Lauren Spagnuolo September 9th, 2024
120 Days of Sodom written by Marquis de Sade was the hardest book I’ve ever had to read. I found myself constantly taking breaks throughout the reading (apx every 2-3 pages) because most of the content was extremely graphic and upsetting. The premis of the book consits of children some as young as four but no older than seventeen (although the book avoids saying “children”) being tortured, molested, raped, and killed. On page 72 specifically the book talks about a group of Preists who are attracted to girls “…no younger than four and no older than seven.” After that the author goes into explicit detail about what they do to the young girls. After reading this I had to set my book down for some time and still cannot get over how disgusting that is, fiction or not.
Throughout this entire book, women and children specifically are seen as objects to the men who are deemed as the ones in charge during these days at the castle. The women are required to serve them food in the mornings without clothes on, are forced to give them their bodies, and have to do quite literally whatever the Masters (yes that is their title in the book) tell them to do. The men in this book are attracted to this because they can take something that is pure and make it sinful. For example, Fathers Laurent, Louis, and Geoffroi want to “teach” the young how to serve them and enjoy doing it, even though the kids have no idea what they are trying to do to them. The characters in this book do not care about anyone else, only their own pleasure. Additionally, on page 291, Duclos criticizes a woman for nearly an entire page because he finds her ugly. He is dissapointed with one of his confidants in court who sent her to him so he could have his way with her, but is infuriated with her looks. He compares her to a cow and tells her she “…must have had twenty children.” During this time period when the book was released, women were only valued for their bodies, and for a man of significant power to be criticizing a woman for her only value is beyond hurtful. If a woman was deemed unintelligent, but was attractive she could still find a husband and do well for herself; however, if she was ugly but smart, she would be considered a spinster or a lost cause.
Overall, this book was incredibly challenging to read, I felt that it was disgusting, due to the unconventional uses of feces and piss and incredibly disturbing. It is of extreme importance that children need to be left out of books with such heavy topics, especially those that go into such great detail.