The Real Thing

The Narrator begins the story trying to find the perfect models to paint.  When he meets the Monarchs, he believes he has finally found "the real thing." The narrator begins to see that sometimes "the real thing" isn't as good as it was made out to be.  I think the biggest change we see in the narrator's outlook on life is that he begins to realize that everyone is not the person they want you to believe they are.  The narrator ends the story with a line that essentially means he is okay with not being paid for his artwork, because the experience he has just had is more valuable.