Because society harbours the arts and the sciences, as well as social tions and the like, and because these things swamp or distort the child's natural tendencies, the educator has a forced choice either the man can be educated (that is, the person as he naturally is), or the citizen (the man who lives in, and is shaped by, his society). Rousseau wrote that .harmony becomes impossible. Forced to combat either nature or society, you must make your choice you cannot train both." (Rousseau, 1955, p. 7) Emile's parents allow the child to be taken by a tutor (who of course has the wisdom of Rousseau himself to the family's country estate, where unencum- bered by the forces of civilized society, his natural tendencies are allowed to express themselves. Emile learns to read when he desires to learn Che has a party invitation to read, for example) and because he wants to acquire this skill, i comes easily; he learns other subjects when the local environment triggers an appropriate interest; he acquires a moral code by suffering the natural conse- quences of his actions (if he on the estate start to mistrust him); and he some understanding not by reading the Good Book but by studying the "book ofnature' (and also via a lengthy conversation with a Savoyard Priest' he meets while rambling through the countryside). It was the de-emphasis on Scripture, and on the formal teachings of the Church, that was in part respon- sible for the suppression of the novel in many places. In short, Emile learns from things, not from books indeed, the only book available for him to read for several years is (on reflection, no surprise) Robinson Crusoe; this is, of course, the account of a resourceful man alone on an island learning to thrive without the trappings of civilization or so it might seem Later in the novel Emile meets his soul mate, Sophy, whose education Rousseau also sketches; compared to Rousseau's forward-looking account of Emile's edu- cation, the path he lays down for Sophy is truly astounding. The sense can be llows that woman is specially made conveyed in just a few word man's delight she ought to make herself pleasing in his eyes and not provoke him to anger; her strength is in her charms (p. 322)