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Boule de Suif | Kant’s Moral Argument for God in Relation to Maupassant’s Story

Carter is currently employed as a freelance writer. In this essay, Carter examines Immanuel Kant’s moral argument for God in relation to Maupassant’s story.

The protagonist of Guy de Maupassant’s ‘‘Boule de Suif’’ learns that virtuous acts do not always reap rewards. In fact, her altruism or self-sacrifice jeopardizes, rather than improves, her own life. Boule de Suif is a victim of her own good nature. In her acts of charity she refuses to see how others have treated her. Such acts only win her even more disdain or hatred from the group.

Much of the interaction among the group of travelers in Maupassant’s story revolves around the character nicknamed Boule de Suif. Throughout the narrative, she is put in a...

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