Analysis Of The Painted Girls By Cathy Marie Parkn

The Parisians: A Not So Glamorous Lifestyle The text The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan is set in the late 1800's in Paris, France. In the early 1800's, the arts were the heart of European culture and played a large part in defining the European culture in its years to come. With dance as one of the most popular forms of entertainment, it quickly shot to fame and was thoroughly enjoyed, especially in the Romantic Era. At the time, many thought sending their daughter's to ballet school would do them good, as they would lead a better life onstage with a male protector, an abonnee, supporting them. The art of ballet became the main attraction of Europe and helped Europe rise to an even more superior continent with its high-class performances

It was also a time of culture where dance, theatre and imperialism art began to get popular (Ballet). The arts were becoming more accessible to the middle class members of society rather than specifically for royalty (National Gallery of Art, Washington France in the Nineteenth Century). The text shows the rise of popularity in both ballet and imperialism art through the characters professions and showed resistance against the movement. The art of imperialism was looked down upon and often scoffed on as many deemed it simple and worthless as proven through the multiple low-key exhibits in the book (National). Those in power, constant shifts between the Royalists, the Republicans and the Bonapartists, all seemed to dislike the new form of art but because of the unstable fight for power, rarely did the Parisians listen to them and instead the power shifted to the military and high ranked religious leaders as evident in the book (France History - French Third Republic). The history of France has greatly contributed to the storyline and helped shape the story to challenge the popular

As evident in the book, Marie was dismissed from the dance school without hesitation for missing two classes. Her teacher seems to care less about her now, telling her older sister "not to bother ... [as] [she] pushes the door open, says over her shoulder. 'Blanche had good sense to learn the part'" (Buchanan 331). This shows that no matter how skilled of a dancer you were, Marie was the spotlight dancer in a big play; it is easy to see how easily replaceable anyone is. This can also be seen through the dismissal of the elder Van Goethem sister. '[Antoinette] was [also] dismissed from the Paris Opera Ballet school for arguing with Monsieur Pluque' even though she was the best dancer in her class (Buchanan 6). This shows how expandable everyone in the industry was. When Antoinette offered her opinion, the director of dance told her she was 'stepping out of line' and dismissed her without another word. The strict discipline enforced from such a young age may lead to distress and may have affected the growth of these young girls. The school's method of teaching using such harsh discipline may have just been their way of preparing them for what the future might hold for