Nature

Nature is expressed as a force that stands in opposition to human life and needs. Without human cultivation, nature is wild and threatening. The novel emphasizes the difference in the stark contrast between Le Castelet and Le Redousse. The wilderness of the island only allows for the satisfaction of the most basic human necessities. The narrator, when he arrives, has no other diversion than to watch the fire, having left his books behind. Likewise his diet is meager as he goes without rich and delectable foods. The surrender of human pleasures to the rigors of living in untamed nature means above all that the narrator is alone. On the other hand, Le Castelet describes a nature that caters to human needs through the intervention of their labors. In Le Castelet, “the gardens are well-sheltered retreats leaning against the hills, nestled in all the hollows, warmed by...