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Egotism
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LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Fall, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Fall suggests that people tend toward hypocrisy due to their egotism. On the one hand, people’s egotism makes them selfish and thus, in conventional terms, immoral. On the other hand, people’s egotism makes them want to believe that they are moral and good. Moreover, one’s egoism makes one want others to believe in one’s morality and goodness. The conflict between people’s selfishness and their desire to appear good leads them to hypocritically “playact” morality while continuing to behave in self-serving ways. The narrator makes this point to his unnamed listener when they pass a shop sign in Amsterdam bearing “the heads of Negro slaves,” a sign revealing that the shop-owners used to be slave dealers. The narrator argues that most contemporary people (in the 1950s when the novel was published) would profess shock and disgust at such a sign or at literal slavery, yet those same people are willing to countenance de facto slavery “at home or in our factories,” as in the domestic oppression of women or the economic exploitation of the working classes. In other words, the novel argues through its narrator that many people who consider themselves “good” hypocritically put up with or benefit from injustice—and that this hypocrisy makes people “double,” split between their interior selfishness and exterior performance of morality.
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Hypocrisy and Inauthenticity ThemeTracker
The ThemeTracker below shows where, and to what degree, the theme of Hypocrisy and Inauthenticity appears in each chapter of The Fall. Click or tap on any chapter to read its Summary & Analysis.
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Hypocrisy and Inauthenticity Quotes in The Fall
Below you will find the important quotes in The Fall related to the theme of Hypocrisy and Inauthenticity.
Pages 3-16 Quotes
Anyone who has considerably meditated on man, by profession or vocation, is led to feel nostalgia for the primates. They at least don’t have any ulterior motives.
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The narrator has just ordered a drink for his unnamed listener, who speaks French, from the bartender, who speaks only Dutch. The narrator then briefly describes the character of the bartender, who like all humankind has “ulterior motives” despite being in other ways almost as primitive as “the primates.” The narrator’s move from describing the character of a particular individual (in this case, the bartender) to making general claims about “man” is representative of his rhetoric throughout the novel: he regularly condemns his own or some other person’s guilt, egotism, or hypocrisy only to claim this bad behavior is endemic Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit n
Pages 17-41 Quotes
Of course, I didn’t tell you my real name.
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Early in the narrator’s second meeting with his unnamed listener, he casually admits that the name by which he introduced himself at their first meeting, Jean-Baptiste Clamence, isn’t his “real name.” He claims that “of course” he didn’t give his real name because he used to be a famous lawyer in Paris, an identity he is trying to live down. Yet, understandably, readers may wonder what else the narrator has lied about or will lie about. That is, when the narrator casually admits that he lied about his name, the admission calls the reliability of all his narration into question. Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus
The feeling of the law, the satisfaction of being right, the joy of self-esteem, cher monsieur, are powerful incentives for keeping us upright or keeping us moving forward.
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During their second meeting, the narrator describes to his unnamed listener—whom he calls “cher monsieur,” French for “dear sir”—his former career as a lawyer who took on many charitable pro bono cases. In describing his own motives for charitable professional acts, the narrator cynically suggests that judgmental tendencies (“the feeling of the law”), egotism (“the joy of self-esteem”) and certain sanctimonious, know-it-all qualities (“the satisfaction of being right”) were what kept him “upright” and doing good things. Characteristically, rather than limit his observations about judgmental tendencies, egotism, and sanctimony as motives for moral behavior to himself, the narrator generalizes to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum volup
A very Christian friend of mine admitted that one’s initial feeling on seeing a beggar approach one’s house is unpleasant. Well, with me it was worse: I used to exult.
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The narrator is still explaining to his unnamed listener what he (the narrator) was like as a successful lawyer in Paris who took on many charitable pro bono cases. Specifically, he is describing how he engaged in charity as a private citizen as well as in his profession—and how he “used to exult” at seeing poor and needy people such as “beggar[s]” because it gave him the opportunity to demonstrate his own generosity and goodness. The narrator contrasts his “very Christian friend” and himself to expose the common hypocrisy of apparently quite different people. According to Catholic Christian ethics (as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. Incidunt rerum est. Aperiam doloremque eum. Animi soluta perspiciatis. Ut minima autem. Modi omnis iure. Sint qui qui. Qui similique praesentium. Ex consequatur magnam. Aliquid iste enim. Sequi aut maxime. Adipisci voluptate et. Voluptas suscipit ali
That’s the way man is, cher monsieur. He has two faces: he can’t love without self-love.
