ARCHIVE - The Shadow of the Enlightenment - Letters from a Peruvian Woman &amp; Persian Letters http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/taxonomy/term/15/0 "What do the terms "virtue" and "freedom" mean in Letters from a Peruvian Woman and The Persian Letters? What message do the endings of these books have about these ideas?" en ARCHIVE - Dave Raileanu http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/dave-raileanu-3 <p>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.</p> <p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/dave-raileanu-3">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/dave-raileanu-3#comment Letters from a Peruvian Woman & Persian Letters Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:36:51 -0800 raidav20 184 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow ARCHIVE - Stephanie Ash http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/stephanie-ash <p>Both novels explore the idea of virtue and freedom by using outsiders from French society in much the same way Candide&#39;s journey uses an outsider&#39;s journey to comment on French society and its failings. Both women question their place in society, are we what others would make of us or are we what we would make of ourselves? Can freedom and virtue be stripped away from you? Can they be ruined or tarnished not by your own actions but by the actions and sayings of other people? In the end, we all have to decide for ourselves if we will let others confine us and define us as they wish, or </p> <p><a href="http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/stephanie-ash">read more</a></p> http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow/stephanie-ash#comment Letters from a Peruvian Woman & Persian Letters Sun, 22 Oct 2006 16:43:24 -0700 ashste04 100 at http://www2.evergreen.edu/shadow