Parallel Structures and Binary Oppositions in André Gide's L ...

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of the text which provides the title of the book. This is a short novel, honed to its essentials, and governed at numerous levels by a metaphor of reduction” (6). Alissa seems to fade away and this disappearance is linked to her refusal of food which, in turn, stems from her religious severity and her desire to save Jérôme. To eat would be to care for herself more than the others, and she cannot put herself before their happiness or their salvation. These natural elements of sun and water and the necessity of food, which serves to link an individual to nature, are therefore a symbolic representation of the way in which Michel and Alissa have chosen to live their lives. Sun and shadow are present in both novels, and while Michel passes from sun into shade, his life takes a socially unacceptable turn. The texture of the light is therefore linked to Michel’s emotional state of being; light for acceptable actions, and dark for those action that need to be hidden from view. For Alissa, this relationship is one of happiness and sadness. When Alissa is happy, Fongueusemare is a joyous and sunny place, but when the tide turns toward unhappiness, darkness and bad weather take over the area. Water has similar implications in these two texts. For Michel water is a representation of his latent homosexuality and as these preferences take hold of his life water appears at those moments that are related to his sexuality. Water plays a much more negative role in La Porte étroite as bad weather hinders the lives of the characters and Alissa’s tears separate her from Jérôme. Food is the final common natural element between these two texts and the attitudes of Michel and Alissa toward food directly represent their attitudes toward life. Michel is all-accepting and eats heartily, while Alissa represses her feelings and wastes away, oblivious to the importance of food. These natural elements are therefore each linked to the characters in a different way, but they all correspond to a specific aspect of their ways of life. Alissa takes a distinctly ethereal turn, ignoring food, shedding tears of despair, and perceiving the fluctuating weather as she and 52
Jérôme alternate between happiness and despondency. Contrarily, Michel is drawn to the earth, torn between his own morality and that of society; he makes a shift from light to dark, finds the potency of his sexuality in the water that surrounds him, and links himself to nature by his reliance on food. In spite of these differences, light, shadow, water, and food all exemplify the attitudes and personalities of the characters that live within L’Immoraliste and La Porte étroite. 53
Page 1 and 2:
Parallel Structures and Binary Oppo
Page 3 and 4:
Acknowledgements I owe many thanks
Page 5 and 6: Introduction Moral and religious am
Page 7 and 8: ypassed allowing this study to cont
Page 9 and 10: Chapter 1 Narrative Structure: Foun
Page 11 and 12: ans d’étude, une vie latente et
Page 13 and 14: perspective of the sole individual,
Page 15 and 16: time that he lost with Alissa. Mich
Page 17 and 18: of the content in the sense that it
Page 19 and 20: divided into two polar oppositions:
Page 21 and 22: Alissa voyages deeper into the hear
Page 23 and 24: and La Porte étroite, but more imp
Page 25 and 26: views travel and the rented room as
Page 27 and 28: illustrate the difference between t
Page 29 and 30: expression is the presence of Marce
Page 31 and 32: through his travels and is in turn
Page 33 and 34: neither is able to truly love their
Page 35 and 36: with friends that Alissa’s intere
Page 37 and 38: example of infidelity that frighten
Page 39 and 40: Unattainable love is an important c
Page 41 and 42: one thing: she carries her mother
Page 43 and 44: interpersonal relationships. “Dan
Page 45 and 46: and Alissa, evoking for one nourish
Page 47 and 48: savourions cette joie fière, de pr
Page 49 and 50: has a brief moment of happiness mar
Page 51 and 52: narrative introduction to the water
Page 53 and 54: Christmas party, Jérôme’s sadne
Page 55: This acceptance and enjoyment of fo
Page 59 and 60: views on their value and significan
Page 61 and 62: actions and their feelings of frien
Page 63 and 64: ejection of Jérôme, she rejects t
Page 65 and 66: sentiments could be attributed to t
Page 67 and 68: pleasure of his earthly life, and A
Page 69 and 70: suffering due to his absence while
Page 71 and 72: Conclusion When comparing L’Immor
Page 73 and 74: and good but is rather revealed as
Page 75 and 76: Bibliography Bettinson, Christopher
Page 77 and 78: Steel, David. “Alissa - Anorexia?
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