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The narrator has mentioned a fateful evening that permanently changed his sense of himself—but rather than tell the curious listener what happened on that evening right away, he digresses, arguing that all human beings’ love for their friends is fundamentally egotistical to the point that we enjoy our friends’ deaths because such deaths give us the opportunity to grieve self-indulgently. He summarizes the point of this digression by saying that “man,” by nature, “has two faces: he can’t love without self-love.” Through this digression, the narrator yet again seeks to persuade the listener that humankind in general is egotistical and Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. N
Pages 42-71 Quotes
You, for instance, mon cher compatriote, stop and think of what your sign would be. You are silent? Well, you’ll tell me later on. I know mine in any case: a double face, a charming Janus, and above it the motto of the house: “Don’t rely on it.”
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The narrator and the listener have passed a shop sign representing the heads of enslaved Black people, which the narrator interprets to mean that historic owners of the shop were in the slave trade. This incident leads the narrator to argue that enslavement is a natural consequence of people’s desire to dominate others but that the modern age hypocritically denies the ongoing existence of slavery-like exploitation. Finally, he asks the listener—whom he calls “mon cher compatriote,” French for “my dear countryman”—what a shop sign that expressed his inner truth would be. When the listener chooses to be “silent” rather than Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas. Totam quae corporis. Impedit non ut. I
Pages 72-96 Quotes
I have no more friends; I have nothing but accomplices. To make up for this, their number has increased; they are the whole human race. And within the human race, you first of all. Whoever is at hand is always the first.
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The narrator and the listener have gone on a boating trip on the Zuider Zee (a former bay that has since been dammed, creating a freshwater lake). On the trip, the narrator casually refers to his friends—only to correct himself, saying that he has “no more friends” but only “accomplices.” An accomplice is someone who associates with or provides aid to a criminal; thus, by calling the people around him “accomplices,” the narrator is casting himself as a criminal. The narrator’s claims here yet again foreshadow the revelation at the novel’s end that he is using his own self-condemning stories Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenet
To be sure, I knew my failings and regretted them. Yet I continued to forget them with a rather meritorious obstinacy. The prosecution of others, on the contrary, went on constantly in my heart. Of course—does that shock you? Maybe you think it’s not logical? But the question is not to remain logical. The question is to slip through and, above all—yes, above all, the question is to elude judgment.
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Here the narrator is describing to his unnamed listener his perhaps counterintuitive reaction to realizing his own “failings,” which he “regretted”: he tried to “forget them” while mentally engaging in the “prosecution of others.” While the narrator concedes that this reaction is “not logical”—and is, by implication, quite hypocritical—he makes clear that his purpose was not “to remain logical” but “to elude judgment.” The narrator’s explanation of his former mental state helps clarify the relationships among judgment, egotism, and hypocrisy in the novel. This quotation suggests that human beings’ self-judgment and their natural egotism combine to make them hypocritical. Like Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea.
As I told you, it’s a matter of dodging judgment. Since it is hard to dodge it, tricky to get one’s nature simultaneously admired and excused, they all strive to be rich. Why? Did you ever ask yourself? For power, of course. But especially because wealth shields from immediate judgment, takes you out of the subway crowd to enclose you in a chromium-plated automobile, isolates you in huge protected lawns, Pullmans, first-class cabins.
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The narrator has just theorized for his unnamed listener the relationship between people’s self-judgment, egotism, and hypocrisy: if people have any self-knowledge, they know they have flaws. Due to their egotism, however, they want to think well of themselves and want others to think well of them, and so they hypocritically forget or hide their own flaws while projecting those flaws onto others, harshly judging them. Now the narrator goes on to theorize the relationship between these phenomena and the human desire “for power,” arguing that people want to be powerful because power—particularly in the form of “wealth”—insulates people from Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferen
Then I realized, as a result of delving in my memory, that modesty helped me to sin, humility to conquer, and virtue to oppress.
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The narrator continues to explain to his unnamed listener how remembering his own failings caused his worldview to dramatically evolve. Here, he is explaining the conclusion he came to that his previous adherence to conventional morality was a hypocritical cover for egotism and lust for power. The narrator expresses this conclusion using a rhetorical device called “antithesis,” the yoking together of contradictory concepts in grammatical parallel: “modesty […] to sin,” “humility to conquer,” and “virtue to oppress.” Through this antithesis, he suggests that modesty, humility and virtue are really agents of sin, conquest, and oppression: by displaying his apparent moral Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dign
