Tradition vs. Modernity Theme Analysis

In The Ladies’ Paradise, small shops battle for survival against Mouret’s big department store, the Ladies’ Paradise. The small shops represent “old Paris,” following traditional business methods in which they sell a small, specialized range of products at a high price. In contrast, the Ladies’ Paradise—which represents “new Paris”—ignores traditional business models, instead sourcing hundreds of different goods to sell at low prices and creating an overwhelming and intoxicating atmosphere to draw the public. The small tradespeople try to defend their traditional methods, as when Bourras claims that his trade—selling hand-carved umbrellas—is about true art. However, The Ladies Paradise never fails to succeed, instead taking over small business after small business until the department store takes up an entire city block.

The department store’s success is something that Mouret and even Denise suggest is inevitable: customers love the bright colors in the displays and the variety of objects for sale. Some even experience “fits” of joy as they spend money. Large stores like the Ladies’ Paradise, the novel suggests, are the way of the future. Denise, who’s sympathetic toward the small tradesmen’s struggle but a proponent of big business, tries to protect the tradesmen from failure by urging them to conform to the changing times. However, she’s ultimately unsuccessful, and she even sees that the Ladies’ Paradise does far more than just bankrupt the small businesses. Her cousin Geneviève dies of heartbreak because Colomban—Baudu’s shop assistant to whom she was engaged—runs off with a salesgirl from the Ladies’ Paradise, suggesting that even a person raised in a traditional shop environment can fall prey to the allure of modernity. Later, Bourras’s umbrella shop is taken in his bankruptcy, making way for the Ladies’ Paradise to dominate the entire street. The demolition of Bourras’s shop and Geneviève’s burial are framed as funerals for Old Paris, leading to Denise’s painful realization that the progress occurs “over the bodies of the dead.” Put simply, The Ladies’ Paradise depicts the transition from the old into the new as inevitable and, moreover, suggests that those who refuse to adapt will pay a steep cost.