. Integration within the Process of Managing Actual Projects 4. Summary 5. Text Overview 6. Key Terms 7. Review Questions 8. Exercises 9. Case: A Day in the Life
- 6. 1-2 Chapter Objectives • To explain why project management is crucial in today’s world • To define a project and differentiate projects from routine operations • To establish the importance of projects in implementing organization strategy • To establish that managing projects is an act of balancing the technical and sociocultural sides of the project. Review Questions
- 7. 1-3 1. Define a project. What are five characteristics which help differentiate projects from other functions carried out in the daily operations of the organization? A project is a complex, non routine, one-time effort limited by time, budget, resource, and specifications. Differentiating characteristics of projects from routine, repetitive daily work are below: a. A defined life span b. A well-defined objective c. Typically involves people from several disciplines d. A project life cycle e. Specific time, cost, and performance requirements. 2. What are some of the key environmental forces that have changed the way projects are managed? What has been the effect of these forces on the management of projects? Some environmental forces that have changed the way we manage projects are the product life cycle, knowledge growth, global competition, organization downsizing, technology changes, time-to-market. The impact of these forces is more projects per organization, project teams responsible for implementing projects, accountability, changing organization structures, need for rapid completion of projects, linking projects to organization strategy and customers, prioritizing projects to conserve organization resources, alliances with external organizations, etc. 3. Why is the implementation of projects important to strategic planning and the project manager? Strategic plans are implemented primarily through projects—e.g., a new product, a new information system, a new plant for a new product. The project manager is the key person responsible for completing the project on time, on budget, and within specifications so the project’s customer is satisfied. If the project is not linked to the strategic plan of the organization, resources devoted to the project are wasted and a customer need is not met. This lack of connectivity occurs more in practice than most would believe. 4. The technical and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides to the same coin. Explain. The system and sociocultural dimensions of project management are two sides of the same coin because successful project managers are skillful in both areas. The point is successful project managers need to be very comfortable and skillful in both areas.
- 8. 1-4 5. What is meant by an integrative approach to project management? Why is this approach important in today’s environment? An integrative approach to project management is one in which all the parts are interrelated. This approach is important because it can give an organization a competitive edge in today’s environment. An integrative approach includes two parts. First, projects must have a strong link to the organization’s strategic plan, which is directed toward meeting the customer’s needs. A project priority system reinforces this linkage by prioritizing projects according to their contribution to the strategic plan and allocates resources by the priorities set. Second, an integrative approach provides an integrated system for the actual implementation of the projects. This includes an information system which supports decision making and a sociocultural environment which creates a positive, active contribution from team members responsible for completing the project. Exercises 1. Review the front page of your local newspaper, and try to identify all the projects contained in the articles. How many were you able to find? It is nearly impossible to open a newspaper and not find articles relating to projects. Sunday editions are especially good for this exercise. Even experienced project managers find the number of projects far greater than they would have predicted. Each one was managed by a project manager! This is a good illustration of the important role projects play in our daily lives. 2. Individually identify what you consider to be the greatest achievements accomplished by mankind in the last five decades. Now share your list with three to five other students in the class, and come up with an expanded list. Review these accomplishments in terms of the definition of a project. What does your review suggest about the importance of project management? Typical responses center on technology, medical advances, space exploration—e.g., computer advances, laser operations and new drugs, building the space station. Often you have to point out that many of these projects are really programs. We usually select two or three student suggestions of projects (there will be plenty!) and ask the students to identify the kinds of problems the project manager of the project may have had to deal with. Again, once the students get into the exercise, the problems they can envision are many. These problems are placed on the board. After the board is near filled and most students have participated, we try to show or classify on the board the problems by the content of the text chapters. The intent is to demonstrate to the class the course and text will address many of the problems suggested by the students.
- 9. 1-5 3. Individually identify projects assigned in previous terms. Were both sociocultural and technical elements factors in the success or difficulties in the projects? Students will naturally focus on sociocultural aspects in part because they are more familiar with concepts such as leadership, problem-solving, and teamwork than scope, WBS, and baseline budgets. Furthermore interpersonal friction is often a source of consternation on student projects. The instructor may have to point out that interpersonal conflicts often arise from ill-defined scopes, uneven work schedules, and poor planning. 4. Check out the Project Management Institute’s home page at www.pmi.org. a. Review general information about PMI as well as membership information. b. See if there is a PMI chapter in your state. If not, where is the closest one? c. Use the search function at the PMI home page to find information on Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). What are the major knowledge areas of PMBOK? d. Explore other links that PMI provides. What do these links tell you about the nature and future of project management? Note: If you have any difficulty accessing any of the Web addresses listed here or elsewhere in the text, you can find up-to-date addresses on the home page of Dr. Erik Larson, coauthor of this text: http://www.bus.orst.edu/faculty/bio.htm?UserName=Larson Case A Day in the Life This case shows a glimpse of what it is like to be a project manager. It also underscores that being a project manager is more social than technical and that project managers spend the majority of their time interacting with various people who impact a project. Note: This case can either be used up front in the course or towards the end when the sociocultural aspects of project management have been covered. 1. How effectively do you think Rachel spent her day? Students will be divided in their evaluation of Rachel. Some will argue that she is inefficient and does not have control over her time. Others will argue that this is the nature of the job, and is to be expected. They will point out that she is appropriately spending her time managing relations and keeping on top of things that affect the project. We tend to observe that students with little work experience are much more critical than those with work experience.
