Generosity Versus Grudgingness in Men

The Debate in Julien Sorel and Me: to Be Swept or to Calculate?

Things which correspond to generosity and grudgingness in the self are being honestly moved by something, and then being calculating and scheming. Julien often has large emotions—he bursts into tears at seeing injustice to someone, or at hearing a beautiful song at the opera. In The Right Of Eli Siegel writes:

The great thing in Stendahl's novel is that we can discern a hope in Julien Sorel to love the world without being deceived...what it means to like the world can be studied in Le Rouge et le Noir

One way this can be seen is in Julien Sorel's fervent care for people at his time in French history who showed great courage and integrity—Napoleon, the revolutionary leader Danton, the poet and revolutionary Béranger. Julien's feeling about them and the justice they fought for is intense and unarranged, and he is proud.

But then so often Julien is a schemer, and calculates: if I show this emotion, what will it get me? Stendhal uses the word "calculating" about him often, and Madame de Rênal's friend once says, "I feel very suspicious of that young tutor of yours... He seems...to be always turning things over in his mind." In classes, Ellen Reiss has spoken to me about this very thing, asking me once: "How much is there a calculation in you—will this feeling pay off?"

Julien decides he must have Madame de Rênal, and he calculates. Stendhal writes:

Julien looked at Madame de Rênal in a very curious way when he met her the next morning; he was taking stock of her as of an enemy he had to fight...Why can't I devise some clever manouevre, he thought, and force Madame de Rênal to show me those unmistakable marks of affection?

He devises a plan and writes it down. The plan succeeds—Julien spends the night with Madame de Rênal, and with all his calculation he is, nonetheless, tremendously affected.

But Julien Sorel never resolves the battle between generosity and grudgingness in him. Reading about him makes me feel very fortunate for what I have learned from Aesthetic Realism, the questions I've been so lucky to hear from Miss Reiss, and for the pain I have been spared from having.

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