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Part 2, Chapter 4
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Razor’s Edge, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Wisdom and the Meaning of Life
Social Norms and Conformity
Trauma and Self-Destruction
Snobbishness, Social Status, and Cosmopolitanism
Truth and the Problem of Evil
Summary
Analysis
When Isabel returns to Elliott’s house, she finds that people have come over for tea. Isabel sits with the guests and listens to them talk about the latest scandals, the parties they’ve been to, the people they know, the latest dressmaker, and painters on the rise. Isabel has the sense that it is all “wonderfully civilized.” This is real, Isabel thinks. She feels thrilled to be in the middle of that room with those people at that time. After the guests leave, Isabel tells her mother and Elliott that she and Larry have broken off their engagement.
This passage shows in more depth what Isabel values in life. She wants social gatherings in a thriving and interesting community, backed by a kind of wealth that will afford her financial security. That, to her, is thrilling. Though Elliott and Isabel’s values and interests may appear similar at first glance, the novel presents Isabel’s interests as importantly different from Elliott’s desire for status. Namely, Isabel seems to want a thriving community mostly to enjoy life, while Elliott aims for renown based on status.
Themes
Mrs. Bradley and Elliott offer their condolences to Isabel but also say that it seems like the only reasonable thing to do, given how Larry has been acting. Isabel says that Larry is still planning to come to lunch tomorrow, and Elliott says, “After you’ve broken off your engagement? That sounds very unconventional.” Isabel laughs and says they hadn’t argued but had both decided they’d made a mistake to stay engaged, especially because Larry doesn’t plan to return to the U.S.
Elliott’s emphasis on the “unconventional” nature of Isabel’s decision to continue seeing Larry highlights Elliott’s impulse to always follow convention as part of his perpetual attempts to try and stay relevant in his given social sphere. Isabel’s decision to slightly break with convention and conformity by continuing to see Larry seems to suggest that Isabel broke off her engagement with Larry in part because she is willing to test unconventionality but isn’t willing to fully embrace it.
Themes