- 10. 1-6 Note: International students often take exception to Rachel devoting lunch time to gossiping and taking time to relax and listen to music. They feel these are inappropriate behaviors. When used towards the end of the course the case can stimulate a lively discussion between international and American students. 2. What does the case tell you about what it is like to be a project manager? Rachel’s day underscores three key functions project managers spend their time performing: a. Building and sustaining interpersonal relations. Project managers have to network and develop good working relations with team members and other project stakeholders. b. Information gathering and dissemination. Project managers are the information hub for their projects. They are in constant communication with various stakeholders, collecting information from various sources, and sending it to those who have a need to know. c. Decision-making. Project managers consult with various people to make decisions necessary to complete the project.
- 11. 1-7 Supplemental Case South American Adventures Unlimited This case was included in the first two editions of the book and is included here so that teachers can hand it out or post it on the web for class discussion. SA Adventures Unlimited was formed four years ago by Michael and Jill Rodriguez. Michael was a trained geologist, while Jill had a master’s degree in Spanish. They were both avid outdoor enthusiasts and fell in love while trekking across the Andes in Chile. Upon graduation they seized upon the idea of starting their own specialized tour business that would focus on organizing and leading “high-end” adventure trips in South America. Their first trip was a three-week excursion across Ecuador and Peru. The trip was a resounding success, and they became convinced that they could make a livelihood doing something they both enjoyed. After the first year, Adventures Unlimited began to slowly expand the size and scope of the business. The Rodriguezes’ strategy was a simple one. They recruited experienced, reliable people who shared their passion for South America and the outdoors. They helped these people organize specific trips and advertised the excursion over the Internet and in travel magazines. Adventures Unlimited has grown from offering 4 trips a year to having 16 different excursions scheduled, including trips to Central America. They now had an administrative support staff of three people and a relatively stable group of five trip planners/guides whom they hired on a trip-by-trip contract basis. The company enjoyed a high level of repeat business and often used their customers’ suggestions to organize future trips. Although the Rodriguezes were pleased with the success of their venture, they were beginning to encounter problems that worried them about the future. A couple of the tours went over budget because of unanticipated costs, which eroded that year’s profit. In one case, they had to refund 30 percent of the tour fee because a group was stranded five days in Blanco Puente after missing a train connection. They were also having a hard time maintaining the high level of customer satisfaction to which they were accustomed. Customers were beginning to complain about the quality of the accommodations and the price of the tours. One group, unfortunately, was struck by a bad case of food poisoning. Finally, the Rodriguezes were having a hard time tracking costs across projects and typically did not know how well they did until after their taxes were prepared. This made it difficult to plan future excursions. The Rodriguezes shared these concerns around the family dinner table. Among the members in attendance was Michael’s younger brother, Mario, a student at a nearby university. After dinner, Mario approached Michael and Jill and suggested that they look into what business people called “project management.” He had been briefly exposed to project management in his Business Operations class and felt that it might apply to their tour business.
- 12. 1-8 1. To what extent does project management apply to Adventures Unlimited? 2. What kind of training in project management should the Rodriguezes, the administrative staff, and tour guides receive to improve the operation of Adventures Unlimited? Try to identify major topics or skill sets that should be addressed. This short case is intended to introduce students to the wide range of issues surrounding project management. It is also intended to expand students’ awareness of the application of project management beyond traditional construction and product development projects. 1. To what extent does project management apply to Adventures Unlimited? Students should be encouraged to relate Adventures Unlimited to the concepts and ideas in the chapter. For example, each tour has an established objective, a defined life span, is unique, and is constrained by time, cost, and performance requirements. Likewise, each tour follows the project life cycle. When viewed from this angle, students recognize that Adventures Unlimited is in the business of managing projects. 2. What kind of training in project management should the Rodriguezes, the administrative staff, and tour guides receive to improve the operation of Adventures Unlimited? Try to identify major topics or skill sets that should be addressed. At first students may struggle to identify major topics and skill sets due to their lack of familiarity with project management. They should be encouraged to identify different tasks and decisions that have to be made to organize and lead a tour as well as manage a tour business. For example, in leading a specific tour the tasks would include defining the scope of the tour, scheduling the itinerary, developing a budget, negotiating contracts, and identifying and reducing risks. The Rodriguezes also have to manage a project organization which involves selecting which tours to sponsor, hiring and training guides, marketing tours, and controlling costs. An alternative teaching strategy would be to have students access the PMI PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) from the Web site mentioned at the end of the chapter and ask them to relate the core knowledge areas (for example, Project Integration Management, Project Scope Management) to the Adventures Unlimited. This would be a good way to expose students to the core elements of project management and see how the core elements help them relate to a less conventional project management business. Another alternative strategy would be to simply present an overview of PMBOK by displaying TP 1-1 and using it to guide the discussion. Ask students to identify a specific activity that would apply to each of the nine core processes. Use this as an opportunity to identify which core processes will be covered in your course and which will not.
