Folake Olayinka Ap European history 3rd period Middle class morality Social equality was always what the

French wanted. After one revolution to another some would think they will tire and let the social gap between the rich and poor stretch till it finally broke. But the French peasants were always passionate about what they wanted were they got that strength from since they didnt have enough bread. Yet in 1850 it might have seemed to the ordinary person that their years and years of relentless revolutions had finally produced something visible-change. The rich and the poor were both living in the same apartment complex, all was well. Except that the higher the floor a family lived the poorer they were. Mr. and Mrs. Steven sparks lived on the second floor they were part of the lower middle class, Mr. Steven had a job as an accountant he was making enough money to keep the family from starving. His wife was a stay at home mom and liked to see herself as one of the upper class. She was so engrossed with looking after herself that she started to isolate her husband. Mr. Steven had been having affair with the lady in floor one. Mr. Stevens excuse was that his wife didnt spend enough time with him so he had to get some affection from anyone he could find. One day Mrs. Steven went to get some new hair bow in the store three blocks away but before she could get to the store she realized that she took the wrong bag so she went back home but what she saw after she went into her sitting room would tear her life apart. Mr. Steven never went to work on Tuesdays-it was his day off-so he decided to invite Lady Jane (his mistress) up for a drink. They decided to go inside the sitting room and as he was kissing her his wife opened the door and caught him red-handed. Mrs. Steven was enraged how dare her husband cheat on

her, she saw a knife lying on the table and took it, running with lightning speed she plunged it into her husbands chest. The maid ran into the room and screamed as she saw mrs. Steven stab her husband she didnt know what to do so she ran outside shouting for help. Mrs. Steven was sent to the mental asylum and as for Mr. Steven well he died and Lady Jane killed herself. So that is middle class morality. From Mrs. Stevens stylish gown and relaxation of her features shows that she doesnt have any duty to perform apart from ordering her maid around and that she has someone to look after the kids. The maid sitting down at the corner and reading a newspaper kind of points of out the literacy rate in Paris at that time period, instead of her participating in the familys fun she is kind of isolated from them. Also the maid shows that the family has crossed from working class to middle class. The little kids in the picture also adds to the perfection of the drawing, the numerous toys that they have lying on the floor shows that they are used to getting showers of toys and because of how entranced they are with the perfect doll it seems to me like they are tired of their old toys so they are probably spoilt little brats. The normalcy of the cotton and frame hanging on the wall reflects how up in the social ladder Mr. Steven and his family are compared to others in the apartment complex.