Passion and utopia
This novel is a portrait of a passion for utopia and perfection through social order. The movement ultimately fails, but in the process, the reader sees various declensions of a passionate man slowly corrupted by power. He thinks because of his passion that he will be responsible with power, but instead, he slowly becomes passionate about his access to power, and he ends up being an agent in the downfall of the utopic enterprise.
Human judgment
The novel centers around imagery of human judgment. Evariste is a judgmental person who enjoys his roles of judgment in his community. The community executes judgment in the General Assembly, which is ironically held in an old church. The church is a portrait of judgment, as is the Assembly, and their verdicts. When Evariste becomes a judge on a counsel of magistrates, he executes judgment, at first correctly, and then he is corrupted by power, showing that human judgment is fallible.
Romance and longing
Evariste longs for Elodie, and she enflames his passions, but when they are finally together, he is met not with catharsis and release, but with more longing; he longs for vengeance against the man who stole her virginity. This imagery shows that although Evariste is interested in fixing his community, he is not interested in surrendering the power of his patriarchy. For this flaw, he loses his power and is eventually executed. The portraits of romance underscore the themes of utopian desire.
Chaos and instability
The new government is described as orderly and brilliant, but there are chinks in that armor, so to speak. Throughout the novel, more and more instability is discovered through the plot, and in the end, nearly all the major players are killed off; Marat, Robespierre, and even Evariste himself. The instability of their government is its downfall, because they changed so much that there was no inertia to keep their government stable; everything was always subject to change or reversal. This imagery is completed by the final image of the novel, when Elodie throws Evariste's ring into the fire.
