The novel takes the heroine Christina's love experience as the main line and faithfully and vividly describes the decline of the feudal aristocracy and the replacement of the old and new bourgeoisie. In the book, Maupassant uses brisk and flexible writing techniques to create distinctive characters such as the aristocracy, the bourgeoisie, wealthy farmers and doctors in French provinces, and describes the inner activities of the characters in detail. He also combines the psychological changes of the characters to describe the scenes and emotions, so that these characters, even minor characters, are vivid and full of spirit and form.
