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Chapter 28
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
Mr. M’Swat gives Sybylla her first weekend off, and the days seem to stretch forever. On Sunday, Barney’s Gap sees the only rain that comes for the entirety of Sybylla’s stay. Sybylla spends the morning writing to Mrs. Melvyn and Mrs. Bossier, explaining the situation as calmly as she can. Mr. M’Swat can read a little, so he spends Sunday reading the local paper. He undertakes this reading with “utter soul-satisfaction” that would rival the enjoyment of a cultured man reading poetry.
Though Sybylla has a tendency for bursts of emotion, she retrains herself when she writes to her mother and grandmother, demonstrating that she is maturing. Every new aspect of Barney’s Gap seems to worsen Sybylla’s opinion of it. Even nature itself conspires against her, plunging the area into a drought that mirrors the drought of culture she faces at Barney’s Gap. Mr. M’Swat’s soul is satisfied with a local newspaper, while Sybylla craves poetry and art.
Themes
Sybylla looks for something to read, but the only books in the house are an unopened Bible and Mr. M’Swat’s diary. She gets permission to read the diary and finds only a “drearily monotonous account of a drearily monotonous existence.” Sybylla gives up on the diary and tries to converse with Mrs. M’Swat, but all the older woman wants to talk about is the weather.
The fact that even the Bible is unopened highlights just how little the M’Swats care for reading. Sybylla tries to quench her thirst for literature by reading Mr. M’Swat’s diary, but it only cements that life at Barney’s Gap is “drearily monotonous.” The emphasis on monotony recalls Sybylla’s boredom at Possum Gully. Her attempts to chat with Mrs. M’Swat also reflect the Melvyns conversations with local farmers at Possum Gully, since Sybylla was dissatisfied with their habit to talk about work the same way she is dissatisfied with Mrs. M’Swat’s discussion of weather.
Themes
Sybylla has always been restless, even when she is busy, and now that she has nothing to, she can only sit still and torture herself by imagining what might be happening at Caddagat. She continues this habit as she starts her duties the following Monday, since her work takes up less than half of her day. Mrs. M’Swat organizes the daily chores so that she can spend most of the day in bed playing with her infant child. In addition to household chores and childcare, Sybylla teaches the children in a separate room set apart as both a schoolroom and a storage space.
Sybylla remains restless and ambitious, but now Caddagat has taken the place of her aspirations. She dreams not of the “brilliant career” she could have in the future, but of returning to the happy days of her past. Sybylla’s responsibilities as governess also mimic in some ways the responsibilities she might take on as a mother, and her extreme dislike of this work indicates that she was right to think that raising Harold Beecham’s children would depress her.
Themes
Sybylla posts her letters to her mother and grandmother, and every mail-day she hopes for a response. No answer comes until three weeks later. Mrs. Bossier has written Sybylla, saying that she wanted to write earlier but didn’t want to interfere between Mrs. Melvyn and Sybylla. She encloses a letter from Mrs. Melvyn, which assures Mrs. Bossier that Sybylla is exaggerating her struggle and that working at the M’Swats will tame her. Mrs. Melvyn has also written directly Sybylla; she tells her that she must put up with the situation and be polite for the sake of her family’s reputation. She asks if the M’Swats mistreat Sybylla and then reminds her daughter that she has always been a good mother. She says Sybylla should help Mrs. Melvyn by putting up with the situation.
Mrs. Bossier repeats her intention not to interfere with a conflict between mother and daughter, but in a way she escalates this conflict by showing Sybylla what Mrs. Melvyn has said about her. Mrs. Melvyn, who never understood Sybylla’s rebellious spirit, hopes that working for the M’Swats will force Sybylla to become a more traditional woman. In her letter to Sybylla, Mrs. Melvyn makes clear the Melvyns are still preoccupied with the family’s reputation, as she requests Sybylla be polite to the M’Swats for the sake of the family pride. She asks Sybylla if the M’Swats mistreat her, revealing at least some concern for her daughter’s wellbeing, but she proceeds to guilt her daughter into remaining in service by reminding Sybylla of her responsibility to help her mother.
Themes
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Sybylla, furious at her mother’s lack of sympathy, tears up Mrs. Melvyn’s letters. She and he mother have never sympathized with each other––Mrs. Melvyn is practical, ladylike, and has no ambitions to leave the world she was born in. She sees Sybylla as a rebellious child possessed by evil spirits that must be driven out, and she believes that disciplining Sybylla is her maternal duty. Mrs. Bossier will not rescue Sybylla either, since the Bossiers are so disdainful of Mr. Melvyn that they have little sympathy for his family.
Sybylla is able to see her mother’s perspective, though she still resents Mrs. Melvyn for her lack of sympathy. What Sybylla sees as a lack of care, Mrs. Melvyn sees as a method to shape her daughter into a woman who can fit into the world. Mrs. Melvyn fails to understand that Sybylla does not want to fit into the world, since Mrs. Melvyn herself has never had any ambitions beside the domestic ones of a traditional wife and mother.
