Chourineur has become such a respectable moral being that he rejects the Negro doctor David s suggestion to sit on the floor, for fear of dirtying the carpet. He is indeed too shy to sit on a chair. He first lays the chair on its back and then sits on the front legs. He never fails to apologise when he addresses Rudolph, whom he saved from a mortal danger, as friend or Monsieur instead of Monseigneur . What a wonderful training of the ruthless son of nature! Chourineur expresses the innermost secret of his Critical transformation when he admits to Rudolph that he has the same attachment for him as a bulldog for its master: Je me sens pour vous, comme qui dirait l'attachement d'un bouledogue pour son ma tre. The former butcher is transformed into a dog. Henceforth all his virtues will be reduced to the virtue of a dog, pure d vouement to its master. His independence, his individuality will disappear completely. But just as bad painters have to label their pictures to say what they are supposed to represent, Eug ne Sue has to put a label on bulldog Chourineur, who constantly affirms: The two words, You still have heart and honour , made a man out of me. Until his very last breath, Chourineur will find the motive for his actions, not in his human individuality, but in that label. As proof of his moral reformation he will often reflect on his own excellence and the wickedness of other individuals. And every time he throws out moral sentences, Rudolph will say to him: I like to hear you speak like that. Chourineur has not become an ordinary bulldog but a moral one.
The Holy Family Chapter VIII