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Chapter 35
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 following day is Sunday, and Sybylla walks with Harold to church. She knows the appearance of a gentleman like Harold among the local farmers will cause a stir, and she feels proud to be alongside “a man who is a man.” She introduces Harold to a group of men, and she leaves him to sit with the women. The women all ask about Harold, assuming he is Sybylla’s sweetheart. She brings him to the women, noting that he is impressive to both men and women: women admire his size, gentleness, and wealth, and men admire his manliness.
Sybylla is not as caught up in appearances as her parents, but she still feels a sense of pride to go to church in the presence of a gentleman. Her description of Harold as “a man who is a man” highlights that he has not shared Sybylla’s difficulty in defining himself as an adult. He is firmly a man, while Sybylla still teeters between the roles of girl and woman. Harold’s manliness is impressive even to other men. He is impressive to women, as well, which suggests that a man who is sure of his manhood is appealing to everyone.
Themes
When they return to Possum Gully, Harold tells Sybylla he wants to speak to her, and he thinks she knows why. Sybylla also thinks she knows, and knowing makes her bitter. She expects him to say that he was wrong and she was right––he has found someone he loves better, and that person is Gertie. It pains her to think that the only man who ever even pretended to love her is going to retract that love, and she laments that she is so different from other girls. But then she thinks of Gertie, who is so pretty and innocent, and Sybylla understands why Harold would prefer Gertie to a “common little bush-girl” like herself.
Once again, Sybylla presumes to read Harold’s mind. Sybylla often goes back and forth between longing to be like other girls and wishing other girls were more like her, but as she comes to believe that Harold has fallen for perfect, traditional Gertie, Sybylla longs to be as normal as her sister. Her insecurity is apparent as she believes Harold is the only man who even pretended to love her, which is patently false, after Hawden, Everard, and Goodchum all flirted with her at Caddagat. She describes herself as a “common little bush-girl,” and the reference to the bush is a reminder of Sybylla’s status as an Australian peasant.
Themes
To Sybylla’s surprise, however, Harold has come to ask her to marry him. He misinterprets her surprise as offense, and he says he knows she is too proud and clever for him, but he loves her. Sybylla clarifies that she is not insulted, but she thought he wanted to marry Gertie. Now Harold is insulted. He exclaims that Gertie is only a baby, and he asks if Sybylla really thought he was that sort of man. Sybylla answers that she did not think he was that sort of man, but she thought that was the only sort of man there is.
Harold proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Sybylla cannot predict his actions––he has come to Possum Gully with precisely the opposite intent that she expected. Her belief that Harold wanted to marry Gertie is entirely unfounded. Gertie is close to Sybylla’s age, but she has not gone through the trials that brought Sybylla into maturity. As such, Harold only sees Gertie as a baby. Sybylla is startled by the notion that not every man shares the same values and attractions, since she assumed that Gertie was universally appealing to any man.
Themes
Harold is stunned. He only ever took her letters of rejection as playful teasing, and he only ever saw Gertie as a little sister. Sybylla claims Gertie is beautiful and much more lovable than Sybylla could ever be, but Harold doesn’t care about that. Beauty is easy to come by, he says; he wants someone true.
Not only does Harold want to marry Sybylla, but he never stopped wanting to marry her. He does not care about the flaws she sees in herself or about the inferiority she feels in comparison to Gertie. He just wants to marry Sybylla.
Themes
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Sybylla wishes that she loved Harold “as [she has] it in [her] to love.” She is weak, and she wants a man strong enough to help her through life’s suffering, and that kind of strength can only come from suffering the way she has. She knows she can never marry Harold. She tells him that he should marry a woman who is good for him, who all men will like, who is “conventional” and “will do the things she should at the proper time.”
Earlier, Sybylla said that she loved Harold as much as she was able to love, giving the impression that her capacity for love is limited. Now, though, Sybylla recognizes that she is very much able to love, but she doesn’t love Harold “as [she has] it in [her] to love.” She was going to marry Harold to help him through life’s suffering, but now that his suffering is over, she wants a husband who can help her through that suffering. She believes Harold should marry someone easier to manage than she is. Her description of a “conventional” woman who “will do the things she should at the proper time” is a contrast to Sybylla’s repeated description of herself “doing “things [she] oughtn’t at the time [she] shouldn’t.”
Themes
Harold tells Sybylla that he wants to marry her, and though she regrets saying “nasty and unwomanly” things to him, she still believes Harold should marry a better woman. She tells him that she likes to write stories, which she believes no man could accept in a woman. Harold tells her he would be happy to let her write, if she will marry him, but she still recoils from his touch. She is ashamed and feels unworthy of his reverence.
