292 things from this book went into her brain. Here are the first 6.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas shows how a leader treats people below him. Danglars is obsequious to superiors and insolent to his crew, and the crew dislike him, while Dantès is loved by them.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dumas shows envy at work in Danglars, who hints at a secret to Morrel and then, when pressed, says he may have been mistaken.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès judges Danglars fairly as an officer, even though he dislikes him personally. He keeps his grudge apart from his judgement of the man's work.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, old Dantès goes without rather than ask his son for help. Dumas shows a father's pride and love working together.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès says we are never quits with those who have helped us, because gratitude remains after a debt is repaid.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès notices the greedy look in Caderousse's eyes and quietly hides the money. Dumas shows a young man who reads people well.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars and Caderousse feed each other's resentment, turning a friend's good fortune into a story against him. Dumas shows how gossip grows out of envy.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Mercédès turns Fernand down kindly but plainly, and tells him where her heart stands. Dumas shows that an honest no is kinder than false hope.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Mercédès will not let kindness pass for something it is not. She names the help she has been given honestly, and Dumas gives her quiet dignity because of it.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Mercédès warns that picking a fight with a rival does not win the person you want. Dumas shows jealousy defeating its own purpose.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès says that after a long time of suffering, people find good fortune hard to believe. Dumas shows the wariness that hardship leaves behind.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars writes an anonymous accusation with his left hand so the handwriting cannot be traced. Dumas shows a schemer keeping his own name out of the harm he causes.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Caderousse, drunk as he is, understands the misery the accusation will bring and tries to take it back. Dumas gives even a weak man a moment of conscience.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès says that joy can weigh on us almost as heavily as sorrow. Dumas notices that great happiness can feel strangely like fear.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès compares happiness to an enchanted palace guarded by dragons that must be fought for. Dumas suggests that good things rarely come without a struggle.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars says no one is responsible for the arrows they loose into the air. Dumas lets the reader see that whoever starts a harm owns what it does.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Caderousse's conscience gives way to caution as soon as he sees the cost. Dumas shows how easily a bystander drops his decency to protect himself.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort drops his father's name to advance his career. Dumas shows how ambition can make a man disown where he came from.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort takes pride in seeing the accused break down under his eloquence. Dumas shows a man who has lost sight of the human cost of his own work.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort has been taught to distrust first impressions, so he ignores the good one he has of Dantès. Dumas shows how a habit of suspicion can blind a judge to the truth.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès answers his suspicious judge with plain honesty, and leaves nothing to be guessed at. Dumas shows that candour can disarm suspicion better than cleverness.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès treats his dying captain's last request as sacred and carries it out, even though it brings him trouble. Dumas shows duty kept faithfully at a cost.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort burns the letter that would clear Dantès, then tells him to deny all knowledge of it. Dumas shows a man who puts his own career ahead of the truth.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès trusted a kind official's soft words, and then finds those words were not kept. Dumas shows how a promise from a powerful person can be worth less than the person's actions.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, a jailer warns Dantès not to brood over what is impossible, because a mind that keeps returning to it can break. Dumas shows how fixation on the unreachable wears a person down.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort realises that by ruining an innocent man he has become the executioner, not the judge. Dumas shows remorse arriving after the harm is done.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Danglars treats people as numbers, so he feels nothing when his scheme ruins another man. Dumas shows how a person who counts others as worth less can justify almost anything.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, a minister of police says his desks are full of denunciations from people hoping for a reward. Dumas shows how the wish to be rewarded can fuel false accusations.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Noirtier speaks of people as obstacles to be removed, so that harm can be described in cold words. Dumas shows how language that turns people into things can hide what is really being done.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort keeps an old friend waiting to show his power, reasoning that eagerness looks like weakness. Dumas shows how someone who values status over courtesy grows cold.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Villefort writes a petition that would free Dantès, then keeps it in reserve in case it serves his own ambition. Dumas shows how a helpful-looking act can be a trap held back for later.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Morrel quietly pays for a dying man's funeral and debts, and Dumas notes that this took courage as well as kindness. Real decency often costs something.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, an inspector treats the prisoners' pleas as a formality to get through. Dumas shows how routine can make officials blind to the suffering in front of them.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès asks for no pardon, only a trial, because an accused man deserves to know his charge and be heard. Dumas makes a plain point about the basic right to a hearing.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, a prison file marks Dantès as dangerous on the strength of a note added later in another hand. Dumas shows how one unchecked line in a record can decide a person's fate.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès's pride in his innocence slowly wears away under long suspense, and he begins to doubt himself. Dumas shows how uncertainty can wear down even a clear conscience.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès sees that the hours he spent in hope and despair could have gone into steady work. Small daily effort adds up faster than waiting.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès gets nowhere until he sees he has been attacking the hardest stone. Working on the softer material around it is what opens the way.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès finds that a shared captivity is half a captivity. Having a companion gives him a reason to keep going.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria makes his tools from a bedframe clamp and digs fifty feet with them. Real resourcefulness is shown by making good use of whatever you have.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria puts years of strength into one plan with no margin, so one wrong angle wipes it all out. Leave room for error in any long undertaking.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès never even considers escape, because it looks impossible before anyone has tested it. Some ideas get dismissed in the mind before they are ever tried.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès takes heart from seeing an older man do what he thought impossible. If someone else has done a thing, it can be done again.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria finds that a man who knows a few good books well has nearly all he needs. Knowing a small set deeply can serve better than owning a big shelf.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria says that while he retraces history he forgets his cell. Absorbing work can steady a mind through hard times.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria makes a lamp from kitchen fat and a light from flint and sulphur. He says human intelligence can get around the limits of one's conditions.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria argues that hardship focused his mind, which in freedom might have scattered into idle pursuits. Limits can sharpen effort when they are met with purpose.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria teaches that when looking for the author of a wrong, you first ask who would gain from it. Working through the facts one question at a time leads to the truth.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria says that learning is not the same as knowing. Memory makes a learner, and understanding of principles makes the learned.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès keeps his word not to kill the sentry, even when it costs him the quickest route out. A promise kept is part of who a person is.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria asks whether a year of learning was really wasted. Time spent building yourself is not lost, even when it does not look like progress.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès gives up his own escape and swears to stay with his failing friend. Loyalty that holds when the cost is real is what makes a friend.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria admits that thoughts of vengeance once comforted him in his dungeon, but he has let them go for the sake of a younger friend. Resentment can be set down when something better takes its place.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès says his real treasure is what he has learned from his friend and their company. Knowledge and friendship lift despair in a way that gold cannot.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Faria warns Dantès against sitting idle, because a body and mind not kept in use will not be ready when the chance comes. Keep your strength in shape before you need it.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès wins a crew's trust by showing his skill at the helm, and offers to pay for his keep from his wages. Proving your worth in practice tends to earn more than promises.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès sails past the island that holds his hope and decides to wait. Having learned patience through fourteen years in prison, he can wait longer for what he wants.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès teaches the sailor Jacopo navigation, saying he may one day be a captain himself. Passing on what you know can open doors for someone else.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès sees that the same wealth can seem worthless in one mood and precious in the next. Hope and desire bend our judgement, so it pays to be wary of what we want most in a rush.
In The Count of Monte Cristo, Dantès cannot see how a heavy rock was moved until he reasons that it was lowered, not lifted. Turning a problem around and asking how it was done the other way can clear up what looked impossible.
