On Writing Father-Son Relationships in The Red and the Black

Abstract

Stendhal's The Red and the Black is both a novel by Julien's personal struggle and an important text for reflective exploration of the French social reality. The absence of his mother forces Julien, as a "premature child of society", into an emotional gulf that is difficult to fill, while the absence of his father constitutes a hidden breakdown of family relations. The ideological conflict between father and son runs through the process of Julien's rebellion against patriarchal authority. The conflict between father and son not only contributes to the creation of Julien's deformed character, but also makes him crave for emotional compensation for his love pursuit, while actively transcending the confinement of class in his career. Stendhal's personal life experiences provide the possibility to rebel against patriarchal dictatorship and reflect the social reality and spirituality of France at the time of the transition between the old and the new, making the novel more endlessly infectious.