Previous
Part 3, Chapter 3
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
Elliott invests his money with Henry Maturin, who, at the urging of his son Gray, has started putting his clients’ money into the stock market. Soon, Elliott has $50,000 that he has “done nothing to earn” and buys a house in Antibes in the French Riviera with it. To save face, Elliott says that he has grown bored with the social life of Paris and thinks it’s now time to enjoy the benefits of nature. But once he moves to that house, Elliott begins throwing lavish parties and becomes very popular with his new neighbors. Somerset has a house in Cap Ferrat, close to Antibes, so he begins to see Elliott more often. Elliott invites Isabel, Gray, and his sister to visit. Mrs. Bradley declines because she is too ill to travel, but Isabel says she and Gray will come. The New York stock market crashes that October in 1929.
This passage highlights the fleeting nature of both wealth and social status. For social status, the novel implies that trends will always change, so what is fashionable one day (like Elliott) will be out of fashion the next. This leads Elliott to try and adapt; he finds a new social scene on the French Riviera, but the novel implies that Elliott’s newfound popularity could vanish just as quickly as his popularity in Paris did. For wealth, Elliott makes $50,000 without lifting a finger, but when the stock market crashes, that wealth also seems to be potentially at risk and seems to be just as fleeting as social status.
Themes
