Carmen

Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the novella’s racist and inaccurate portrayal of Romani people and culture, which includes racist slurs. The novella also includes other instances of racism and exoticism, as well as depictions of domestic violence against women cumulating in murder.

“But before that dissertation of mine finally settles the geographical problem on the solution of which the whole of learned Europe hangs, I desire to relate a little tale. It will do no prejudice to the interesting question of the correct locality of Monda.”

Prosper Mérimée writes in the voice of an unnamed narrator, who is essentially a fictionalized version of himself. Through the narrator, Mérimée introduces the framing narrative—the narrator’s travels through Andalusia—with an overview of the narrator’s purpose. This allows him to quickly establish the setting and context of the narrator’s travels, and lends authority to the narrator by establishing him as an academic authority. The dry subject matter of this referenced scholarly work contrasts with the passionate romantic tale of Carmen and Don José. This makes the latter seem even more fantastical and distinct from the earlier Neo-Classic movement than it would otherwise appear.

“As I wandered, one day, across the higher lands of the Cachena plain, worn with fatigue, parched with thirst, scorched by a burning sun, cursing Caesar and Pompey’s sons alike, most heartily, my eye lighted, at some distance from the path I was following, on a little stretch of green sward dotted with reeds and rushes. That betokened the neighbourhood of some spring, and, indeed, as I drew nearer I perceived that what had looked like sward was a marsh, into which a stream, which seemed to issue from a narrow gorge between two high spurs of the Sierra di Cabra, ran and disappeared.”

These two sentences use imagery and detailed descriptions of scenery to establish a clear picture of the setting and the narrator’s state of mind. The long, meandering sentences with their many subordinate clauses echo the dragging pace of a long and fatiguing journey.

“He was an active young fellow, of middle height, but powerful in build, and proud and sullen-looking in expression. His complexion, which may once have been fine, had been tanned by the sun till it was darker than his hair. One of his hands grasped his horse’s halter. In the other he held a brass blunderbuss.”

This first detailed description of Don José foreshadows many of his character traits and experiences, such as his pride, youth, and active lifestyle. In 19th-century Europe, a darker complexion was generally associated with the lower classes, who worked outside in agriculture or did other manual labor, while the elites coddled a fashionable pale complexion by remaining indoors or mimicked one with cosmetics.