The Immoralist

Throughout the novel, Michel’s aspirations to become a different type of person drive his desires. When he has tuberculosis, he is attracted to the youth and beauty of the children in Biskra because they contrast so greatly with his own sick, weak body. He fixates on their vitality and finds that observing them when he is not feeling well helps him cope with his illness: “I was too tired, in too much pain to do anything other than look at them. But seeing their good health made me feel better” (38). His desire to be around boys at the beginning of the novel is not necessarily sexual. Instead, he wants to return to a state of youthful health. Seeing how sickly he is compared to Bachir drives Michel to seek a cure for himself because he wants to live as fully as the children do.

Furthermore, Michel dotes on and encourages misbehaving boys because he envies their childish delight at flouting rules without caring about consequences. Moktir becomes his favorite when he sees the boy boldly steal a pair of scissors. He also enjoys helping Alcide make mischief on his own farm in Normandy, aiding the boy in poaching game from his own lands. Michel is entertained by Alcide’s ability to trick everyone around him even when Michel himself is the victim. Ironically, Alcide and Moktir both suffer consequences for different transgressions than the ones Michel aids them with: Bocage beats Alcide for not returning home one night, while Moktir goes to prison for an unnamed crime. Despite these punishments, both boys are undeterred. Michel wishes to have their indifference to morality, although he is not able to achieve the same nonchalance.

Similarly, Michel is attracted to working-class men, whom he views as in touch with their primitive nature. He believes they follow their hedonistic impulses to drink and party and have sex with no moral qualms, and Michel desires to have the same lifestyle, free from any responsibilities or attachment. Thus, he enjoys the company of Pierre, who is often drunk, and is fascinated by the stories of Heurtevent’s sons, who are rapists. Michel also socializes with working-class Italian and Arab men on his second trip to North Africa, romanticizing their lives. After spending time with drunken dock workers, he states, “Oh, I would have loved to drink myself under the table with them and not wake up until the first mournful shiver of dawn” (115). He believes that these men are admirable for their uninhibited pursuit of pleasure, despite knowing full well that they lead “miserable lives” (115). He glamorizes their debauchery, only recognizing after the fact that such idealization is misguided.

In contrast, Michel’s love for his wife waxes and wanes based on his desire to be perceived as masculine. His love for Marceline is at its height when he feels he can be her strong protector, after rescuing her from a reckless carriage driver on the road to Sorrento. He also feels the greatest attachment to her when she is carrying his child, since her pregnancy represents his hope for continuing his own legacy. However, when she grows ill, he feels emasculated by having to care for her and starts to view her as an unwanted responsibility. He projects his own identity crisis onto Marceline: at first, he sees his marriage as fulfilling his desire to be a good husband and father, but later he finds his marriage stifling, since it holds him back from pursuing the carefree, debauched lifestyle he craves.