Evaluate the importance of Jean Azevedo and Anne in the novel Thérèse Desqueyroux Anonymous 11th Grade

Mauriac uses the relatively minor characters of Jean and Anne to construct two essential relationships with Therese, which have an influence on the way in which we perceive Therese as a character, and how we feel towards her, whether it is sympathy or disdain. The important roles they both play is displaying two vastly constricting people, how they interact with Therese, and the way the two wildly differing relationships have an effect of the protagonist. Jean offers Therese an insight into life outside Argelouse: the life of the intellectual, the cultured man, the happiness that comes with acting on your desires. Sadly, this vision is fleeting for Therese, and, as the dream of Jean slips ever from her grasp, she is haunted by what Anne de la Trave represents: conformity to societal expectation, subservience and obedience, and the upkeep of family honour. Ironically, despite the fact that the relationship are so antithetical in appearance, both inevitably make Therese feel isolated and separate from her surroundings, and in this interpretation, we might understand the figures of Jean and Anne as Therese’s desire and expectation personified.

Therese is tormented by the fact that she is averse to everything that constitutes her...