The fifth novel in the Rougon-Macquart cycle, The Sin of Abbé Mouret, clearly establishes
parallels with the biblical story of the creation of the world, the fall into sin and the exile from
paradise. The first part reveals the inner struggle of the protagonist, abbé Mouret, between his
religious devotion and his sensual desires, and the second part reveals his surrender to the latter
in the garden of Paradou, which is described as an idyllic paradisiacal garden, resembling the
Garden of Eden in Genesis. The protagonists Serge and Albine, through whom the novelistic
dichotomy of the devoutly and the secular is crystallised, are Zola's version of Adam and Eve.
They live in abundance and harmony with nature, but suffer nonetheless because they are
tempted by the garden. The version of the tempting serpent are the animals from Paradou,
which lead Albine to Zola's version of the tree of good and evil, under which the sin occurs,
leading to exile from paradise. Both stories emphasise the transition from innocence to the
awareness of shame. The latter is a consequence of the sin, which is also linked to the tree of
knowledge in the novel. According to the biblical tradition, the exile from paradise entails
entering a world where suffering, pain and death are present, to which Zola explicitly refers in
the conclusion with the execution of Albine.
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