Ourika: An English Translation Chapter Summary & Analysis - Ourika p. 16-24 Summary

Ourika p. 16-24 Summary

Ourika soon saw how she might resign herself to such a fate. Her religious inclinations were owed to the priest who prepared her for first communion, but she "hadn't grasped that faith is of little use unless it informs every action one takes" (p. 16). She told her confessor nothing of her troubles because she did not consider unhappiness to be a sin. Her troubles negatively affected her health but improved her mind, as she now analyzed and criticized all that had previously pleased her. Mme. de B noticed the change in her nature and treated her kinder than usual, revealing her woes to help Ourika forget her own; Ourika "could feel in harmony with life only when [she] knew [herself] necessary, or at least useful, to [Mme. de B]" (p. 17). Though Ourika lamented that she might die without being regretted by a single...
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