- 14. 1-10 TP 1-1 PMBOK: Nine Knowledge Areas 1. Project Integration Management 2. Project Scope Management 3. Project Time Management 4. Project Cost Management 5. Project Quality Management 6. Project Human Resource Management 7. Project Communications Management 8. Project Risk Management 9. Project Procurement Management
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- 16. Nor is Madame dressed in Parisian fashion. She is lacking in style, and is unacquainted with the great dressmakers. She is somewhat of a fright, as they say. Although she shows a certain pretension in her costumes, she is at least ten years behind the fashion. And what a fashion! Still, she would not be bad-looking, if she chose not to be; at least, she would not be too bad-looking. Her worst fault is that she awakens in you no sympathy,—that she is a woman in nothing. But she has regular features, pretty hair naturally blonde, and a beautiful skin; in fact, she has too much color, as if she were suffering from some internal malady. I know this type of woman, and I am not to be deceived by the brilliancy of their complexion. They are pink on the surface, yes, but within they are rotten. They cannot stand up straight, they cannot walk, they cannot live, except by the aid of girdles, trusses, pessaries, and a whole collection of secret horrors and complex mechanisms. Which does not prevent them from making a show in society. Yes, indeed, they are coquettish, if you please; they flirt in the corners, they exhibit their painted flesh, they ogle, they wiggle; and yet they are fit for nothing but preservation in alcohol. Oh! misfortune! One has but little satisfaction with them, I assure you, and it is not always agreeable to be in their service. I do not know whether it is from temperament or from organic indisposition, but, judging from the expression of Madame's face, her severe gestures, and the stiff bending of her body, she cares nothing at all for love. She has the sharpness and sourness of an old maid, and her whole person seems dried up and mummified,—a rare thing with blondes. Not such women as Madame does beautiful music, like that of "Faust",—oh! that "Faust"!—cause to fall with languor and swoon voluptuously in the arms of a handsome man. Oh, no indeed! She does not belong to that class of very ugly women into whose faces the ardor of sex sometimes puts so much of radiant life, so much of seductive beauty. After all, though, one cannot trust too securely in airs like those of Madame. I have known women of the most severe and crabbed type, who drove away all thought of desire and love, and who yet were famous rovers.
- 17. Although Madame forces herself to be amiable, she surely is not up to date, like some that I have seen. I believe her to be very wicked, very spying, very fault-finding,—a dirty character and a wicked heart. She must be continually at people's heels, pestering them in all ways. "Do you know how to do this?" and "Do you know how to do that?" or again: "Are you in the habit of breaking things? Are you careful? Have you a good memory? Are you orderly?" There is no end to it. And also: "Are you clean? I am very particular about cleanliness; I pass over many things, but I insist upon cleanliness." Does she take me for a farm girl, a peasant, a country servant? Cleanliness? Oh! I know that chestnut. They all say that. And often, when one goes to the bottom of things, when one turns up their skirts and examines their linen, how filthy they are! Sometimes it is disgusting enough to turn one's stomach. Consequently I distrust Madame's cleanliness. When she showed me her dressing-room, I did not notice any bath, or any of the things that are necessary to a woman who takes proper care of herself. And what a scant supply she has of bibelots, bottles, and all those private and perfumed articles with which I am so fond of messing! I long, for the sake of amusement, to see Madame naked. She must be a pretty sight. In the evening, as I was setting the table, Monsieur entered the dining-room. He had just returned from a hunt. He is a very tall man, with broad shoulders, a heavy black moustache, and a dull complexion. His manners are a little heavy and awkward, but he seems good-natured. Evidently he is not a man of genius, like M. Jules Lemaître, whom I have so often served in the Rue Christophe- Colomb, or a man of elegance, like M. de Janzé. Ah, M. de Janzé! There was a man for you! Yet he is sympathetic. His thick and curly hair, his bull neck, his calves that look like a wrestler's, his thick, intensely red, and smiling lips, testify to his strength and good humor. He is not indifferent. That I saw directly from his mobile, sniffing, sensual nose, and from his extremely brilliant eyes, which are at once gentle and fun-loving. Never, I think, have I met a human being with such eyebrows, thick to the point of obscenity,
- 18. and with so hairy hands. Like most men of little intelligence and great muscular development, he is very timid. He surveyed me with a very queer air, an air in which there was kindness, surprise, and satisfaction,—something also of salaciousness, but without impudence, something of an undressing look, but without brutality. It is evident that Monsieur is not accustomed to such chambermaids as I, that I astonish him, and that I have made a great impression on him at the start. He said to me, with a little embarrassment: "Ah! Ah! So you are the new chambermaid?" I bent forward, slightly lowered my eyes, and then, modest and mutinous at once, I answered simply, in my gentlest voice: "Why, yes, Monsieur." Then he stammered: "So you have come? That's very good, that's very good." He would have liked to say something further,—was trying, indeed, to think of something to say,—but, being neither eloquent or at his ease, he did not find anything. I was greatly amused at his embarrassment. But, after a short silence, he asked: "You come from Paris, like that?" "Yes, Monsieur." "That's very good, that's very good." And growing bolder: "What is your name?" "Célestine, Monsieur." He rubbed his hands,—a mannerism of his,—and went on: "Célestine. Ah! Ah! that's very good. Not a common name; in fact, a pretty name. Provided Madame does not oblige you to change it. She has that mania."
