"Boule de Suif" (translated as "Ball of Fat") is Guy de Maupassant's celebrated short story set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. A carriage of French refugees fleeing German-occupied Rouen includes the prostitute Elisabeth Rousset, nicknamed "Ball of Fat," alongside seemingly respectable bourgeois travelers—merchants, aristocrats, and nuns. Though initially scorning her, they happily share her generous food supplies. However, when a Prussian officer detains the group, demanding intimacy with Rousset before allowing their departure, her hypocritical companions pressure her into compliance. After sacrificing her dignity to save them, she receives only cold contempt. Maupassant's masterpiece mercilessly exposes the moral cowardice and false virtue of the respectable classes.
