Reading The Count of Monte Cristo for the second time and these these lines felt particularly poignant in this reading. At thirteen when I had first read the book, such details would have wholly escaped me. It takes certain maturity and life experience to understand the intent beyond the words.
Danglars alone was content and joyous— he had got rid of an enemy and made his own situation on the Pharaon secure. Danglars was one of those men born with a pen behind the ear, and an inkstand in place of a heart. Everything with him was multiplication or subtraction. The life of a man was to him of far less value than a numeral, especially when, by taking it away, he could increase the sum total of his own desires. He went to bed at his usual hour, and slept in peace.
In later life, a person encounters people just as Danglars was described by Dumas. They may end up on the wrong aide of the arithmetic and understand what it means to be taken away figuratively. Experience also teaches that trying to right wrongs can lead to unintended consequences and sometimes the best option is to let things go. Sadly, those things simply cannot be explained to a young person who has not gone through the full circle of experience and internalized the lessons learned along the way
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