The desire to acquire property is a prominent theme in the text. At one level, the novel critiques a person’s relentless need to acquire and improve property, as in the case of characters like M. Quesnel, Madame Montoni, and Montoni. On the other hand, owning a beloved piece of property is important even for less materialistic people like St. Aubert and Emily. The text’s complex stance on materialism and property acquisition can be understood in light of its philosophical ideals and sociocultural realities.

M. Quesnel is described as a coarse, intellectually hollow man who thinks nothing of cheating his niece out of her homestead or cutting down trees to make room for more buildings. Madame Montoni marries Montoni partly because she believes he is wealthy and advises Emily to accept the suit of Count Morano simply because of his social status: “If I was unmarried, and the Count had proposed to me, I should have been flattered by the distinction” (337). Montoni is ready to murder for estates, even causing Madame Montoni to die so he can have Toulouse and her other assets. This covetous, hungry greed is emblematic of the apathetic human being, one who has no respect for nature or their fellow humans.