- 19. I answered, in a tone of dignified submission: "I am at Madame's disposition." "Undoubtedly, undoubtedly. But it is a pretty name." I almost burst out laughing. Monsieur began to walk up and down the room; then, suddenly, he sat down in a chair, stretched out his legs, and, putting into his look something like an apology, and into his voice something like a prayer, he asked: "Well, Célestine,—for my part, I shall always call you Célestine,—will you help me to take off my boots? That does not annoy you, I hope." "Certainly not, Monsieur." "Because, you see, these confounded boots are very difficult to manage; they come off very hard." With a movement that I tried to make harmonious and supple, and even provocative, I knelt before him, and, while I was helping him to take off his boots, which were damp and covered with mud, I was perfectly conscious that the perfumes of my neck were exciting his nose, and that his eyes were following with increasing interest the outlines of my form as seen through my gown. Suddenly he murmured: "Great heavens! Célestine, but you smell good." Without raising my eyes, I assumed an air of innocence: "I, Monsieur?" "Surely, you; it can hardly be my feet." "Oh! Monsieur!" And this "Oh! Monsieur!" at the same time that it was a protest in favor of his feet, was also a sort of friendly reprimand,—friendly to the point of encouragement,—for his familiarity. Did he understand? I think so, for again, with more force, and even with a sort of amorous trembling, he repeated:
- 20. "Célestine, you smell awfully good,—awfully good." Ah! but the old gentleman is making free. I appeared as if slightly scandalized by his insistence, and kept silence. Timid as he is, and knowing nothing of the tricks of women, Monsieur was disturbed. He feared undoubtedly that he had gone too far, and, suddenly changing his idea, he asked: "Are you getting accustomed to the place, Célestine?" That question? Was I getting accustomed to the place? And I had been there but three hours. I had to bite my lips to keep from laughing. The old gentleman has queer ways; and, really, he is a little stupid. But that makes no difference. He does not displease me. In his very vulgarity he reveals a certain power and masculinity which are not disagreeable to me. When his boots had been taken off, and to leave him with a good impression of me, I asked him, in my turn: "I see Monsieur is a hunter. Has Monsieur had a good hunt to-day?" "I never have good hunts, Célestine," he answered, shaking his head. "I hunt for the sake of walking,—for the sake of riding,—that I may not be here, where I find it tiresome." "Ah! Monsieur finds it tiresome here?" After a pause, he gallantly corrected himself. "That is to say, I did find it tiresome. For now, you see, it is different." Then, with a stupid and moving smile: "Célestine?" "Monsieur." "Will you get me my slippers? I ask your pardon." "But, Monsieur, it is my business."
- 21. "Yes, to be sure; they are under the stairs, in a little dark closet, at the left." I believe that I shall get all that I want of this type. He is not shrewd; he surrenders at the start. Ah! one could lead him far. The dinner, not very luxurious, consisting of the leavings from the day before, passed off without incident, almost silently. Monsieur devours, and Madame picks fastidiously at the dishes with sullen gestures and disdainful mouthings. But she absorbs powders, syrups, drops, pills, an entire pharmacy which you have to be very careful to place on the table, at every meal, beside her plate. They talked very little, and what they did say concerned local matters and people of little or no interest to me. But I gathered that they have very little company. Moreover, it was plain that their thoughts were not on what they were saying. They were watching me, each according to the ideas that prompted him or her, each moved by a different curiosity; Madame, severe and stiff, contemptuous even, more and more hostile, and dreaming already of all the dirty tricks that she would play me; Monsieur, slyly, with very significant winks, and, although he tried to conceal them, with strange looks at my hands. Really, I don't know what there is about my hands that so excites men. For my part, I seemed to be taking no notice of their game. I went and came with dignity, reserved, adroit, and distant. Ah! if they could have seen my soul, if they could have heard my soul, as I saw and heard theirs! I adore waiting on table. It is there that one surprises one's masters in all the filthiness, in all the baseness of their inner natures. Prudent at first, and watchful of each other, little by little they reveal themselves, exhibit themselves as they are, without paint and without veils, forgetting that some one is hovering around them, listening and noting their defects, their moral humps, the secret sores of their existence, and all the infamies and ignoble dreams
- 22. that can be contained in the respectable brains of respectable people. To collect these confessions, to classify them, to label them in our memory, for use as a terrible weapon on the day of settlement, is one of the great and intense joys of our calling, and the most precious revenge for our humiliations. From this first contact with my new masters I have obtained no precise and formal indications. But I feel that things do not go well here, that Monsieur is nothing in the house, that Madame is everything, that Monsieur trembles before Madame like a little child. Oh! he hasn't a merry time of it, the poor man! Surely he sees, hears, and suffers all sorts of things. I fancy that I shall get some amusement out of it, at times. At dessert, Madame, who, during the meal, had been continually sniffing at my hands, my arms, and my waist, said, in a clear and cutting tone: "I do not like the use of perfumes." As I did not answer, pretending to ignore the fact that the remark was addressed to me, she added: "Do you hear, Célestine?" "Very well, Madame." Then I looked stealthily at poor Monsieur, who likes perfumes, or who at least likes my perfume. With his elbows on the table, apparently indifferent, but really humiliated and distressed, he was following the flight of a wasp which had been lingering over a plate of fruit. And there was now a dismal silence in this dining-room, which the twilight had just invaded, and something inexpressibly sad, something unspeakably heavy, fell from the ceiling on these two beings, concerning whom I really asked myself of what use they are and what they are doing on earth. "The lamp, Célestine." It was Madame's voice, sharper than ever in the silence and the shade. It made me start.
