Dupler is a writer and has taught college English courses. In this essay, Dupler discusses the moral quandaries in a novel that contains a quest for freedom.

The title of André Gide's novel, The Immoralist, refers to a protagonist who consciously experiments with his moral boundaries. In the beginning of the novel, this protagonist, named Michel, is prompted by a serious illness to find a new way of living. His strained efforts to get well lead him to loosen or discard the moral fabric which once enveloped him. By the end of the novel, Michel has so adopted a philosophy of personal freedom, and challenged his belief system, that he seems adrift in a sea of uncertainty and experiences an intense solitude that he calls an "empty liberty." During the story, Michel gains firsthand experience of sickness and health, love and marriage, and life and death...