Le Motif de la Tragédie Dans la Porte Etroite D'André Gide

Abstract

In the process of writing, André Gide gets inspiration from two significant cultural heritages: Christianity and Greek Mythology. The main reason behind his being perceived to be a man of oppositions and contradictions lies in his frequent need to consult these two different and opposing cultural sources. Although from time to time his ideas about Christianity reveal a tendency of change, it can be clearly observed that he is devoted to Greek Mythology. Gide in Narroiv Door, through the use of an ironic language, talks about the concept of religion and God in Christianity and Protestantism, and how this concept makes people fatalistic and distances them away from life, and how it makes the already tragic life as unbearable. His use of an implicitly ironic style in discussing the tragedy caused by the traditional ideas of God and Christianity evidently reveals Gide's oscillations between Mythology and Christianity, and also his innovative, different and original assessment of the dilemma of the twentieth century man. Through his ironic style, Gide invites the reader to revolt against their fates, not to approve of or submit themselves to it, and to make their own decisions about their lives.