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Chapter 18
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
Every year to celebrate the Prince of Wales’s birthday, Caddagat’s neighboring course Wyambeet hosts a horse-race, which is then followed by a servants’ ball at one of the local estates. Most residents of the district, both servants and estate owners, attend the races, and this year Sybylla goes with her family. Uncle Julius drives them to the course, and Sybylla cheers him on. Julius remarks that he is glad to see Sybylla has the spirit of an Australian, while Mrs. Bossier says that Sybylla has the spirit of an Australian but lacks the manners of a lady. Aunt Helen points out that if Sybylla can use up her excess energy on the drive to Wyambeet, she might be well-behaved at the racecourse itself.
The nationalist pride that runs through the novel reappears as the characters discuss what makes an Australian spirit. Julius characterizes Sybylla’s excitement and enthusiasm as Australian. This indicates that other characters share Sybylla’s interest in national identity and are seeking examples of that identity. Julius finds an example in Sybylla, which adds to her characterization as a young woman deeply of her homeland. Mrs. Bossier’s assertion that Sybylla’s Australian spirit is unladylike also continues Sybylla’s characterization as different from other women––but it also questions whether traditional conventions of femininity suit the Australian nation. Contrasting ladylike behavior and the Australian spirit suggests that expectations of womanhood are antithetical to the national identity Australians are constructing.
Themes
The buggy comes across a vehicle from Five-Bob Downs, which Harold is driving. The rest of the buggy is full of ladies, including one who sits beside him in the buggy. This disappoints Sybylla, who expected Harold to come alone. He has spent so much time alone with her that she subconsciously came to think of him as hers exclusively, and she loses some of her excitement when she realizes he will belong to those other ladies for the day.
Sybylla is disappointed to see that Harold belongs to other women for the day, which demonstrates how Sybylla thinks of romantic relationships as a form of ownership. This adds to her resistance to marriage: she is too independent to accept being owned by a man. The many women around Harold also remind Sybylla––and the reader––that Harold is a wealthy young bachelor. Marriage to him would be socially advantageous for many women, and those women are more willing than Sybylla to pursue Harold openly.
Themes
Uncle Julius notes Sybylla’s disappointment when she comes to help him with the horses, and he encourages her to “stick to her guns” to win the master of Five-Bobs Down. Sybylla claims not to understand, but Julius says she can’t deceive him––he is well aware of Sybylla and Harold’s flirtation, and if the relationship had been with any other man, Julius would have put a stop to it long ago. Harold, Julius tells Sybylla, is a good, sensible man with nothing against him except his lion-like temper. He adds that Sybylla could easily handle that temper if she doesn’t mind “giving in and coaxing a little.”
Harold has apparently shown his temper to everyone except Sybylla, which suggests a unique concern for her opinion of him. Julius doesn’t see Harold’s temper as a serious flaw, and in his eyes it certainly does not prevent Harold from being a suitable match for Sybylla. Julius remarks that he would have stopped a flirtation with any man besides Harold, subtly reminding Sybylla of Julius’s power over her as both an adult and a man. It also reveals that, despite Julius’s willingness to let Sybylla teasingly flirt with and kiss boys like Everard, he shares Mrs. Bossier’s more conservative values when it comes to serious flirtation. Julius advises Sybylla to manage Harold’s temper by “giving in and coaxing a little,” which puts the responsibility of managing a husband’s moods on his wife. A woman is expected to obediently “give in” to her husband’s demands while also using her feminine sensibilities and morality to “coax” him to rationality.
Themes
Literary Devices
Sybylla insists that her feelings for Harold are purely platonic, and that even if Harold proposed to her, she would not marry him. She is tired of everyone assuming she would marry a man for wealth, especially because she has no desire to marry at all. Her only ambition is to find a profession that will support lifelong independence. Julius responds only with a joke, telling her that she can take up a profession as his assistant.
