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Chapter 15
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Brilliant Career, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Womanhood
Class and Poverty
Ambition, Respectability, and Pride
Love
Maturity and Suffering
Summary
Analysis
The next day, Sybylla sits with the Beechams outside in the heat. Miss Beecham pokes fun at how formally Harold and Sybylla address each other, so they stop addressing each other at all in her presence and continue to do so formally when they are alone. Sybylla, looking to test Harold’s hospitality, asks him to take her out on the river. He accepts, but he has to shoe one of the horses first; Sybylla offers to help. She is not very helpful, and indeed she purposely tries to annoy him. They tease each other for a while, until Sybylla gives in and helps Harold shoe the horse.
Sybylla and Harold conduct themselves awkwardly in front of Miss Beecham, which signifies their uncertainty of how to behave She is older and more mature, while they are young and embarking on their first romantic experiences. They are new to the realm of romance, so they hold fast to the rules of propriety. Sybylla’s flirting is especially youthful when she tries to annoy Harold, an exercise reminiscent of a schoolgirl teasing her playground crush. Sybylla is deeply insecure and longs to be loved, but she is also playful and young. Despite her awkwardness in entering a relationship, Harold makes her comfortable enough to indulge her mischievous nature.
Themes
Harold and Sybylla go out on the river. She cannot swim but insists on dangling over the side of the boat, and she promptly falls in. Harold grabs her and swims her to shore, and Sybylla laughs heartily at his concern. His concern relaxes, and he remarks that Sybylla would laugh at her own funeral. He tells her to take a hot bath so she doesn’t die of a cold, but Sybylla claims that only well-liked “pretty little girls” can die of a cold, while annoying girls live forever to bother everyone around them. Sybylla does run off to go inside, though, because she realizes her wet clothes are too revealing for her modesty.
Sybylla continues to demonstrate her immature recklessness as she puts her own life in danger on the boat. Even after she nearly drowns, Sybylla still finds joy in the experience. Harold is amused by her nonchalance in the face of danger, which recalls how impressed he was that she didn’t flinch at his stock-whip. Sybylla’s assertion that she is not the sort of “pretty little girl” who can die of a cold is also another instance in which she separates herself from other women. The comment affirms that she still does not consider herself pretty, and the inclusion of “little” indicates that Sybylla associates traditional femininity with fragility. She adds, with her trademark self-deprecating humor, that she will live forever to bother the people around her. This seems to playfully agree with Harold’s earlier claim that women only exist to torment men.
Themes
That night, Five-Bob Downs hosts several guests for dinner, and Harold demonstrates his skill on the piano and his strong singing voice. This delights Sybylla, and the night is so full of joy that it revitalizes her belief in the goodness of the world. Sybylla’s days at Five-Bob Downs are full of joy, as she and Harold play tricks on each other and spend nights dancing with the laborers. Sybylla’s thoughts are free from concern for the thousands of people languishing in city slums––she is “selfish,” “heedless,” “happy,” and “young.”
Harold’s musical skills cement him as a man of culture, showing that he meets one of Sybylla’s most important criteria for a partner. She is thrilled to realize this, and Harold’s company combined with the comforts of Five-Bob Downs are enough to wash away the last traces of Sybylla’s cynicism. She recognizes her own privilege to be able to enjoy such a moment: her youth and immaturity allow her to be selfish and careless in this moment. Though her narration, which comes from an older Sybylla, brings up the thousands of people suffering while the young Sybylla dances, her youthful selfishness lets her be carelessly happy.
Themes
Harold proves to be a wonderful host, and Sybylla is disappointed when Uncle Julius comes to take her home after only a week. She is pleased to hear from Mrs. Bossier and Aunt Helen that they missed her, and she rambles to Helen all about her time at Five-Bob Downs. Helen asks what Harold did and said while he and Sybylla spent time together, and Sybylla realizes that although Harold was always present, she cannot recall him ever speaking.
Sybylla is happy that Mrs. Bossier and Aunt Helen missed her, which echoes her desperation for her family at Possum Gully to miss her and shows her continual desire to be loved. For the second time, Sybylla is surprised to realize that Harold spent most of their time together without speaking. The fact that she did not notice Harold’s silence in the moment suggests that she talks enough for both of them and is perhaps not as aware of other people as she thinks she is.
Themes
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