How to understand the theme of the novel? Many commentary articles think that "people who betray morality" should be understood as "immoral people". For example, "Michelle in" Charming "went to the abyss of completely destroying faith and violating morality after discovering sensory enjoyment and desire." Many researchers believe that Gide is critical of the protagonist of the novel. He is pedophile and homosexual, and neglects his wife who is seriously ill in bed, which eventually leads to her death. Not to mention that the hero's indifference to his wife is just homosexual behavior, which is contrary to traditional social morality. Therefore, the hero of the novel is a man without virtue, a man without virtue. Interpreting the theme of the novel in this way, as the author expected, "even if a few people are interested in Michelle's experience, it is nothing more than hatred, and we should condemn him righteously."

In fact, when we interpret "people without virtue" or "people without virtue", we only see the appearance. The deep meaning of "anti-morality" should be understood as "a person who betrays the shackles of traditional moral concepts" In fact, the author has a sympathetic and understanding attitude towards the hero of the novel. As many researchers believe, the novel has a certain autobiographical nature, and Michelle is Gide in a sense.

Gide wrote in the preface of the novel: "This indignation seems to be against my will. It comes from Michelle and myself." This book is neither a complaint nor a defense. Therefore, the theme of the novel should be understood as: breaking through the shackles of traditional morality and returning to human nature.

In fact, the marriage between "me" and maslin has become the fetter of my pursuit of freedom. Traditional moral concepts require me to maintain my current marital status, be loyal to maslin, and even pretend to love her. However, faced with the pursuit of sensual enjoyment and maslin on his deathbed, "I" chose the former according to my nature. Maslin finally died, and "I" was freed from the obligation of loyalty. Maslin's final death marks the author's strong will to break through the shackles of traditional moral concepts and return to human nature.

Deserter reflects Gide's desire to break through the shackles of traditional moral concepts and return to human nature, which may be Gide's long-suppressed desire, because in reality Gide grew up in a Puritan family, his mother and his female companions were pure-hearted, and Gide grew up in such a family and was subject to extremely strict discipline. However, Gide also clearly realized that his wish was ultimately unacceptable to the mainstream society and could only exist in the form of literary works for people to watch. The novel "Defectors" is very clever in conception and plays a very good role in expressing the writer's thoughts. The first is the two trips to North Africa written in the text. The two trips are in sharp contrast. On the first trip, the hero Michelle fell ill. As a wife, maslin took good care of him and did his duty as a wife. She often prayed to God to bless Michelle. Maslin is the guardian of traditional morality. The second trip was after maslin was seriously ill. At first, Michelle's protection of maslin was thoughtful and subtle, but when she found that the protection of maslin was a bondage to herself, Michelle's body and mind could no longer be calm. When maslin needed a quiet rest and a good rest, he came all the way to Kantala day and night. What did Michelle do when she arrived in Kantala? Although he was taking care of maslin, who was seriously ill, his mind turned to looking for the children he met for the first time in Kantala. Michelle was very disappointed when she found that great changes had taken place in her original children, such as ashur, Sadek, Aguibou and Bubba. He sighed: "This is a masterpiece of life! I came to see them to a large extent, and I really can't help but feel sad. " How sad Michelle was when her beloved child became ugly and ignorant! When Mukhtay "has not changed" and "his agility and handsomeness have reached a perfect level", he is happy. The night before Marselline died, Michelle followed Moktier to TuGult City, entered a Moore cafe and hung out with Moktier's mistress. Michelle is not pursuing peaceful happiness, but sensual pleasure and indulgence. His grief is not for maslin, who is seriously ill, but for the changed child he once loved deeply, which is so contrary to the traditional moral concept.

Two trips to North Africa produced two different results: Michelle, who pursued pleasure and indulged herself, survived, while maslin, who believed in God, was buried forever in the shade of a private garden in Kantala.

The anti-symmetric structure of The Rebel clearly shows that the protagonist Michelle is a combination of individualism, hedonism and extreme immorality. There is no "other" in his ideological system, only "self". Michelle's words and deeds are based on self-satisfaction. He believes that if you have desires, you should pursue happiness. In the pursuit of health, he indulged himself and eliminated his moral and educational influence, and the moral he abandoned was on his wife Maslin, and the pressure was getting heavier and heavier, which eventually led to her death under the heavy pressure. The characters in the works, whether his wife maslin, children and farmers on the road, friends in Paris, the old sanatorium on his farm and his children, are just "others" to Michelle. These "others" are like white stones in Africa to Michelle. He first put them in the shade to cool down, and then put a cool stone in his hand to calm himself down and make himself comfortable. When the coolness of the stone in his hand dissipated, he put on another cool stone and put it back one by one. The purpose is always to make yourself comfortable and make yourself a happy and comfortable object. Those stones that have been replaced seem to have been abandoned one by one. This individualism and hedonism did not liberate Michelle, nor did he get the happiness he wanted in this immorality. In Gide's own words, it is "freedom to be found, nowhere to be used."