Josie is a young high school teacher who arrives to the Light City hoping that she will heal her broken heart. Josie appears to run away from a tragic secret, as she seeks solace in the ambiguity of a tourist (Sussman 12). However, her tutor Nico breaks through the flimsy wall that she had built around herself through genuine caring and playful flirtation. The tutor observes her pupil keenly and shows determination of pulling her back into normal life. By the end of their learning session, the two have a symbiotic relationship as they help each other in making crucial decision that will assist each other in moving forward in their usual lives. Nico is in his early thirties, he tutors and is about to publish his first collection of poetry. Josie is suffering from a recent loss and finds a way of moving forward. The loss gave her an illicit feeling, which she feels she cannot share with any other person in her life. In the process, Josie settles on taking French lessons aimed at working on her accent and get out of her room in hotel. In this experience, Nico draws Josie out of the situation and gets her to live normally (Sussman 19).
In each passing day, the life of Josie undergoes a certain change, either a major or a minor change. Josie is determined to explore the city with a French tutor, learning about love, language, together with loss as her life intersect in surprising ways with the life of others. When Josie meets with her tutor, she succumbs to unexpected passion and unpredictable adventures. As she traverse the winding streets, intimate and grand boulevards of Paris they establish astonishing secrets about each other and come into understanding, the long hidden truths about each other (Sussman 87).
Josie acts as annoying after being consumed with her affair with Simon such that she alienates her best friend, together with her father and neglects her students. At one point, her boss noted that she was so distracted when she calls indicating that she was to quit her job. The boss proceeds to enquire whether something was going on. To Josie, loss is much a part of her experience of what was going on both figurative and literal.
In the story, the author has managed to avoid judging the story of Josie concerning her affair with a man who was married. This man appeared to give her real love. In general, this makes the story be character driven. The affair of Josie with a married man raises eyebrows as she is young and with good education (Sussman 94).This could be interpreted that her morals were loose. However, this could have resulted from the tough times she had gone through and the fact that she needed companion to help her forget her past without having to disclose it.
Josie grieved the loss of her married lover. This further shows how Josie had loose morals. The grieving of a married lover can be likened to promiscuity. This is because she engaged in love affairs with a person who she knew very well that was married. Josie had planned to have a Parisian vacation with her married lover but unfortunately, the lover died.
Despite knowing what the consequences would be for engaging in such a relationship, she proceeded to engage in it. She did not learn from her first affair but instead she proceeded to engage in a love relationship with her tutor an act that can be termed to be morally wrong (Sussman 71).
Josie can be described as a person who was adventurous and eager to gain new knowledge. This was observed in various occasions. First, is when she set out to learn French, which was a new language to her. It is also noted that on their second day with Chantal, Josie together with her colleagues, walked through a neighborhood that was filled with antique stores for Chantal to teach them furniture language and art and jewel (Sussman 76).The group is said to have stood in the fascinating clutter of the atelier of the old man, with the low steady voice of the man in his ear and the wood and solvent odors and the fragrance from Chantal in their nose.’ This shows that the crew had fun as they learned from one another.
Josie shows loneliness, unfulfilled, empty and conflicted. Josie shows starvation of love and sex with the men around him at times seeming selfish and too happy to oblige their instincts. The reason why Josie appears sex or love starved is that she was willing to fall in love with different people she met though some never seemed to be the right people for her. These love affairs shows how she was accommodative to an extent which could lower her dignity (Sussman 125).Her desperation is further showed when she arranged to have a French tutor who was meant for company. Her objective is met as she unburdens her soul by sharing her most intimate secrets with her tutor. Similarly, she helps the tutor to unburden his soul.
Work Cited
Sussman, Ellen. French lessons: A novel. New York: Ballantine Books. 2011. Print.
