Weaving Imagery in Fromentin's Dominique

Eugene Fromentin's Dominque is an anti-Romantic work that none the less has many Romantic aspects. It uses first-person narration, its subject is illicit passion, and an aura of fatality is at times present. In this context, imagery of weaving and embroidering appears at critical moments. Its function is clearly to suggest the woven fabric of our destinies. But the lesson preached is not that of a fatal Romantic passion but one of sober social responsibility. When the protagonist is a victim of passion, the weaving imagery is negative: woven threads of passion that link people become horrible chains. When the hero finally realizes that illicit love must yield to social duty, the weaving imagery loses its negative value and appears in the idyllic form of a dutiful fiancée or wife making clothing for a family. Thus this imagery reinforces the explicit message of the narration. (RBG & NHS)