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never_be_parted2009-06-22 07:14 pm
queen_ypolita) wrote in never_be_parted2009-06-22 07:14 pm
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Book discussion: chapters 16-19
Apologies for the lack of book discussion post yesterday; it was due to unexpected lack of internet access. But here it is, at last.
Chapters 16-19
Chapters 16 to 19 see Maurice and Clive settling into their relationship. Maurice visits Clive at his home for the first time, and is initially very ill at ease and determined to impress, before finding out Clive set up his room so that it would resemble Cambridge. This could point to Clive's inability to construct a space for their relationship outside the Cambridge setting. And it is Clive, in Ch16, who sets the terms for the relationship, arguing that to make it physical would be to ruin what they had, and Maurice goes along with it.
In Ch17, Mrs Durham probes Maurice to find out if Clive has his eye on a girl. Later, Maurice finds out that having to get married and have children is what Clive sees will be ahead of him, as a matter of fact. For a moment, Maurice feels great sadness for knowing he won't have any children.
Ch18 briefly summarises two happy years: they go back to Cambridge for another year, travel in Italy and start taking their places in the world at large: Clive by working for the bar, Maurice by getting into business.
Families enter the picture once again in Ch19. Maurice's mother and sisters meet Clive's mother and sister and get along better than anyone could have expected. The chapter also touches upon Maurice's home life and routines: he falls into the role of the head of his family, occasionally challenged by Kitty; his daily routine has become established and staying with Clive in London on set days (Wednesdays and weekends) is an important part of it.
Questions:
Photo credits:
ferns by rakkar on Flickr, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial licence
women by Harris and Ewing from Library of Congress, uploaded to Flickr by bobster855, used under Creative Commons Attribution licence
Chapters 16-19
Chapters 16 to 19 see Maurice and Clive settling into their relationship. Maurice visits Clive at his home for the first time, and is initially very ill at ease and determined to impress, before finding out Clive set up his room so that it would resemble Cambridge. This could point to Clive's inability to construct a space for their relationship outside the Cambridge setting. And it is Clive, in Ch16, who sets the terms for the relationship, arguing that to make it physical would be to ruin what they had, and Maurice goes along with it.
In Ch17, Mrs Durham probes Maurice to find out if Clive has his eye on a girl. Later, Maurice finds out that having to get married and have children is what Clive sees will be ahead of him, as a matter of fact. For a moment, Maurice feels great sadness for knowing he won't have any children.
Ch18 briefly summarises two happy years: they go back to Cambridge for another year, travel in Italy and start taking their places in the world at large: Clive by working for the bar, Maurice by getting into business.
Families enter the picture once again in Ch19. Maurice's mother and sisters meet Clive's mother and sister and get along better than anyone could have expected. The chapter also touches upon Maurice's home life and routines: he falls into the role of the head of his family, occasionally challenged by Kitty; his daily routine has become established and staying with Clive in London on set days (Wednesdays and weekends) is an important part of it.
Questions:
- Do you think the terms Clive sets for the relationship are reasonable? Or believable?
- Do you believe that the two years that the narrator covers in a short chapter were as happy and easy as the briefness of the chapter suggests?
- Why are Maurice's routines explained in detail? Do the routines tell us more about him?
Photo credits:
ferns by rakkar on Flickr, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial licence
women by Harris and Ewing from Library of Congress, uploaded to Flickr by bobster855, used under Creative Commons Attribution licence