• If our impulses were confined to hunger, thirst, and desire, we might be nearly free

    Although Victor cannot know yet what is fully involved in his philosophical opinings,
    the questions of what constitutes human identity and how humans may be free will turn
    out to be major concerns of this second volume of the novel. As with the previous
    sentence, Victor is here in the process of unconsciously setting the stage for a major
    development in his education.