Olympia's Look

There are always stories connected with artists. Some of these stories address the experiences of those closest to the artist; how little whims take over a painter’s life and their loved ones are left to deal with the actions and consequences. In Susan Vreeland’s short story, “Olympia’s Look,” the reader sees this same scenario. After the death of Édouard Manet, his wife Suzanne must face the reality of some of her husband’s choices. Manet died of syphilis, and this fact is confirmation of Suzanne’s suspicions of Édouard’s affairs through the years. The audience also reads of Suzanne staying with Édouard as his leg was amputated, of nursing him through this illness, of never feeling equal to his models of intercepting a love letter Édouard writes. All of these little occurrences beat down a person’s soul and strength. Yet through it all Suzanne Manet endures and survives.

In the story there are two passages in particular that I feel highlight very well the strength of Suzanne’s character. When she sees Édouard give a letter to the maid for delivery and intercepts it from her and reads of his love and when see goes and confronts Victorine Meurent about the money and the reason for her husband’s death. In both instances, Suzanne is presented with an unpleasant situation and she deals with them. Perhaps in the scene with Victorine she goes a bit far, but who would blame a woman for seeking to fend off some of her own pain at the loss of her husband and vent to the woman she believes to have been the cause of his disease. She recalls in detail all the horrible nuances that syphilis caused Édouard. She does this as a way to force this woman to understand what an inkling of her pain feels like. And as a reader, you can see that she succeeds. Its not that she’s cruel, its more that no one understands what it feels like to love this man so extremely, and know that he was unfaithful and then to feel inferior to those that he cheated with. But it proves even more her conclusion that she was his love. She was more than a whim, or beauty to be lusted after, and that realization is the beginning of acceptance.

Most of Suzanne’s reactions to the situations are normal and human. To argue that it is or isn’t freewill is really personal opinion. She acts based on the situations at hand, in reaction to them but that isn’t to say that freewill is not used. She has to make a choice, the situation is the limiting factor, but there is always a choice. Based on the actions in the story, the reader can draw from it that she makes the best decision that she can at the time and that she will continue to survive after the death of Édouard. She is not one to give up or quit. And the reader can see that from her actions in the story. She creates confrontation so that she can achieve closure.

Vreeland does a good job of incorporating fact and fiction in a comprehensive story. Obviously it is fiction and one could comb through the story and find faults and problems, I actually like the fact that it is simplistic writing. It is easy to read and understand. An audience with very little knowledge of Édouard Manet, could understand the basic premise of the plot. The author does take liberties with the direction of the story and shaping the way the characters are presented, but that is one of the expectations and audience should anticipate with a fictional story.