# XVIII: Edouard’s Journal: Second Visit to La Pérouse explained — The Counterfeiters

> Chapter companion for The Counterfeiters by André Gide.

## What happens

Edouard recounts losing his suitcase and journal, then finding it again via Olivier's friend. He visits Laura and then old La Pérouse, where he witnesses the bitter marital conflict between La Pérouse and his wife. La Pérouse entrusts Edouard with a sealed envelope containing a government bond for his grandson, and asks Edouard to visit the boy in Saas-Fée.

## Themes in this chapter

### Family and Paternity

La Pérouse's concern for his grandson and his plan to secure the boy's future through a government bond.

### Morality and Corruption

The toxic marriage between La Pérouse and his wife, each interpreting the other's actions as malicious.

### Art and the Novel

Edouard's journal as a 'pocket-mirror' and his reflection on the difficulty of genuine conversation.

## Character check-ins

### Edouard

Narrator of the journal; loses and recovers his suitcase; visits Laura and La Pérouse; accepts responsibility for La Pérouse's bond and grandson.

### Olivier Molinier

Edouard's unsatisfactory conversation with him is mentioned; his intimate friend is the one who took Edouard's suitcase.

### Laura Douviers

Edouard visits her after recovering his suitcase.

### Monsieur de La Pérouse

Edouard's second visit; he is in a state of marital misery, entrusts Edouard with a sealed envelope and asks him to visit his grandson in Saas-Fée.

### Madame de La Pérouse

Opens the door for Edouard; complains bitterly about her husband; described as harpy-like and hypocritical.

## Key lines

> I cannot feel that anything that happens to me has any real existence until I see it reflected here.

Edouard believes his experiences only become real when recorded in his journal.

_Reflects Edouard's reliance on writing to validate his life._

> Oh, how difficult the slightest word is, when it involves the whole assent of the whole being! When the heart comes into play, it numbs and paralyses the brain.

Edouard finds that emotional sincerity makes even simple conversation extremely hard.

_Highlights the struggle between emotion and intellect in communication._

> But this remains—that here are two beings tied to each other for life and causing each other abominable suffering.

Edouard observes that the La Pérouses are bound together yet inflict terrible pain on each other.

_Summarizes the chapter's central marital conflict._

## Links

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