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Chapter 20
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 morning Joe Archer brings Sybylla and Aunt Helen back to Caddagat. Harold tells Sybylla that he will visit her the following Sunday, so on Sunday morning Sybylla waits with him on the branch of a willow tree by the road. He rides up on a horse and joins her on the branch. His eye has recovered from its injury, though he still bears a mark on his cheek. Harold gives Sybylla a ring, but when he tries to put it on her finger, she pulls away. She wants to wait three months as a probation period to see how they get along as a couple, and if they still want to marry each other after that time, then they will be irrevocably engaged. This amuses Harold, but he agrees. He gives Sybylla the ring anyway, and she assents to wear it sometimes.
Sybylla’s resistance to wearing the engagement ring speaks to her reluctance to accept the engagement itself. The ring makes the abstract concept of marriage to Harold a reality, and Sybylla is still intent not to marry. Just as he forgave Sybylla for striking him with a whip, Harold does not take her suggestion of a three-month probation as a signal that Sybylla is not invested in their marriage.
Themes
Sybylla and Harold descend from the tree. Sybylla can climb down easily when she is alone, but in Harold’s company, it becomes “an awkward performance,” and she requires his help to come down. Mrs. Bossier happens to pass by just in time to see Sybylla standing on Harold as she climbs down, and Mrs. Bossier is the angriest Sybylla has ever seen her. She shames Sybylla fiercely for her immodesty and forwardness and demands that Sybylla spend the rest of the day fasting and praying alone in her room.
Sybylla’s awkward descent from the tree represents how her relationship with Harold stands in the way of achievements she could reach independently. An action that comes naturally to her––climbing down––becomes an awkward display, and the word “performance” highlights Sybylla’s awareness and self-consciousness at being watched. The consequences of being watched are even more severe when Mrs. Bossier witnesses Sybylla’s improper conduct with Harold. Mrs. Bossier construes the young couple’s physical intimacy as a step too far, and she is no longer amused by Sybylla’s youthful recklessness.
Themes
Punishment has never worked on Sybylla, but she respects her grandmother’s principles, so she locks herself in her room as Mrs. Bossier commands. Sybylla is ashamed. She would never intentionally be forward and immodest with men, since she never sees a real difference between men and women that would inspire her to be overly bold. Mrs. Bossier visits Sybylla in her room with an opportunity to apologize. Sybylla tells her grandmother that she cannot apologize because she doesn’t think she has done anything wrong, but she is sorry to have upset Mrs. Bossier. Mrs. Bossier replies that Sybylla’s lack of repentance is precisely what worries her.
Sybylla is stubborn and strong-willed, but she respects Mrs. Bossier. She is genuinely sorry to have caused her grandmother distress, even though Sybylla doesn’t think her behavior warranted Mrs. Bossier’s reaction. Sybylla believes immodesty is prompted by women’s nervousness with men and a desire to impress them. Since she lacks both of these qualities, she has never worried about being immodest. Her acknowledgment that men and women are not fundamentally different challenges both the prevailing belief of her time and her own dislike of men. Mrs. Bossier does not recognize any wisdom or maturity in Sybylla’s words, however, and fears what Sybylla’s unrepentant boldness will mean for her future.
Themes
Harold joins the Bossiers for tea, and Sybylla is amused to imagine what Harold might think of his future wife being punished for naughtiness. That night, Harold knocks at Sybylla’s window. He tells her that he tried to persuade Mrs. Bossier of Sybylla’s innocence, but “old people often have troublesome straitlaced ideas.” Still, he is sure the trouble will be over by tomorrow. Sybylla does not answer, so Harold leaves.
Sybylla’s amusement at being both engaged and punished for naughtiness speaks to the contrast between the infantilizing language of “naughty girl” and the image of a mature young woman ready for marriage. Since Sybylla does not consider herself ready for marriage, she can entertain herself with these conflicting identities. Later, when Harold comes to visit Sybylla, his remark that “old people often have troublesome straitlaced ideas” is one of the first times he is openly disrespectful of an elder. It is also the first time he reveals disdain for the conservative values of the older generation. Although Harold is demonstrating a mindset similar to Sybylla’s, she is not as interested in him as he is in her, and she does not open the window to greet him.
Themes
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For the next two weeks, Sybylla sees Harold frequently at social events, but the two do not engage one-on-one. She flirts with other young men, but Harold does not care, and Sybylla is finally convinced that Harold lacks any emotion or passion at all. She looks forward to the end of their three months’ probation, so she can be done with Harold Beecham.
Sybylla’s feelings toward Harold are complex and contradictory. She doesn’t want to marry him, but she still wants him to prove his love for her by displaying some emotion, even if that emotion is negative. His stoicism drives her to be more forward towards men, despite Mrs. Bossier’s recent reprimands, and despite her own disinterest in romance. It also drives her to look forward to time passing, which is a shift from her previous minute-by-minute enjoyment of life at Caddagat.
Themes
