Book discussion: Chapters 40-42

[queen_ypolita]

Chapters 40-42

In these three chapters Maurice flees Penge, is terrified of the letters and telegrams he receives from Alec, and has it confirmed by Lasker Jones that he's not very likely to change.

The story Maurice told the Durhams about the girl he's supposed to have in town provides the excuse he needs to leave Penge immediately (and they can see he's feeling ill anyway). Clive drives him to the station, which gives Maurice the opportunity to probe him about Alec's background, but what he learns only upsets him more. How could he have fallen for a butcher's son? And he feels ashamed about abusing his hosts' kindness and hospitality. Getting back to home doesn't much help with his shame and guilt, as he's all too aware of betraying his mother and sisters with his lust. I'm not entirely sure if he's being a bit too hyperbolic there.

He's not prepared for all the communications from Alec that start arriving: a telegram, a letter, then another letter. In the first letter, Maurice's eyes are drawn to the sentence "I have key", referring to the boathouse, which in Maurice's mind turns into a great blackmailing scheme complete with accomplishes. But the sentence is also open to figurative meaning. At Lasker Jones's office, Maurice is trying to put into words what happened, and wonders how someone like Alec was able to press all the right buttons at the moment when Maurice's defences were down--so clearly, he did hold a key. To be honest, I find the fact that Alec writes a bit surprising. He feels deeply, that's clear enough, and clearly he respects the boundaries enough to write rather than turn up on Maurice's doorstep without warning, but still I can't quite reconcile the letters to the man. But it's largely a problem of Alec being so invisible in the book, a character whose thoughts we're not, on the whole, privy to.



Maurice goes to his second appointment with Lasker Jones with high hopes and a sense of urgency, but it is not to be. He's no longer open to suggestion, with the knowledge of having fulfilled his desires weighing on his mind. He's forced to confess all to Lasker Jones, who's still very nonjudgemental, but cannot offer any more help. He does, however, have a piece of advice: living in a country with a legal system derived from Code Napoleon, where homosexual acts are no longer a crime.



The mention of abroad prompts Maurice to explain his theory that in the past men had the wild woods of England to hide. While it might be a sweet idea, it's not offering much practical help at the moment.

With the hypnosis failing, Maurice is beginning to reassess his life. His work no longer seems a privilege but something pointless, providing a service to clients who are so conventional and utterly devoid of any sense of living joyous, exciting, fulfilled lives. At least he's had something. And he's going to be meeting Alec again, although on the neutral, respectable ground of the British Museum.

Questions:

• What do you make of Alec's letters?


• Maurice goes through a wide spectrum of feelings in this chapter, but what do you think is the strongest/most important at this stage?

Photo credits:
Old letter by Lainey's Repertoire on Flickr, used under Creative Commons Attribution licence
Code Napoleon, umjanedoan on Flickr, used under Creative Commons Attribution licence

Comments

[into_the_greenwood]

At the beginning of the novel, one or two people expressed a sense of dislike with regards to Maurice, something I never felt. Until now. Much as he is a dear character, I feel that he has somehow betrayed what he and Alec had together in the Russet Room by showing Alec's letter to Lasker Jones, who then burns it.

Agh.

That is a bit on the book which always twists my heart. I'd quite like to slap Maurice at that point, but the poor chap's main emotion I think throughout these particular chapters is complete and utter panic. He runs away, the full enormity of what he's done hanging over him and when Alec writes, Maurice completely misunderstands. He's also filled with disgust with himself that he acted on nothing but carnal instincts when Alec came to his bed the night before. Up until the moment at the cricket match when Alec didn't clap, I think Maurice had been riding on the concept of Alec being The Friend. And, however much they played together on the pitch, when the outside world starts to invade, then Maurice is reminded of class, which was a hugely important concept at the time of the book being written.

Alec's insubordination at not clapping I think panics Maurice into believing that Alec may not treat Maurice with respect in the outside world, and obviously the threat of blackmail is very real to him, especially as that is how he interprets Alec's letter.

As for the letters themselves. I think Alec has grasped the concept of 'friend' by this time, and he has fully understood what Maurice was saying when he asked Alec if he'd ever had a friend. Also, I think through Maurice's other actions and words, both those we read in the book and whatever else passed between them that night, Alec has come to his own conclusion about what Maurice means to him. Spurred on by this, and realising he has somehow, rather annoyingly probably, fallen in love for the first time, I don't think he has any other option but to write to Maurice.

He isn't a man who is afraid to express himself, he certainly wasn't afraid to come to Maurice's room, albeit only because he was leaving the country and had nothing to loose in the long term. If it had gone badly, he could just hole up somewhere. But, Alec has a lot of bravery about him, and his feelings for Maurice are such that he just can't let him go away without Alec trying to see him again.

Finally, about the 'I have a key'. Alec certainly does - he has the key to Maurice's feelings and thoughts, and Maurice knows this...which must absolutely and utterly terrify him. Alec knows him for who he is, not superficially like Risley or Clive, but very deeply I think.

[angie-sylvie.livejournal.com]

There's one good thing about Maurice taking umbrage at Alec sending him a telegram: at least he once and for all abandoned the harebrained idea of writing Alec a cheque! (Or giving him a bike or whatever.) That would be dangerously close to treating him like a whore, paying him for services rendered, and would probably be the end of it for Alec, who after all wouldn't take even the five shillings tip.
Maurice can be so clueless sometimes that I just want to shake him, and to so entirely misinterpret that beautiful first letter Alec wrote him as well...

I actually love the letters, they give a rare insight into Alec's emotions and the way his mind works.
The second one especially seems to me like a stream of consciousness, just laying down on a piece of paper all the thoughts tumbling ceaselessly through his head. He's desperately trying to run through all the reasons he might have "offended" Maurice, the reasons why the man who called him a "dear fellow" is now spurning him. Poor love.
Of course the half-hearted references to blackmail aren't quite so endearing but I don't blame him for being angry.

I agree with Into the Greenwood that Maurice's main emotion is panic. Never the brightest bulb in the chandelier anyway, this panic is so strong that it's short-circuited the thinking part of his brain pretty much altogether, I reckon.