Summary

In Chapter 1, Geneviève wakes 16-year-old Louise on March 3, 1885 in the Salpêtrière dormitory. Louise sleeps soundly, as sleep is her escape from "the events of three years ago” (2). The inmates call Geneviève “the Old Lady” (2). She is their supervisor.

Geneviève leads Louise to the doctor. Louise has grown accustomed to Geneviève’s “stern demeanor” (2). Geneviève knows “Louise is anxious” (3). The girls always worry “about meeting Charcot,” the lead doctor (3).

In the auditorium, the resident doctors watch from the stands as the doctors examine Louise. Charcot introduces his hypnosis work on Louise, “a patient afflicted with acute hysteria” (5). Geneviève admires Charcot. As the “embodiment of medicine,” Charcot is easier to believe in than God (6). She watches as he hypnotizes Louise, believing she is helping medicine and science progress.

Outside the Salpêtrière, Parisians are fascinated and...