Themes
Sybylla decides to bring the M’Swat residence up to her standards. She asks Mr. M’Swat to fence the house to keep out the animals, but Mrs. M’Swat shuts this down because the animals need to eat the kitchen scraps. Sybylla suggests tuning the piano, but the M’Swats think the piano already makes a good noise. She suggests tidying up the children, but Mr. M’Swat says that dressing his children up like “swells” will make him a pauper like Mr. Melvyn. All the M’Swats look down on Sybylla’s father, which gives them a lack of respect for her and undermines Sybylla’s attempt to teach the children table manners.
Sybylla decides to bring the M’Swat residence up to her standards. She asks Mr. M’Swat to fence the house to keep out the animals, but Mrs. M’Swat shuts this down because the animals need to eat the kitchen scraps. Sybylla suggests tuning the piano, but the M’Swats think the piano already makes a good noise. She suggests tidying up the children, but Mr. M’Swat says that dressing his children up like “swells” will make him a pauper like Mr. Melvyn. All the M’Swats look down on Sybylla’s father, which gives them a lack of respect for her and undermines Sybylla’s attempt to teach the children table manners.
Themes
Sybylla writes again to her mother, only to receive another unsympathetic reply. She writes a letter to Aunt Helen, who always understood her. Sybylla is hurt by Helen’s reply, which states that life is full of trials. After a year, Helen says, Sybylla might come back to Caddagat. Sybylla takes this answer as a betrayal and writes as much in a response to her aunt, who never answers the letter and has ignored Sybylla ever since. Sybylla wonders if friendship can be real when even Helen, “best of women,” could quarrel with a suffering child.
Sybylla is reaching adulthood, yet none of the women who have modeled womanhood for her have presented a version of it that she wants to take on. Aunt Helen came the closest to being a suitable role model, but with this letter, even she lets Sybylla down. Helen’s optimism is unhelpful and unrealistic to Sybylla’s current predicament, and Sybylla views her harsh reaction to Sybylla’s response letter as a cold rejection of a child in need. Losing faith in Helen makes Sybylla even more despondent, as she can no longer look up to the person she saw as the “best of women.”
Themes
The M’Swats’ previous governess did not discipline the children at all, so they are completely wild and do not respond to discipline. Sybylla has trouble asserting her authority, especially since the children consider her the daughter of “the damnedest fool in the world.” She does not tell Mr. M’Swat is often away working for days at a time, and the children take these opportunities to torment Sybylla. When M’Swat leaves for three weeks, the children get so bold that Sybylla hits the leader, Jimmy, with a switch. Immediately, he and the other children begin to scream until Mrs. M’Swat bursts in and scolds Sybylla. After this, Sybylla promises herself she will conquer the children or leave by any means necessary. If life continues as it is, she might take her own life.
The M’Swat children disdain Mr. Melvyn, and that disdain extends to his daughter Sybylla. They have no qualms about calling Mr. Melvyn a fool to Sybylla’s face, which highlights their disrespect toward her. The children’s casual use of “damn,” which was a more significant swear word at that time, also adds to their characterization as undisciplined and unruly. Sybylla is quickly losing patience with the children, but even corporal punishment does not succeed, because Mrs. M’Swat objects to any perceived cruelty toward her children. The constant disrespect from the children, combined with a lack of literature, has a severely damaging effect on Sybylla’s mental health. Her threat of suicide escalates the situation dramatically, showing just how desperate Sybylla is to escape the M’Swats.
Themes
The next day at lessons, Jimmy is purposefully disobedient. Sybylla again strikes him with a switch. The children begin to scream, but Sybylla threatens to beat them all if they continue. Mrs. M’Swat rushes in, and Sybylla announces her readiness to take on Mrs. M’Swat. Sybylla believes that all people are equal because everyone has a strength that makes up for their weaknesses, so even though Mrs. M’Swat is stronger than Sybylla, Sybylla is bolstered by her superior intelligence. She forgets her family’s dependence on the M’Swats and sees Mrs. M’Swat and herself only as two human beings. Mrs. M’Swat turns and leaves, and a defeated Jimmy sheepishly returns to his lesson. After this, the children obey Sybylla.
Sybylla is so tired of the children’s behavior that she puts her employment and her family’s financial stability at risk. She not only disobeys Mrs. M’Swat by physically disciplining Jimmy, but she threatens to fight Mrs. M’Swat as well. Sybylla recognizes later that she is acting against her family’s interests, but in the moment, she forgets the larger implications and only regards herself and Mrs. M’Swat as two equal individuals. Previously, Sybylla’s egalitarian views have been distant from her personal life, remaining in the realm of the philosophical. Now, she applies them directly to her own situation, showing that her worldview can adapt and inform her behavior.
Themes
