Bruno, Chief of Police: A Novel of the French Countryside

“Bruno, whose loyalty was to his local community and its mayor rather than to the nominal laws of France, particularly when they were really laws the European Union made in Brussels, played a constant cat-and-mouse game with the inspectors who were charged with enforcing E.U. hygiene rules on the markets of France.”

This passage uses direct characterization to establish Bruno’s primary allegiance and introduces the novel’s thematic interest in The Importance of Preserving Cultural Identity and Heritage. The phrase “cat-and-mouse game” frames his opposition as a strategic contest, positioning him as a guardian of local tradition against impersonal bureaucracy. The author explicitly contrasts the “nominal laws of France” with the practical needs of Bruno’s community, foreshadowing a larger conflict between legal statutes and perceived justice.

“I told my nephew to take care of it with the other kids. They crept up and jammed a potato into the exhaust pipe while I was chatting with Colette and Duroc. That car won’t make ten kilometers before the engine quits.”

Karim’s explanation of the prank points to the novel’s thematic engagement with The Impact of the Past on the Present. Earlier in the chapter, this tactic is referred to as “the Resistance treatment,” which links a contemporary act of local defiance to the historical struggle against occupation. By having children execute this plan, the narrative suggests how these traditions of resistance are passed down through generations. This moment serves as an example of communal solidarity in action against an outside authority.

“Tears began to roll down the cheeks of the two men, and Marie-Louise broke down in sobs so that her flag wavered and all the children, even the teenagers, looked sobered, even touched, by this evidence of some great, unknowable trial that these old people had lived through.”

This description from the victory parade uses pathos to convey the immense weight of historical trauma on the present. The phrase “great, unknowable trial” functions as