- 23. "Do you not see that it is dark? I should not have to ask you for the lamp. Let it be the last time." While lighting the lamp,—this lamp which can be repaired only in England,—I had a strong desire to cry out to poor Monsieur: "Just wait a little, my old man, and fear nothing, and don't distress yourself. You shall eat and drink the perfumes that you so love, and of which you are so deprived. You shall breathe them, I promise you; you shall breathe them in my hair, on my lips, on my neck. And the two of us will lead this blockhead a merry dance, I answer for it." And, to emphasize this silent invocation, I took care, as I placed the lamp upon the table, to slightly brush against Monsieur's arm, and I went out. The servants' hall is not gay. Besides myself, there are only two domestics,—a cook, who is always scolding, and a gardener- coachman, who never says a word. The cook's name is Marianne; that of the gardener-coachman, Joseph. Stupid peasants. And what heads they have! She, fat, soft, flabby, sprawling, a neck emerging in a triple cushion from a dirty neckkerchief which looks as if she wiped her kettles with it, two enormous and shapeless breasts rolling beneath a sort of blue cotton camisole covered with grease, her too short dress disclosing thick ankles and big feet encased in grey woolen; he, in shirt-sleeves, work-apron, and wooden shoes, shaven, dry, nervous, with an evil grimace on his lips which stretch from ear to ear, and a devious gait, the sly movements of a sacristan. Such are my two companions. No dining-room for the servants. We take our meals in the kitchen, at the same table where, during the day, the cook does her dirty work, carves her meats, cleans her fish, and cuts up her vegetables, with fingers fat and round as sausages. Really, that is scarcely
- 24. proper. The fire in the stove renders the atmosphere of the room stifling; odors of old grease, of rancid sauces, of continual fryings, circulate in the air. While we eat, a kettle in which the dogs' soup is boiling exhales a fetid vapor that attacks your throat and makes you cough. One almost vomits. More respect is shown for prisoners in their cells and dogs in their kennels. We had bacon and cabbage, and stinking cheese; for drink, sour cider. Nothing else. Earthen plates, with cracked enamel, and which smell of burnt grease, and tin forks, complete this pretty service. Being too new in the house, I did not wish to complain. But neither did I wish to eat. Do further damage to my stomach, no, thank you! "Why don't you eat?" asked the cook. "I am not hungry." I uttered this in a very dignified tone; then Marianne grunted: "Perhaps Mademoiselle must have truffles?" Without showing anger, but with a stiff and haughty air, I replied: "Why, you know, I have eaten truffles. Not everybody here can say as much." That shut her up. Meantime the gardener-coachman was filling his mouth with big pieces of bacon and examining me stealthily. I cannot say why, but this man has an embarrassing look, and his silence troubles me. Although he is no longer young, I am astonished at the suppleness and elasticity of his movements; the undulations of his loins are reptilian. Let me describe him in greater detail. His stiff, grizzled hair, his low forehead, his oblique eyes, his prominent cheek-bones, his broad, strong jaw, and his long, fleshy, turned-up chin, give him a strange character that I cannot define. Is he a simpleton? Is he a rascal? I cannot tell. Yet it is curious that this man holds my attention as he does. After a time this obsession lessens and disappears. And I realize that this is simply another of the thousands and thousands of tricks of my excessive, magnifying, and romantic
- 25. imagination, which causes me to see things and people as too beautiful or as too ugly, and which compels me to make of this miserable Joseph a being superior to the stupid countryman, to the heavy peasant that he really is. Towards the end of the dinner, Joseph, still without saying a word, took from his apron-pocket the "Libre Parole," and began to read it attentively, and Marianne, softened by having drunk two full decanters of cider, became more amiable. Sprawling on her chair, her sleeves rolled up and revealing bare arms, her cap set a little awry upon her uncombed hair, she asked me where I came from, where I had been, if I had had good places, and if I was against the Jews. And we talked for some time, in an almost friendly way. In my turn I asked her for information concerning the house, whether many people came and what sort of people, whether Monsieur was attentive to the chambermaids, whether Madame had a lover. Oh! but you should have seen her head, and that of Joseph, too, whose reading was suddenly interrupted, now and then, by my questions. How scandalized and ridiculous they were! You have no idea how far behind the times they are in the country. They know nothing, they see nothing, they understand nothing; the most natural thing abashes them. And yet, he with his awkward respectability, she with her virtuous disorder,—nothing will get it out of my mind that they are intimate. Oh! indeed, one must really be in a bad way to be satisfied with a type like that. "It is easy to see that you come from Paris, from I know not where," remarked the cook, in a tone of bitter reproach. Whereupon Joseph, with a toss of his head, curtly added: "Sure." And he began to read the "Libre Parole" again. Marianne rose heavily, and took the kettle from the fire. We talked no more. Then I thought of my last place, of Monsieur Jean, the valet, so distinguished with his black side-whiskers and his white skin, for which he cared as if he were a woman. Ah! he was such a
- 26. handsome fellow, Monsieur Jean, so gay, so nice, so delicate, so artful, when at night he read aloud to us from the "Fin de Siècle" or told us salacious and touching stories, or familiarized us with the contents of Monsieur's letters. Things have changed to-day. How did I ever come to get stranded here, among such people, and far from everything that I like? I almost want to cry. And I am writing these lines in my chamber, a dirty little chamber, at the top of the house, open to all winds, to the winter's cold, to the summer's burning heat. No other furniture than a paltry iron bed and a paltry white-wood wardrobe which does not close and where I have not room enough to arrange my things. No other light than a tallow candle that smokes and runs down into a brass candlestick. It is pitiful. If I wish to continue to write this diary, or even to read the novels that I have brought, or to tell my fortune with the cards, I shall have to buy wax candles with my own money, for, as for Madame's wax candles,—nit! as Monsieur Jean would say,—they are under lock and key. To-morrow I will try to get a little settled. Over my bed I will nail my little gilt crucifix, and on the mantel I will place my painted porcelain virgin, together with my little boxes, my bric-à-brac, and the photographs of Monsieur Jean, so as to penetrate this hole with a ray of privacy and joy. Marianne's room is next to mine. A thin partition separates us, and you can hear everything that goes on. I thought that Joseph, who sleeps in the out-buildings, might visit Marianne to-night. But no. For a long time Marianne turned about in her room, coughing, hawking, dragging chairs, moving a heap of things. Now she is snoring. It is doubtless in the day-time that they have their clandestine meetings.
