No, superstition and prejudice cannot be uprooted in a moment; nor in years. The awe of authority, servility before station and wealth--these are the curse of the Jean class that makes such cringing slaves of them. Cringing before those who are above them, tyrannical and overbearing toward those who are below them. For _Jean_ has the potentiality of the master in him as much as that of the slave. Yet degrading as "the damned servant" reacts upon _Jean_, it is much more terrible in its effect upon _Kristin_, the cook, the dull, dumb animal who has so little left of the spirit of independence that she has lost even the ambition to rise above her condition. Thus when _Kristin_, the betrothed of Jean, discovers that her mistress _Julie_ had given herself to him, she is indignant that her lady should have so much forgotten her station as to stoop to her father's valet. _Kristin._ I don't want to be here in this house any longer where one cannot respect one's betters. _Jean._ Why should one respect them? _Kristin._ Yes, you can say that, you are so smart. But I don't want to serve people who behave so. It reflects on oneself, I think. _Jean._ Yes, but it's a comfort that they're not a bit better than we. _Kristin._ No, I don't think so, for if they are not better there's no use in our trying to better ourselves in this world. And to think of the Count! Think of him who has had so much sorrow all his days. No, I don't want to stay in this house any longer! And to think of it being with such as you! If it had been the Lieutenant-- ... I have never lowered my position. Let any one say, if they can, that the Count's cook has had anything to do with the riding master or the swineherd. Let them come and say it! Such dignity and morality are indeed pathetic, because they indicate how completely serfdom may annihilate even the longing for something higher and better in the breast of a human being. The Kristins represent the greatest obstacle to social growth, the deadlock in the conflict between the classes. On the other hand, the Jeans, with all their longing for higher possibilities, often become brutalized in the hard school of life; though in the conflict with _Julie_, _Jean_ shows brutality only at the critical moment, when it becomes a question of life and death, a moment that means discovery and consequent ruin, or safety for both.