Parthiban Sekar's Reviews > The Immoralist

Immorality is often, from time immemorial, attributed more to one’s sexual orientation, as if immorality is born out of it. Long, not very long, ago there was this Man-Made Immorality Act, upon which I won’t expound, which makes me think that all we, somehow, describe as Immoral are defined by us. And at times, we seem confounded by our own definitions. The very idea of Morality seems “extrinsic”, as opposed to the wide-spread belief that we are born as moral beings and any deviation would not be tolerated. Immortality I don’t understand. Immorality I don’t judge.

“The capacity to get free is nothing; the capacity to be free is the task.”

This is not just about the wanton adventures which one might enjoy in his or her new-found freedom, but also understanding the gap between what we were and what we have become and the burden of freedom. Driven by inexplicable curiosity, Michel, on recovering from his strange sickness, finds himself attracted to the vivacious health and effervescent beauty of a young Arab boy. But he is not the one who ill-treats his wife, even after finding his new ways of joy . He has been good (may be not in contemporary or moral sense) all his life but what happens to him after his recovery is something questionable, may be only in a moral sense. Perhaps his ”Old Adam” might have come out. After all, aren’t we all prone to Immorality?

“A man thinks he owns things, and it is he who is owned”

Do we require Morality to make us humane? What Michel tries to say is that Morality is a weapon of the weak and it is of a slave mentality; and what he wants is open disobedience. This is again arguable, unless one is opinionated. Another “Problem” this story puts forth is what happens to our instincts when we constantly make our senses numb with Mores. Would you still call it as ”instinct” if you are not allowed to think in the way you want to?

It is not the idea of getting the freedom which terrifies us, but the fear of having freedom with unmoored feelings and unbridled desires, for which some of us constantly need to be reminded how to behave and reprimanded when there is a deviation in behavior or manners are missing. When Michel’s wife confronts him, she mutely accepts that this freedom can be dangerous for the Weak. And Michel is on loose again. One’s being forms itself according to the power it possesses. Should the wildness be always tamed?

“To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom”

This being a story which treads along the dangerous border of morality and immorality, there will be lot of us who would condemn this very story. It is not an accusation or an apology which Gide gives hint of, but an indescribable picture of what it is… the inexplicable curiosity. There is no any predispositions or presupposed solutions; but a strong neutral drama… And the ever-ongoing battle between Morality and Immorality…

“You have to let other people be right' was his answer to their insults. 'It consoles them for not being anything else.”