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Chapter 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Thérèse Raquin, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Passion and Pleasure
Consequences and Delusion
Dependency and Resentment
Money, Greed, and Class
Summary
Analysis
Madame Raquin—the old woman who sits next to Thérèse each day in the shop—used to run a haberdashery just outside Paris for 25 years. After the death of her husband, she sold the business and used the money to create a pleasant life of relative solitude with her son, Camille, and her niece, Thérèse. They all lived together in a house situated on the banks of the Seine. Camille was already 20, but Madame Raquin still treated him like a child—he had been sick throughout his childhood, so she was used to constantly pampering him. He had turned into a weak young man, but his vulnerability just made his mother love him all the more.
There’s a sense of dependency in the Raquin family, as Camille has—as a sickly child—been forced to rely on his mother to keep him from dying. What’s more, Madame Raquin herself seems so attached to Camille that it’s as if she depends on him just as much as he depends on her—she needs him to be her vulnerable young boy so that she can play the role of the doting mother. As a result, she spoils him so much that it actually works against him, turning him into a helpless person and, in that way, suggesting that overreliance on other people can be rather harmful.
Themes
When Camille turned 18, he felt bored and stifled by his mother’s overbearing attention. Prone to a certain restlessness, he sought out a job, working for a local cloth merchant and earning a small monthly wage. Madame Raquin didn’t like him leaving the house for work, but he enjoyed it: working gave him “infinite pleasure” and a certain “vacant feeling” that he cherished. Although he saw himself as a loving person who greatly appreciated other people, the truth was that he only cared about himself and was focused solely on doing whatever would bring him the most satisfaction in life.
By showering him in love and affection, Madame Raquin turns Camille into a pompous, self-obsessed young man. To that end, Camille doesn’t want a job because he’s ambitious or hard-working—rather, it’s because he wants to get away from his mother. All in all, then, Madame Raquin’s obsession with Camille has negative consequences, driving him away from her while also ensuring that he moves through the world in a purely self-interested way.
Themes
When Camille wasn’t working, he would go down to the Seine with his cousin, Thérèse, who was the same age as him. Madame Raquin’s brother had brought Thérèse to her when Thérèse was only two—he had just gotten back from Algeria, where he had impregnated a woman who later died, leaving him with Thérèse. Madame Raquin happily took her in, raising her alongside Camille. In fact, the two children shared the same bed, meaning that Thérèse spent the majority of her first 18 years lying next to a feverish, sickly boy and helping Madame Raquin care for him.
Thérèse grows up trapped in a stifling environment. She’s forced to go along with Madame Raquin’s overprotective behavior toward Camille. As a result, it seems unlikely that she’s able to have a normal childhood in which it’s possible for her to explore her own interests and gain a sense of independence—instead, she’s stuck sharing a bed with her feverish cousin while her aunt obsesses over making his life as perfect as possible. In other words, she doesn’t lead a particularly fulfilling life as a child, which is perhaps why she later seeks out joy and pleasure so ardently as an adult.
Themes
The lifestyle Thérèse was forced to lead alongside Camille caused her to adopt a withdrawn, reserved attitude. But whenever she made a quick movement, it was evident that she was full of energy and power. She was often told to be still and quiet, but there was a passion smoldering inside her. Still, she and Camille got along relatively well, and Madame Raquin took it for granted that they would one day get married. But there was nothing romantic between them. When they played together, Camille treated her like nothing more than a playmate. Once, when he caught her off guard by jokingly pushing her, she reared up like a “wild animal,” jumping on him and battering him to the ground with a glint in her eyes—Camille was terrified.
The novel hints that there’s a raw, animalistic intensity lurking deep inside Thérèse. The problem, though, is that this intensity has been repressed and bottled up by her boring upbringing in the Raquin household. And as if it’s not bad enough that she has had to share a bed with Camille for her entire life, it now becomes clear that Madame Raquin expects them to get married, apparently not caring that they’re cousins. They don’t have a romantic connection, since they’ve grown up alongside each other as cousins, but this lack of passion just adds to the overall absence of pleasure and joy in the early stages of Thérèse’s life.
Themes
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When they’re old enough, Madame Raquin arranges for Camille and Thérèse to get married. That night, instead of heading into her own bedroom, Thérèse goes into Camille’s. The next morning, Camille seems exactly the same: he still looks sickly and unwell. And Thérèse, for her part, still seems apathetic and still has the same “frighteningly calm expression” she always wears.
It's not explicitly stated, but the implication here is that Camille and Thérèse may not have consummated their marriage. After all, nothing about them seems to change the next morning, perhaps subtly indicating that they didn’t have sex on their wedding night. The fact that Thérèse’s expression is described as “frighteningly calm” supports the idea that they didn’t have sex, since she would most likely be somewhat disturbed by having done such a thing with Camille, whom she clearly does not find attractive. Furthermore, the term “frighteningly calm” hints that there’s a certain sinister aspect to her tranquility, as if her composure is really just hiding deeper, more unnerving feelings.
Themes
