Paul has no goal in life, and Mathilde, who provides for their household needs, is desperate that he gets a job. If he goes on like this she will end up by leaving him. So Paul says to himself that he’ll invent something. Something that will give him a goal in life, an idea that will bring him fame and money without tiring himself out too much and that will relight Mathilde’s love for him. This is how he ends up by inventing the ‘handy’, a simple but brilliant idea.