Strait Is the Gate

Chapter-by-chapter summary

Spoiler warning: this section covers the whole plot, including the ending. The novel has eight numbered chapters (I–VIII) without titles, followed by Alissa's diary, so the parts below are descriptive labels that group the chapters.

Part 1: A flight and a sermon (Chapter I)

Jérôme Palissier loses his father young and lives in Paris with his devout mother and their English governess, Miss Ashburton. Each summer they visit his uncle Bucolin's estate at Fongueusemare, near Le Havre, where his cousins Alissa, Juliette and Robert live. Jérôme is drawn to Alissa, who is gentle, serious and a little remote. Her mother, Lucile, has dramatic fits that unsettle the house. One Easter Jérôme finds Lucile with a young lieutenant and finds Alissa in tears. Soon Lucile leaves the family with a lover. The following Sunday, Pastor Vautier preaches on the strait gate, and Jérôme takes it as a call to devote his life to Alissa. Why it matters: the desertion and the sermon arrive together, and love and piety begin to knot.

Part 2: A promise made young (Chapter II)

Jérôme describes his love for Alissa as something he felt even as a child, and he works to deserve her. At school he befriends Abel Vautier, the pastor's cheerful, easygoing son. He overhears Alissa asking her father whether Jérôme will make something of himself. Jérôme's mother, near death, blesses their future and dies soon after. The next summer is happy, with Juliette carrying messages between the cousins. But when Jérôme hopes for an engagement, Alissa asks him not to press for one yet. Why it matters: the first delay is gentle, yet it sets the pattern of Alissa holding back.

Part 3: Paris, Swinburne and a confession (Chapter III)

Jérôme and Abel are both at the École Normale in Paris, where Jérôme is reading for his degree. Alissa writes that she is too old for him and asks him to wait, which troubles him badly. Abel urges him to visit, and at Fongueusemare Alissa reassures him with a smile; they spend the day reading Swinburne together. Juliette has received a proposal from Édouard Teissières, a wine merchant from Nîmes. On the train back, Abel confesses that he is in love with Juliette. Why it matters: Abel's hopes, Teissières's offer and Alissa's delay now all pull on the same family.

Part 4: Juliette's choice (Chapters IV–V)

Jérôme writes to Alissa every week and dreads her replies. At Christmas in Le Havre her aunt tells him Alissa has refused to marry before Juliette does. At the Christmas tree Alissa, wearing an amethyst cross, is plainly in distress, and Juliette faints when Teissières takes her hand. Abel tells Jérôme that Juliette loves him, and that Alissa has been sacrificing herself for her sister. Juliette later accepts Teissières. In Chapter V she refuses to speak to Alissa and marries in July. Abel, now a journalist and novelist, publishes a scandalous book, which Alissa disapproves of. Why it matters: Juliette's sacrifice is a way out, but Alissa's becomes a trap.

Part 5: Colder letters and the garden bench (Chapters VI–VII)

Back in Le Havre, Jérôme finds Alissa distant. She writes that they are so far apart and asks him to stop writing for a while. Miss Ashburton dies. At Fongueusemare the two meet in the garden, and Alissa asks him to leave the next day. Her letters turn cool: holiness, she writes, is an obligation, not a choice. The piano is sent away and she reads devotional books. On the bench she tells him he loves a phantom and asks why he will not admit he loves her less. Jérôme leaves for Athens. Why it matters: Alissa has made her sacrifice into a rule, so even the love she wants is no longer allowed.

Part 6: The diary and the lamp (Chapter VIII)

Three years later, after his uncle's death, Jérôme returns to Fongueusemare and meets Alissa at the kitchen-garden door. She offers him her amethyst cross for a future daughter, tells him they must not spoil their love, and they part. Juliette later writes that Alissa has died in a nursing home after leaving the house. Her diary shows she planned to give away her fortune, lived in lodgings under a hidden name, and wished to die before realising again that she was alone. Years later Jérôme visits Juliette in Nîmes, where her youngest daughter is named Alissa. He tells her he hopes never to forget. A servant brings in the lamp. Why it matters: the diary shows Alissa suffered as much as he did.

Characters

• Jérôme Palissier: the narrator, a thoughtful, loyal young man who loves Alissa from boyhood. He tells the story many years later, and his version is shaped by what he wanted to believe.
• Alissa Bucolin: Jérôme's older cousin, serious, kind and deeply religious. She comes to believe that happiness stands between her and holiness, and she lets that belief decide her life.
• Juliette Bucolin: Alissa's younger sister. She is livelier and more open than Alissa, loves Jérôme in secret, and accepts Teissières to escape the situation. Years later she is a mother of several children.
• Robert Bucolin: the brother of Alissa and Juliette. He is a minor figure who attends school with Abel. He later inherits Fongueusemare, sells it and becomes Teissières's partner.
• Lucile Bucolin: the mother of the Bucolin children. After scenes of dramatic fits, she leaves the family with a lover, and her desertion deeply wounds Alissa and pushes her toward self-denial.
• Uncle Bucolin: Lucile's husband and head of the family at Fongueusemare and Le Havre. He is a quiet, reserved man who speaks to Alissa of the affection and esteem he has lacked.
• Miss Ashburton: the English governess who lives with Jérôme and his mother in Paris. She is a calm, steady presence in his boyhood and dies later in the book.
• Abel Vautier: the pastor's son and Jérôme's friend from school. He falls in love with Juliette and later becomes a journalist and novelist, whose scandalous book shocks Alissa.
• Pastor Vautier: the Protestant pastor whose sermon on the strait gate, preached after Lucile's flight, gives the book its title and Jérôme his sense of mission.
• Édouard Teissières: the wine merchant from Nîmes whom Juliette marries. He stands for a calm, ordinary kind of happiness that Alissa rejects.

Writing about this book

You do not need to agree with Alissa or with Jérôme to write about this novel. A strong report starts from a question and tests it against the text. Here are some to try.

• Why does Alissa believe that happiness and holiness cannot go together? Where does the book show that belief growing, and what in her family helps it grow?
• Jérôme narrates the story, but we also read Alissa's diary. How does each one misunderstand the other, and what do you think the author wants you to notice?
• Juliette and Alissa both make a sacrifice. Which one seems wiser, and why?
• The title comes from the Gospels. Is the narrow gate a good thing in this book, a warning, or both?
• If Alissa had said yes, would anyone in the story have been happier?

Pick one scene, such as the garden at night, and read it closely. Say what the characters say, what they leave unsaid, and what you think they feel. Then connect it to one of the questions above. Use your own words and your own opinion, and keep quotations short.