- 27. A dog barks, far away, in the country. It is nearly two o'clock, and my light is going out. I, too, am obliged to go to bed. But I feel that I shall not sleep. Ah! how old I shall grow in this hovel! Yes, indeed! II September 15. I have not yet written a single time the name of my masters. It is a ridiculous and comical name: Lanlaire; Monsieur and Madame Lanlaire. You see at once the plays that can be made on such a name, and the jokes to which it is bound to give rise. As for their Christian names, they are, perhaps, more ridiculous than their surname, and, if I may say so, they complete it. That of Monsieur is Isidore; that of Madame, Euphrasie. Euphrasie! Think of it! I have just been to the haberdasher's to match some silk. And the woman who keeps the shop has given me some information as to the house. It is not delightful. But, to be just, I must say that I have never met such a chattering jade. If the dealers of whom my masters buy speak in this way of them, what must be said of them by those whom they do not patronize? My! but they have good tongues in the country. Monsieur's father was a manufacturer of cloths, and a banker, at Louviers. He went into a fraudulent bankruptcy that emptied all the little purses of the region, and was condemned to ten years' imprisonment, which, in view of the forgeries, abuses of confidence, thefts, and crimes of all sorts, that he had committed, was deemed a very light sentence. While he was serving his time at Gaillon, he died. But he had taken care to put aside, and in a safe place, it seems, four hundred and fifty thousand francs, which, artfully
- 28. withheld from the ruined creditors, constitute Monsieur's entire personal fortune. Ah! you see, it is no trick at all to be rich. Madame's father was much worse, although he was never sentenced to imprisonment, and departed this life respected by all the respectable people. He was a dealer in men. The haberdasher explained to me that, under Napoleon III, when everybody was not obliged to serve in the army, as is the case to-day, the rich young men who were drawn by lot for service had the right to send a substitute. They applied to an agency or to a Monsieur who, in consideration of a premium varying from one to two thousand francs, according to the risks at the time, found them a poor devil, who consented to take their place in the regiment for seven years, and, in case of war, to die for them. Thus was carried on in France the trade in whites, as in Africa the trade in blacks. There were men- markets, like cattle-markets, but for a more horrible butchery. That does not greatly astonish me. Are there, then, none to-day? What, I should like to know, are the employment-bureaus and the public houses, if not slave-fairs, butcher-shops for the sale of human meat? According to the haberdasher, it was a very lucrative business, and Madame's father, who had a monopoly of it for the entire department, showed great skill in it,—that is to say, he kept for himself and put in his pocket the larger part of the premium. Ten years ago he died, mayor of Mesnil-Roy, substitute justice of the peace, councillor-general, president of the board of vestrymen, treasurer of the charity bureau, decorated, and leaving, in addition to the Priory, which he had bought for nothing, twelve hundred thousand francs, of which six hundred thousand went to Madame,— for Madame has a brother who has gone to the bad, and they do not know what has become of him. Well, say what you will, that is money that can hardly be called clean, if, indeed, there be any clean money. For my part, it is very simple; I have seen nothing but dirty money and wicked wealth. The Lanlaires—is it not enough to disgust you?—have, then, more then a million. They do nothing but economize, and they spend
- 29. hardly a third of their income. Curtailing everything, depriving others and themselves, haggling bitterly over bills, denying their words, recognizing no agreements save those that are written and signed, one must keep an eye on them, and in business affairs never open the door for any dispute whatever. They immediately take advantage of it, to avoid payment, especially with the little dealers who cannot afford the costs of a lawsuit, and the poor devils who are defenceless. Naturally, they never give anything, except from time to time to the church, for they are very pious. As for the poor, they may die of hunger before the door of the Priory, imploring and wailing. The door remains always closed. "I even believe," said the haberdasher, "that, if they could take something from the beggar's sack, they would do it remorselessly, with a savage joy." And she added, by way of a monstrous example: "All of us here who earn our living with difficulty, when giving hallowed bread, buy cake for the purpose. It is a point of propriety and pride. They, the dirty misers, they distribute,—what? Bread, my dear young woman. And not first-class bread at that, not even white bread. No, workman's bread. Is it not shameful,—people as rich as they are? Why, one day the wife of Paumier, the cooper, heard Madame Lanlaire say to the priest, who was mildly reproaching her for this avarice: 'Monsieur le curé, that is always good enough for these people.'" One must be just, even with his masters. Though there is only one voice in regard to Madame, they have nothing against Monsieur. They do not detest Monsieur. All agree in declaring that Monsieur is not proud, that he would be generous to people, and would do much good, if he could. The trouble is that he cannot. Monsieur is nothing in his own house,—less than the servants, badly treated as they are, less than the cat, to whom everything is allowed. Little by little, and for the sake of tranquillity, he has abrogated all his authority as master of the house, all his dignity as a man, into the hands of his wife. Madame directs, regulates, organizes, administers everything.