Sybylla regrets being “nasty and unwomanly.” The fact that she sees these qualities in herself highlights that she is not yet finished maturing into a woman, which is part of the reason she believes Harold should find a better wife. She tells him of her aspirations of writing, assuming that this will upset him, but Harold proves again that Sybylla underestimates him. Still, she pulls away, believing herself unworthy of his worshipful love.
Themes
Harold grows angry, asking if Sybylla hates him so much she cannot bear to touch him. Sybylla tells him that she is fond of him and wishes he could understand. He insists he will be good to her, and he offers her everything she could want––but she knows marrying him will mean an end to her independence. Sybylla knows Harold means what he says, but the man she will love “must know, must have suffered, must understand.”
Sybylla needs her husband to be a true partner, and for that to be the case, he needs to have suffered through the same hardships she has. Her fear of being misunderstood has transitioned into a desire to be understood, which in turn has combined with her need to be loved. Harold has already proved that he does not understand her, since he doesn’t understand why she is rejecting him and why she won’t let him touch her.
Themes
As Harold begs Sybylla to become his, she wonders if it is worth waiting for this man who understands her—a man she might never find. Harold is virile and charming, and for a moment she considers agreeing to marry him. But then she takes his feelings into consideration and realizes that only a masterful man could render her harmless. If she marries Harold, Sybylla will always resist him. She again denies Harold, and though he tries to convince her otherwise, she will not be swayed.
Sybylla considers marrying Harold. After all, a marriage to a man she likes but does not love might be better than waiting her whole life to fall in love with a man she might never meet. She makes her decision by considering Harold’s feelings, which demonstrates how she has grown less selfish as she’s matured. A marriage to Harold could never be a partnership. She would always assume he was trying to conquer her, and she would always resist those attempts. Such a marriage would not only make her miserable, but it would also ruin Harold’s chances of happiness as well.
Themes
That night, Sybylla considers the temptation of Harold’s offer. He would lift her from a life of poverty, a life from which marriage is probably her only escape. Sybylla believes marriage is a “sensible and respectable arrangement” for ensuring the population continues, and she is willing to be married, but only to someone exceptional. Her “latent womanliness” makes this fact so clear to her that she writes a letter to Harold.
As Sybylla thinks over Harold’s proposal, she views marriage as a social maneuver rather than a symbol of love. Her description of marriage as a “sensible and respectable arrangement” emphasizes that marrying Harold would be an act of practicality, not of love. She also believes that a primary purpose of marriage is to continue the population, and Sybylla has no interest in being a mother. She is not a fully-formed woman, but “latent womanliness” does lie dormant inside her, and it is that womanliness that guides her. Positioning womanliness as the voice of reason challenges the sexist belief that women are hysterical, irrational creatures who need men to make their decisions.
Themes
In the letter, Sybylla explains that she has made up her mind to refuse his proposal, but she does care for him and is happy to know she has been loved. She believes Harold’s feelings for her are only a passing fancy, and though she does not think him fickle, his manliness prevents him from the depth of feeling that women experience. She says that he will easily find a better bride, and when that time comes, he will be happy she set him free.
Fittingly for an aspiring writer, Sybylla expresses her thoughts to Harold much more easily through the written word. When she was younger, Sybylla believed that her depth of feeling made her different from other girls like Gertie. As a young woman, she recognizes that deep feeling is in fact a hallmark of womanhood, and it is only men who do not experience it. Due to men’s inherent shallow emotions, Sybylla genuinely believes that Harold will soon be happy she set him free from their engagement.
Themes
After she writes the letter, Sybylla goes to Aurora’s room and hugs the little girl so she can feel “something living and real and warm.” Sybylla cries, wondering if she will ever find a companion who can show her the meaning of the tragedy of life, or if she will always be alone. She wishes to be good and pretty like other girls, instead of a woman who brings no pleasure to anyone around her.
Sybylla knows she has given up her best chance at love, but she still desires it. She hugs Aurora to feel “something living and real and warm” as a solace from the cold practicality she has had to adopt when assessing the situation with Harold. She expands on her hopes for a husband, describing someone who can teach her the meaning of the tragedy that is life. This adds depth to her wish for a man who has suffered and understands, since only someone who has suffered tragedy can find its meaning. Once again, Sybylla longs to be more like other girls. Instead of calling herself useless, she accuses herself of bringing no pleasure to anyone, suggesting that Sybylla thinks she has neither a practical nor emotional purpose.
Themes
