Rodin Gardens
The Rodin Gardens, a public park in Paris surrounding the Musée Rodin, appear in the novel as a poignant emblem of the ordinary, romantic life that the war has stolen from Isabelle Rossignol and Gaëtan Dubois. The gardens represent a world of peace, beauty, and simple intimacy that stands in stark contrast to the violence, fear, and deprivation of occupied France. For Isabelle, the promise of a future visit to the Rodin Gardens becomes a shorthand for the life she hopes to share with Gaëtan, a life of love and normalcy that the war constantly threatens to extinguish.
A Dream of Ordinary Life
The Rodin Gardens are first invoked by Gaëtan as part of a shared fantasy of a postwar future. In a moment of deep intimacy and sorrow, knowing he must leave for a dangerous mission with the Maquis, Gaëtan tells Isabelle, "I'll find you... Maybe I'll come to Paris for a night and we'll sneak into the cinema and boo at the newsreels and walk through the Rodin Gardens." This simple, unremarkable plan—to walk through a beautiful garden together—is presented as the ultimate prize, a vision of peace and connection that feels almost impossible to achieve. The gardens, with their sculptures and manicured paths, represent a world of culture, leisure, and love that has been entirely displaced by war.
A Symbol of Lost Love and Longing
For Isabelle, who has spent her life feeling unwanted and alone, the dream of the Rodin Gardens is a dream of being loved and of having a future. The gardens are not just a location; they are a promise of a shared life, a place where she and Gaëtan can be "like lovers" in a world that has tried to destroy them. The very mention of the gardens underscores the tragedy of their situation: they are fighting for a future that may never come, and the simple act of walking through a park has become an almost unattainable luxury. The Rodin Gardens thus function as a powerful symbol of the personal cost of war, representing the stolen moments of happiness and the deferred dreams of an entire generation.
