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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Eugenie Grandet by Honore de Balzac: Europe, was to buy and sell men. He went to the coast of Africa and
bought Negroes, combining his traffic in human flesh with that of
other merchandise equally advantageous to his interests. He carried
into this business an activity which left him not a moment of leisure.
He was governed by the desire of reappearing in Paris with all the
prestige of a large fortune, and by the hope of regaining a position
even more brilliant than the one from which he had fallen.
By dint of jostling with men, travelling through many lands, and
studying a variety of conflicting customs, his ideas had been modified
and had become sceptical. He ceased to have fixed principles of right
and wrong, for he saw what was called a crime in one country lauded as
Eugenie Grandet |
