Editing Denis Diderot (section)

====Analysis====
Diderot's novel was not aimed at condemning  Christianity as such but at criticizing cloistered religious life.<ref name="Andrew S. Curran 2019, p. 275"/> In Diderot's telling, some critics have claimed,{{Who|date=October 2024}} the Church is depicted as fostering a hierarchical society, exemplified in the power dynamic between the Mother Superior and the girls in the convent, forced as they are against their will to take the vows and endure what is to them the intolerable life of the convent. On this view, the subjection of the unwilling young women to convent life dehumanized them by repressing their sexuality. Moreover, their plight would have been all the more oppressive since it should be remembered that in France at this period, religious vows were recognized, regulated and enforced not only by the Church but also by the civil authorities. Some broaden their interpretation to suggest that Diderot was out to expose more general victimization of women by the Catholic Church, that forced them to accept the fate imposed upon them by a hierarchical society.{{Citation needed|date=October 2024}}