Sybylla reasserts her need for independence, showing that her feelings for Harold have not curbed her desire for a career. Julius dismisses her opinions, and he does so with a joke. This indicates that Uncle Julius’s good nature and humor are genuine, but his concern for other people does not extend past those qualities. This carelessness mirrors the selfishness that Sybylla sometimes feels at Caddagat, but she attributes that feeling to her youth. Julius, on the other hand, has lived a life of too much privilege to take other people’s feelings seriously.
Themes
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Sybylla leaves Julius to find Mrs. Bossier, but instead she finds Joe Archer, a jackaroo she knows from Five-Bob Downs. They sit together and discuss literature for a while. Their conversation is interrupted by Harold Beecham, who tells Sybylla that Mrs. Bossier sent him to find her for lunch. Harold gives a quizzical look to Archer, who blushes uneasily. Harold offers to escort Sybylla to her grandmother, but Sybylla rebuffs him in favor of Archer. When Harold leaves, Archer complains that Harold is going to punish him severely, since Harold has “a roaring derry on disobedience.” Sybylla is interested in the bad temper she keeps hearing about in Harold, since he always appears calm to her. She wants to see some emotion in him.
Joe Archer is a jackeroo, a young laborer working on a station to gain experience. He shares an occupation with Frank Hawden, but the two men could not be more different. Archer is intelligent and well-read, and he respects Sybylla as a peer. This contrast to Hawden highlights that Hawden’s poor qualities are not due to his low social class, but to his personal sense of entitlement. Jackeroos are just as capable as gentlemen of possessing the culture and education that Sybylla looks for in a friend. Archer is also more cautious than the brash Hawden, as seen in his anxiety about Harold’s anger. Archer is the latest in a string of people who know of Harold’s temper, and from Archer, that temper takes on an authoritative air. Harold not only has a temper, but he holds a “roaring derry,” or grudge, against disobedience specifically. Despite Sybylla’s values of justice and independence, she is not put off by Harold’s temper––she simply wants to see it in action.
Themes
Sybylla joins the parties from Caddagat and Five-Bob Downs for lunch. Among them is Miss Blanche Derrick, who is considered the most beautiful woman in Melbourne. Archer tells Sybylla that Miss Derrick has set her intention to marry Harold, and that while she is as handsome as people say, she is also haughty and only pays attention to men with large fortunes. During the races, Sybylla takes no interest in the horses. Instead, she watches Harold and Miss Derrick, who look beautiful together, and she bitterly laments her own lack of beauty.
Miss Derrick triggers a resurgence of Sybylla’s insecurity about her appearance. She is presented as an attractive and ladylike woman, unlike Sybylla, and serves mainly as a source of envy for Sybylla. She is a two-dimensional representation of conventional femininity, and her haughtiness and desire to marry for money do not disrupt Sybylla’s jealousy. Rather, these negative qualities are features of the traditional femininity that Sybylla simultaneously looks down on and envies.
Themes
Sybylla excuses herself and joins some children to pick flowers. She does not return for a long time, and when she does, Harold meets her. Mrs. Bossier and the Caddagat group have returned home, so the group from Five-Bob Downs will be taking Sybylla home with them for the night. Sybylla protests that she has nothing to wear to dinner. Harold offers her the many dresses they have at Five-Bob Downs, but Sybylla scoffs that men are too stupid to know about fashion. Harold counters that young men know enough to want a young lady at dinner no matter how she is dressed. She agrees to join the Beechams when she learns Aunt Helen will be coming to Five-Bob Downs with them, since she would be content to follow Helen anywhere.
Sybylla and Harold resume their usual banter regarding the roles of women and men. Sybylla, as usual, describes men as stupid and ignorant to the rules of beauty. Harold does not disagree with her assessment, simply making clear that he wants her at dinner. This highlights that he enjoys playing along with Sybylla’s good-humored teasing, but he does not share her desire to “win” social interactions. Sybylla relents to come to dinner, largely because Aunt Helen will be there. Helen has been largely absent from the narrative as Sybylla develops a relationship with Harold, but Sybylla has not forgotten her love for her aunt. She trusts Helen implicitly, which suggests that Sybylla values Helen’s model of sad and noble womanhood more than the others she has seen.
Themes
