Olympia's Look

Suzanne Manet has a very unique personality and a strangely high level of character. She seems like she was very upset about all of her husband’s infidelities, but she hid it to the outside world. I don’t fully understand how Suzanne Manet maintained her sanity. Secretly she worried about whom else her husband cared for and how much each of his models meant to him. What kind of a life must she have lived? It is quite possible that she lived quite a naïve one until the later years. Maybe she saw what was going on between her husband and other women, but did not want to admit it. The way that she dealt with the select group of women following her husband’s death demonstrates her high level of character. While she could have been the bitter widow she still spoke with these women in a civil manner. I think that she secretly thought it was funny that the models held themselves in high esteem with Manet. It also appears that she tried to justify her position as his wife. She did this by saying that she was with Manet in his most intimate and scared moments which means she was closest to him. This led me to believe that she was slightly insecure about where he held her in his heart. However, the fact that she even went so far as to consider Victorine’s request for money means that she still cared deeply for her husband and hoped to honor his wishes.

One of my favorite parts of the story was when Victorine requested a share of money from the sale of the painting she modeled for. Suzanne Manet actually considered the request and visited Victorine. However, as she considered this she also felt that if Victorine considered herself in high esteem with Manet that she should have to suffer through the details of his death. This shows two things about Suzanne’s character. First, that she was an upstanding woman. She was civil with Victorine in a way that I wouldn’t expect her to be. Second, that she felt somewhat jealous of Victorine which seems entirely natural considering the circumstances. Another passage that interested me was when Suzanne got the letter to Isabelle that Helene was supposed to send. This part of the story really shows that Suzanne was deeply hurt, but was not about to make it known to the world. Instead she revels in the fact that she is his wife, not Isabelle and therefore she has the upper hand.

The way that Vreeland portrays Suzanne Manet leads me to think that she was just reacting to events in her life. However, she does react in a very calm way which demonstrates that she was a thinker as opposed to someone who instantly took action. Based on how Vreeland presents Suzanne, I think she was a person who aimed to please others, but after Manet’s death and all of his infidelities she would change in a way where she would first aim to please herself.

I think the writing of Olympia’s Look was much better and more interesting than that of The Yellow Jacket. However, this story seemed to jump around with the thought process which made it slightly difficult to follow. At the same time I found the writing to be intriguing and thought provoking. I am curious as to how Suzanne really treated the women when she encountered them because in specific parts of the story she was very straight forward and ruthless which seems like it would have been frowned on during her time.