DISCLAIMER: This post discusses a book that contains hardcore 18+ content and while that is typically not something I ever like to talk about, I feel the need to with a book I recently had to read for a class. If you’re under 18, please come back next weekend. I really don’t want you here to read this post. I don’t discuss anything in much detail at all, but this just isn’t something for you to read.
There was this book that I had to read for one of my classes called Justine or The Misfortunes of Virtue by the Marquis de Sade. Never in a thousand years would I recommend this book to anyone nor would I ever recommend you look it up. Learning about it through this post and my experiences should suffice, because I promise you, this book is absolutely horrendous. I have never been more disgusted by a book in my entire life.
The book was written in 1787 by a horrible and twisted man, the Marquis de Sade. Based on the horrors expressed in his book, the Marquis CLEARLY suffered from a mental illness and most definitely trauma as a result of abuse he suffered from during his childhood. Not only was this man mentally disturbed, but he was atheistic and the ways in which he mocked and poked at Christianity make me sick. Quick disclaimer: I have nothing against atheism or people who believe there is no God, but I do have an issue with people that mock religion and bend its morals and what it stands for to satisfy their own sick pleasures and mock religion.
I’ll try not to go into any details, but this story is about a very unfortunate girl named Justine. She is virtuous and believes in God while her sister Juliette does not. Following the death of the sisters’ parents, Justine’s virtue finds her in a lot of trouble. She becomes a victim of extremely gruesome and horrendous sexual violence because of her religion. Each of her abusers justifies their actions, stating that Justine must suffer because that is how she will get into Heaven. They also tell her that poor Justine is bringing them pleasure by listening to her abusers and captors, so she is doing the right thing and pleasing God. Absolutely. Horrible.
There are a few things I’d like to say in response to the Marquis de Sade and this disgrace of a book:
- To some Christians and their denominations, they believe getting to Heaven involves a life of suffering. The way in which the Marquis de Sade mocks this idea is sickening. No person should EVER have to go through what Justine went through in that sick novel in order to think that a life like that will get them to Heaven, oh my goodness. I was raised to recognize that some have this idea of suffering and how it helps you go to Heaven but more than anything I was raised to recognize that Jesus is my Lord and that God brought him back from the dead. With this recognition, I may have eternal life. In addition, asking God for forgiveness for my sins and surrendering my life to Him may also get me to the Kingdom of God some day.
- If women were treated as poorly as the Marquis de Sade depicted in France during the 1700s, that’s just so sad and so pathetic. Sade very sickly described pregnant women and how they often would lose their babies as a result of the actions of the men in the book and to me, that was just- I don’t even have the words to describe how mad and upset that made me feel.
- Finally, I acknowledge the fact that some books exist today purely for the fact that they are evidence of what literature was like in humanity’s past. In what world though, is a book like this a part of the curriculum for a class, let alone an honors seminar?! This book is potentially triggering to those who have been sexually abused and it is also triggering to those who haven’t been! The amount of detail that the Marquis de Sade puts into the many horrible, horrible events he describes is just so, so, so unnecessarily horrendous. And then to have to try and analyze a book like this to see how the author feels about the world is just an impossible task. I’m so busy trying to stop my body from shaking and get rid of the feeling of throwing up that I have no energy to delve into why Justine was branded with the mark of a thief as opposed to some other mark!!! If a person can feel traumatized from a book, I have definitely been traumatized.
To recap here, if you’re looking for a good book, this is NOT it. If you’re in the slightest bit curious about Justine, DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT PICKING UP THAT CURSED BOOK, LET ALONE LOOKING IT UP. There are better ways to learn about oppressed artists during the time of the French Revolution and there are probably much better artists to learn about from that time than the sick Marquis de Sade. There are better books to read in general…
Hopefully I can cleanse my soul and try to erase what I’ve read in this horrible excuse of a book… Have a good week everyone.