Swann's Way: In Search of Lost Time, Volume One

Another character from Combray is Legrandin. Like many of the people Marcel meets through his parents, Legrandin is a snob. One day, Marcel’s father gathers the family together to announce that Legrandin considers himself to be above Marcel’s family, so he refuses to introduce them to his sister. Marcel’s parents take great offense at this refusal. Around this time, Marcel remembers being horrified by the sight of Françoise killing a chicken. He struggled to reconcile the brutality of the act with the sweet flavor of the cooked chicken. Over the years, Marcel comes to realize that Françoise has worked hard to elevate herself above the other servants. When Marcel’s family spots Legrandin in town one day, he has, the narrator says, an expression of “extraordinary zeal and animation” (88) though he seems to ignore the family. Strangely, Legrandin invited the young Marcel to dine with him the day before. Marcel attends the dinner; when he asks about the aristocratic Guermantes family, Legrandin’s reply confuses Marcel. He comes to suspect that Legrandin is simply a snob. Despite numerous awkward meetings with Legrandin, Marcel and his father fail to resolve the apparent animosity between them.