I am not a good enough writer to convey the intense emotion I felt over my newfound self-respect. It was a rehabilitation, if not a new life. This imaginary baptism, the immersion in purity, the elevation of my being above the filth in which I'd been mired and, overnight, this sense of responsibility, made me into a different man. The convict's complexes that make him hear his chains and suspect he's being watched even after he's freed, everything I'd seen, gone through, suffered, everything that was making me tarnished, rotten and dangerous, passively obedient on the surface but terribly dangerous in rebellion, all that had disappeared as if by a miracle. .Anonymous
About This Quote
In the quote, Byatt captures the power of self-respect and the importance of choosing the correct path in life. The man who was previously a convict is now free, but he can still feel that he is a prisoner to his past. He wants to continue living a life of crime and commits a crime because he feels no responsibility for his actions. He is a prisoner to his past, but he can change his ways because he has found something else to live for, something else to focus on and use as an escape from his life of crime.
Source: Papillon
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