When stranded on the island, both Marguerite and Damienne confront their personal faith outside the context of the religious power structures of their society, pointing to the novel’s thematic engagement with The Use of Christian Faith to Reinforce Patriarchal Power. The women’s differing responses emphasize the individualized nature of their spiritual journeys. Damienne finds courage in God’s will and accepts her fate unquestioningly. She’s the first of the group to stop looking for ships on the horizon, since she believes “[it] is in God’s hands” whether they’re rescued or not (180). Isolated in the wilderness, Marguerite finds Damienne’s commitment to their cultural and spiritual indoctrination strange, signaling her internal rejection of the ways Roberval has weaponized the Christian faith against her. In contrast, Damienne turns to the safety of the familiar in the face of uncertainty, asserting that they “must remember who [they are,” even when there is no one around to witness (180). While Damienne insists that God sees all and maintains her devotion to patience, decency, and propriety, Marguerite sees no practical application for these virtues on their island.

For Marguerite, the wilderness represents both danger and freedom—far from the strictures and expectations of French society, she finds herself able to express explicit doubt in the God she was raised to revere. For example, when her garden fails, Marguerite confesses, “I do not believe that my prayers are answered” (186). She rejects the idea that God would allow her garden to flourish just to make it die, causing her to question whether God hears her at all. When Marguerite becomes pregnant, she and Auguste question the cruelty of a God who would give them a child in such an uninhabitable landscape. Rather than accept that God has a plan and a purpose for them, as Damienne does, Marguerite finds the freedom to grow doubtful and even spiteful toward God—a spiritual autonomy she couldn’t access in her previous life with Roberval.

The transformation Marguerite experiences during her time on the island highlights Goodman’s thematic exploration of Survival Conditions as a Catalyst for Personal Growth. On the island, Marguerite observes Damienne and Auguste creating the shelter and hunting for meals. Both Auguste and Damienne have experience with hard labor—a work ethic they draw on during their time in the wilderness. In contrast, Marguerite is unused to such work and feels shocked at Damienne’s ingenuity, since the nurse was so fearful on the ship. She notes: “Although she found herself so far from her own country, Damienne was sure-footed on land” (180). Compared to her companions, Marguerite feels like she isn’t contributing, and Damienne’s refusal to let her do any work only makes Marguerite more determined. As she commits to learning and honing the survival skills she needs, Marguerite finds immense satisfaction in working on her garden, which occupies her waking hours. Even though the garden fails, she continues to chase that same feeling of fulfilment. She joins Auguste on his hunts, helps Damienne prepare preserved food, and ventures daily on her own to collect fresh water, gaining more and more autonomy. The demands of life on the island force Marguerite out of her sheltered lifestyle and allow her to step into her authentic self—where she was once punished for acting unladylike, she now finds her impulsiveness, curiosity, stubbornness useful for her survival.

Throughout Part 4, Goodman highlights the paradox the island poses for Marguerite and Auguste’s relationship. A paradox is a statement that seems to contradict itself and at the same time contains an element of truth. Marguerite and Auguste both know Roberval intends their exile as a punishment and show of dominance, but at the same time, the isolation allows them the freedom to be together in a way they couldn’t have imagined in France. Without the threat of Roberval discovering them, Marguerite and Auguste express their love openly and without restraint, and their imprisonment paradoxically becomes their escape. Marguerite identifies other small paradoxes of their situation, noting: “We ate fresh meat but slept outside, as beggars did at home. We had property and yet we were impoverished. On the island, we were rulers and our own subjects too” (188). Although the group have next to nothing in the wilderness, they’re free of The Personal Impact of Gender and Class Inequality imposed on them by society. The “riddle” of the island, as Marguerite calls it, continues to confound her in future chapters as she grapples with surviving the island without her lover.

In Part 4, Goodman introduces the harsh island winter to escalate the threat to the group’s survival and raise the narrative stakes as the novel builds toward its climax. During the initial warm months, the group feels confident in the work they’ve done to hunt for food, create shelter and find relative ease living off the land. However, when the winter months arrive, Marguerite recognizes the growing danger of their predicament. To prevent hunger, they sleep as much as possible, and as the weeks wear on, their once bountiful meals are reduced to small rations—as Marguerite observes: “We thought we had set aside great stores, but this winter was longer, colder, and darker than any we had known” (209). The winter frightens Marguerite, as its extreme weather intensifies the threats around them and makes their situation more precarious. Her pregnancy further escalates the stakes of their survival since Marguerite knows that a child won’t be able to withstand the island’s harsh conditions and secretly prays for a miscarriage to spare the child a life of struggle. Auguste’s death and brutalization by the bear hyperbolically reinforces the group’s mortality, pushing Marguerite to survive both the hostile conditions of the island and her own overwhelming grief and loss.