Part 2, Orientalist Structures and Restructures: Redrawn Frontiers, Redefined Issues, Secularized Religion Summary and Analysis

Many Europeans looked to the East as a form of regeneration and rejuvenation of their own European society. Many viewed a study of India as a way to rid their own culture of its materialism. These views are presented in the works of Gustave Flaubert who explains the situation in terms of two clerks, both members of the bourgeoisie, one of which inherits money that allows them to retire their jobs. The clerks' names are Bouvard and Pecuchet. Flaubert has them moving through the different areas of learning, since they are just doing whatever they want and living on their inheritance. They have less than successful results in their endeavors. The satire is rather humorous as the two try different things...