- 30. Madame attends to the stable, to the yard, to the garden, to the cellar, and to the wood-house, and is sure to find something amiss everywhere. Never do things go to her liking, and she continually pretends that they are being robbed. What an eye she has! It is inconceivable. They play her no tricks, be sure, for she knows them all. She pays the bills, collects the dividends and rents, and makes the bargains. She has the devices of an old bookkeeper, the indelicacies of a corrupt process-server, the ingenious strategy of a usurer. It is incredible. Of course, she holds the purse, and ferociously; and she never loosens the strings, except to let in more money. She leaves Monsieur without a sou; the poor man has hardly enough to buy his tobacco. In the midst of his wealth, he is even more destitute than the rest of us here. However, he does not balk; he never balks. He obeys like the comrades. Oh! how queer he is at times, with his air of a tired and submissive dog! When, Madame being out, there comes a dealer with a bill, a poor man with his poverty, a messenger who wants a tip, you ought to see Monsieur. Monsieur is really a comical sight. He fumbles in his pockets, gropes about, blushes, apologizes, and says, with a sorrowful face: "Why, I have no change about me. I have only thousand-franc bills. Have you change for a thousand francs? No? Then you will have to call again." Thousand-franc bills, he, who never has a hundred sous about him. Even his letter-paper Madame keeps locked in a closet, of which she holds the key, and she gives it out to him sheet by sheet, grumbling: "Thank you, but you use a tremendous amount of paper. To whom, then, can you be writing that you use so much?" The only thing that they reproach him with, the only thing that they do not understand, is the undignified weakness in consequence of which he allows himself to be led in this way by such a shrew. For no one is ignorant of the fact—indeed, Madame shouts it from the house-top—that Monsieur and Madame are no longer anything to each other. Madame, who has some internal disease and can have no children, will not allow him to approach her.
- 31. "Then," asked the haberdasher, in finishing her conversation, "why is Monsieur so good and so cowardly toward a woman who denies him not only money, but pleasure? I would bring him to his senses, and rudely, too." And this is what happens. When Monsieur, who is a vigorous man, and who is also a kindly man, wishes to enjoy himself away from home, or to bestow a little charity upon a poor man, he is reduced to ridiculous expedients, to clumsy excuses, to not very dignified loans, the discovery of which by Madame brings on terrible scenes, —quarrels that often last for months. Then Monsieur is seen going off through the fields, walking, walking, like a madman, making furious and threatening gestures, crushing the turf beneath his feet, talking to himself, in the wind, in the rain, in the snow; and then coming back at night more timid, more bowed, more trembling, more conquered than ever. The curious, and also the melancholy, part of the matter is that, amid the worst recriminations of the haberdasher, among these unveiled infamies, this shameful vileness, which is hawked from mouth to mouth, from shop to shop, from house to house, it is evident that the jealousy of the town's-people toward the Lanlaires is even greater than their contempt for them. In spite of their criminal uselessness, of their social wrong-doing, in spite of all that they crush under the weight of their hideous million, this million none the less surrounds them with a halo of respectability, and almost of glory. The people bow lower to them than to others, and receive them more warmly than others. They call—with what fawning civility!—the dirty hovel in which they live in the filth of their soul, the château. To strangers coming to inquire concerning the curiosities of the region I am sure that the haberdasher herself, hateful though she is, would answer: "We have a beautiful church, a beautiful fountain, and, above all, we have something else very beautiful,—the Lanlaires, who possess a million and live in a château. They are frightful people, and we are very proud of them."
