When I first flipped through Une Semaine de Bonté over break, it seemed like a book full of bizarre images that were slightly random and hard to draw a continuous narrative out of. Even the chapter headings seemed confusing, including “elements” that mostly departed from the traditional four of fire, water, earth, and air. After our class discussion today though, it is much easier to draw out familiar symbols that make the book possible to read. The elements, quotes at the beginning of each section, and the images themselves all make more sense when looked at together to create a relatively cohesive story.

The first section, Dimanche, seems to be about the corruption of the ruling classes and social elite. The element mud makes sense in this context because it has a connotation of being dirty, just as those with political power, often represented by lion-headed figures, are shown to be dirty through the images of debauchery and corruption that make up the body of this section. The quote at the beginning also ties into this theme. It reads: “The ermine is a very dirty animal. In itself it is a precious bedsheet, but as it has no change of linen, it does its laundry with its tongue.” The fur of the ermine is traditionally used to line the collars of ceremonial robes and the animal can therefore be read as a symbol of royalty. The quote seems to imply that although the ruling class may appear proper and even enviable on the surface, looking more deeply into their actions (which is done through the book’s images) will reveal that they are really involved in disreputable and unsavory actions.