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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Gobseck by Honore de Balzac: personal knowledge of the events of the American War of Independence.
But if he spoke of the Indies or of America, as he did very rarely
with me, and never with anyone else, he seemed to regard it as an
indiscretion and to repent of it afterwards. If humanity and
sociability are in some sort a religion, Gobseck might be ranked as an
infidel; but though I set myself to study him, I must confess, to my
shame, that his real nature was impenetrable up to the very last. I
even felt doubts at times as to his sex. If all usurers are like this
one, I maintain that they belong to the neuter gender.
"Did he adhere to his mother's religion? Did he look on Gentiles as
his legitimate prey? Had he turned Roman Catholic, Lutheran,
Gobseck |
