After reading and discussing this text with classmates, I have a better understanding of some themes and why this text might matter, but I still hated reading this. Everything that the 4 libertines, the banker, bishop, judge, and duke, did was disturbing and almost traumatic. This being said, I do think there are some things that one can better understand after reading or at least being told themes in this book. As for why Sade wrote this text, perhaps he did not have faith in the idea of justice after he felt hat he was wrongly imprisoned, leading him to write a text that destroys the entire idea of justice, such as most of the children in the end dying horrific deaths even though they did not do anything wrong. Some could say that Sade had this writing as sort of a journal where he could pour all of his most impure ideas onto paper as he could and that he had no intention of publishing the book, but because of his intensive planning and corrections Sade makes or notes of making later, it seems likely that Sade had every intention to show this book (although at the moment it was just scraps of paper) to others and perhaps publish it too. A very interesting point that was made in discussion was that the events of this book can very closely relate to events that happen today, more than 200 years after this text was written. With priests and religious figures still raping and abusing young children today, and the power and freedom that comes with being rich and, this can be seen. Some examples of parallel between this book’s events and today’s are uncanny, such as the Epstein case. Epstein carried out a similar plan as that of the 4 libertines. Epstein brought children to an island where he would commit terrible crimes to them, whereas the libertines brought children to an isolated castle. A number of people, including presidents, princes, attorneys, financiers, and more are rumored to have been involved in Epstein’s island incident, similar to how other elite members of society were the libertines in 120 Days of Sodom. Even between these two cases of rape, assault, and torture, the duke and the president or prince are similar in role, the attorneys are similar to the judge in role, and the banker is similar to financiers in role. Epstein and those who were also involved could have gotten the idea to perform the acts they did by reading the 120 Days of Sodom, but I think it is much more likely that they did not. History has a way of repeating itself and has shown that people with power will do terrible things unless they are regulated. Do I think that Sade’s purpose of writing the 120 Days of Sodom was to highlight how corrupt society is in this way? Not at all. Sade used terms that described the libertines as heroes and did not contain much reflection if any on the events that took place in the book. For me, one of the largest takeaways from discussing and reading this book is how corrupt power can be. To see such similar events occur today, a time when one would not think that such atrocities could take place, is in some ways a reality check. It tells us that these problems are still occurring and unless there are serious changes made to society, these problems will continue to occur. Looking back at the 4 libertines in 120 Days of Sodom, they each possess a corrupt trait in which they represent. The bishop shows how the church abuses power and goes against many of the principles it enforces. The duke shows how nobility use their power to make decisions that overrule others and control people’s lives in harmful ways. The judge shows how there really is no such thing as justice. The banker represents wealth and how with wealth, you can not only get what you want, even if it is criminal, but also get away with it. These 4 libertines don’t just show parallels to extreme cases such as the Epstein case, but also apply to every day life. There are always things that others do that undermines the rights of others and causes pain and suffering to communities. From rape, to police brutality, to corrupt local politicians, to landlords who evict, there are so many problems in society that we think of as normal, but have terrible consequences on people. The 120 Days of Sodom helped me understand why these issues are so important by painting me a horrifically vivid image of what these issues are, but I do not think that one has to read this book to figure out that there are issues in society. One just has to open their eyes and take a look at what is really happening.