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Published on The Shadow of the Enlightenment (http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow)

Dave Raileanu

The novel we read and the extract by Montesquieu approach the ideas of virtue and freedom from different directions, but I believe they come to the same conclusion. Zilia, torn from her familial world and forced to confront a society she believes she can never call her home, learns much about the reality of life and discovers many of the things she thought immovable are in fact just as inconstant as time itself. Usbek and Rica, on the other hand, cannot help but criticize that which they find unfamiliar. But each situation faced ultimately furthers the conclusion that virtue and freedom are immutable- that without these in a society, those who suffer have no hope for deliverance. The authors demonstrate a need for newfound virtue and universal freedom in prerevolutionary France.

Stephanie Ash › [0]

Source URL:
http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/shadow/dave-raileanu-3