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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Muse of the Department by Honore de Balzac: debts; he worked himself to death to pay them off while Dinah was laid
up; and, knowing him as she did, she thought him heroic. But after
this effort, appalled at having two women, two children, and two maids
on his hands, he was incapable of the struggle to maintain a family by
his pen when he had failed to maintain even himself. So he let things
take their chance. Then the ruthless speculator exaggerated the farce
of love-making at home to secure greater liberty abroad.
Dinah proudly endured the burden of life without support. The one
idea, "He loves me!" gave her superhuman strength. She worked as hard
as the most energetic spirits of our time. At the risk of her beauty
and health, Didine was to Lousteau what Mademoiselle Delachaux was to
The Muse of the Department |
