Tram Dang
Professor R. Kaffenberger
English 1301
February 2, 2015
Operation Seduction
Elaine Sciolino is an author of “Operation Seduction,” who is also a Paris correspondent and a former Paris bureau chief for the New York Times. In Elaine’s writing, the opening scene places her colleague, Roger Cohen, and herself with an account of President Jacques Chirac kissing her hand during a meeting in 2002. “He raised it to the level of his chest, bent over to meet it halfway, and inhaled, as if to savor its scent. Lips made contact with skin." A baisemain, the kiss of the hand, as Sciolino described was such a beautiful ritual and a traditional ceremony to convey a man’s courage and politeness to a woman. Yet, it is still practicing nowadays.
The way Sciolino detailed her baisemain was beautiful and respectful with a little of romantic. The kiss does not concern any act of passion, but she finds it charming and attractive. As a woman, I would love it if there were one doing that to me. However, beside those good senses is also a mix vague and discomfort feelings that Sciolino has had. Sciolino believed that President Chirac was bringing in a personal dimension to their meeting and thinks that she would like it. Whereas, she assumed that occurrence, the exercise of seduction, would totally not happen in the United States. She was incredulous, indeed.
Living in France for a period of time helps Sciolino regularly become aware of the important of seduction and its pervasiveness. France is such a beautiful romantic nation with elegant and manner people. It can also be known as a seductive country which “séduction” and “séduire” are the most hackneyed words among the French dictionary. When the word “séduction” is mentioned, most of us, and Sciolino particularly, would assume it as a negative word, which concerns with sexual. Nonetheless, Sciolino has rejected that misunderstanding after a while time living in France. She has explored that the meanings of seduction are more than what people over the world had believed. Apparently, that term in French language concerns with charm, attractive, or influence; yet it doesn’t always associate with sex like we used to think. It plays a vital role not only in how the French capture each other’s attention, but also in how they do business, enjoy food and drink, participate in debates, elect legislators, and enterprise power over the
