Chapter 17 Summary

Now that he's established as a plongeur, the narrator has thirty franks a week to spend on drink, so he can take place in the social life of the quarter. He describes his Saturday nights in the little bistro at the foot of the Hotel des Trois Moineaux.

His fellow workmen begin the evening in a jolly manner—drinking, singing, laughing, playing darts, and flirting with the women. Charlie reappears for the first time since his creepy introduction. One funny character, Furex, gives a political speech every Saturday night when he is thoroughly drunk, and people gather from all over the quarter to watch him and toy with him. By one o'clock, everyone is depressed, and headaches quickly ensue. Some get sick, but those Saturday nights make the rest of the week worth living for many working men in the quarter.

Chapter 17 Analysis