His father, Monsieur Jerome, lives a miserable existence. The wealthiest man in town he yearns for death. Mauriac's description of Jerome's sleeping:
..Monsieur Jerome Peloueyre had laid it down that a solemn silence should be observed between the hours of one and four. Nothing must be allowed to disturb his siesta, which was his sole guarantee against the ravages of sleepless nights.
......
Jean is involved heavily with his local Catholic Church. Knowing that he is ugly and the object of derision from any young lady he walks past he finds comfort and solace in the Church. But a random visit to a friend's house, who's back from college, he sees a book by Nietzsche. Briefly reading a few pages he comes across concepts of will to power, how Christianity caters to weakness. That you can either be a Master or a Servant.Maybe he felt that utter silence might have produced the sleep from which there is no waking, a sleep which empties itself in death as a river is emptied into the ocean. The return to consciousness was always, with him, a painful process.
Reflecting on the structure of the Church he begins to see that that too is a matter of Will to Power. That some lord their power over the weak even within the Church.
In a moment it dawns on Jean that Christianity has been little more than a harbor where he can rest in his own weakness. That he willfully accepted the sneers of disgust from others at his appearance.