- 32. The worship of the million! It is a low sentiment, common not only to the bourgeois, but to most of us also,—the little, the humble, the penniless of this world. And I myself, with my frank ways and my threats to break everything, even I am not free from this. I, whom wealth oppresses; I, who owe to it my sorrows, my vices, my hatreds, the bitterest of my humiliations, and my impossible dreams, and the perpetual torment of my life,—well, as soon as I find myself in presence of a rich man, I cannot help looking upon him as an exceptional and beautiful being, as a sort of marvellous divinity, and, in spite of myself, surmounting my will and my reason, I feel rising, from the depths of my being, toward this rich man, who is very often an imbecile, and sometimes a murderer, something like an incense of admiration. Is it not stupid? And why? Why? On leaving this dirty haberdasher, and this strange shop, where, by the way, it was impossible for me to match my silk, I reflected with discouragement upon all that this woman had told me about my masters. It was drizzling. The sky was as dirty as the soul of this dealer in pinchbeck. I slipped along the slimy pavement of the street, and, furious against the haberdasher and against my masters, and against myself, furious against this country sky, against this mud, in which my heart and my feet were splashing, against the incurable sadness of the little town, I kept on repeating to myself: "Well, here is a clean place for you! I had seen everything but this. A nice hole I have fallen into!" Ah! yes, a nice hole indeed! And here is something more. Madame dresses herself all alone, and does her own hair. She locks herself securely in her dressing-room, and it is with difficulty that I can obtain an entrance. God knows what she does in there for hours and hours! This evening, unable to restrain myself, I knocked at the door squarely. And here is the little conversation that ensued between Madame and myself:
- 33. "Tac, tac!" "Who is there?" Ah! that sharp, shrill voice, which one would like to force back into her throat with one's fist! "It is I, Madame." "What do you want?" "I come to do the dressing-room." "It is done. Go away. And come only when I ring for you." That is to say that I am not even the chambermaid here. I do not know what I am here, and what my duties are. And yet, to dress and undress my mistresses and to do their hair is the only part of my work that I like. I like to play with night-gowns, with dresses and ribbons, to dabble among the linens, the hats, the laces, the furs, to rub my mistresses after the bath, to powder them, to rub their feet with pumice-stone, to perfume their breasts, to oxygenize their hair, to know them, in short, from the tips of their slippers to the peak of their chignon, to see them all naked. In this way they become for you something else than a mistress, almost a friend or an accomplice, often a slave. One inevitably becomes the confidant of a heap of things, of their pains, of their vices, of their disappointments in love, of the inner secrets of the household, of their diseases. To say nothing of the fact that, when one is adroit, one holds them by a multitude of details which they do not even suspect. One gets much more out of them. It is at once profitable and amusing. That is how I understand the work of a chambermaid. You cannot imagine how many there are—how shall I say that?— how many there are who are indecent and lewd in their privacy, even among those who, in society, pass for the most reserved and the most strict, and whose virtue is supposed to be unassailable. Ah! in the dressing-rooms how the masks fall! How the proudest fronts crack and crumble!
- 34. Well, what am I going to do here? In this country hole, with an impertinent minx like my new mistress, I have no favors to dream of, no distractions to hope for. I shall do stupid housework, wearisome sewing, and nothing else. Ah! when I remember the places where I have served, that makes my situation still sadder, more intolerably sad. And I have a great desire to go away,—to make my bow once for all to this country of savages. Just now I met Monsieur on the stairs. He was starting for a hunt. Monsieur looked at me with a salacious air. Again he asked me: "Well, Célestine, are you getting accustomed to the place?" Decidedly, it is a mania with him. I answered: "I do not know yet, Monsieur." Then, with effrontery: "And Monsieur, is he getting accustomed here?" Monsieur burst out laughing. Monsieur takes a joke well. Monsieur is really good-natured. "You must get accustomed, Célestine. You must get accustomed. Sapristi!" I was in a humor for boldness. Again I answered: "I will try, Monsieur,—with Monsieur's aid." I think that Monsieur was going to say something very stiff to me. His eyes shone like two coals. But Madame appeared at the top of the stairs. Monsieur was off in his direction, I in mine. It was a pity. This evening, through the door of the salon, I heard Madame saying to Monsieur, in the amiable tone that you can imagine:
- 35. "I wish no familiarity with my servants." Her servants? Are not Madame's servants Monsieur's servants? Well, indeed! III September 18. This morning (Sunday) I went to mass. I have already declared that, without being pious, I have religion all the same. Say and do what you like, religion is always religion. The rich, perhaps, can get along without it, but it is necessary for people like us. I know very well that there are individuals who make use of it in a rather queer fashion,—that many priests and good sisters scarcely do it honor. But never mind. When one is unhappy,—and, in our calling, we get more than our share of unhappiness,—it is the only thing that will soothe you. Only that, and love. Yes, but love, that is another sort of consolation. Consequently, even in impious houses, I never missed mass. In the first place, mass is an excursion, a distraction, time gained from the daily ennui of the household. And, above all, we meet comrades, hear stories, and form acquaintances. Ah! if, on going out of the chapel of the Assumptionists, I had wished to listen to the good-looking old gentlemen who whispered psalms of a curious sort in my ears, perhaps I should not be here to-day. To-day the weather is improved. There is a beautiful sun,—one of those misty suns that make walking agreeable and sadness less burdensome. I know not why, but, under the influence of this blue and gold morning, I have something like gaiety in my heart. We are about a mile from the church. The way leading to it is a pleasant one,—a little path winding between hedges. In spring it must be full of flowers, wild cherry trees, and the hawthorns that
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