' To know how to free oneself is nothing; the arduous thing is to know what to do with one's freedom'
- Andre Gide Michel had been a blindfold scholar until newly married he contracted tuberculosis His will to recover brings self-discovery & the growing desire to rebel against his background of culture decency & morality But the freedom from constraints that Michel finds on his restless travels is won at great cost & freedom itself he finds can be a burden Gide's novel examines the inevitable conflicts that arise when a pleasure seeker challenges conventional society & without moralizing it raises complex issues involving the extent of personal responsibility