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Part 3, Chapter 5
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
Somerset has not seen Isabel for 10 years when she moves to Paris with her family to live in Elliott’s apartment. At the apartment, Isabel tells Somerset that it amuses her that they live like quite rich people when they’re absolutely broke. She says she has about the same income as Larry did when they broke off their engagement, and Gray doesn’t have a penny to his name. Somerset asks if she wishes she had married Larry, and Isabel says that she’s been very happy with Gray. Somerset wonders if that actually answers the question.
Isabel states straightforwardly that, financially, she is now no better off than she would have been if she had chosen to marry Larry in the first place. That statement suggests, even before Somerset asks, that her decision to break off her engagement with Larry still weighs on her mind. And when Somerset asks directly if she wishes she had married Larry, Isabel avoids the question, hinting that she might not love Gray in the same way she loved Larry.
Themes
Somerset remarks to Isabel that she’s had a difficult past couple of years, and Isabel says that at first, after the crash, she didn’t see how she would go on. She had to give up everything she owned and part with everything she enjoyed. But, Isabel says, after a couple of weeks, she told herself she wouldn’t think about it anymore. It was “fun while it lasted,” she says, “and now it’s gone, it’s gone.” Gray then comes home after playing golf. In Gray’s eyes, where Somerset had once seen innocence and credulousness, he now sees confused disappointment.
Isabel seems to have found a way to cope with losing the financial security and community she always wanted, suggesting that she might have a kind of resilience that allows her to navigate difficult situations. However, it’s also worth noting how different Isabel’s attitude is from the demeanor Somerset perceives in Gray, hinting that Isabel may just be putting a brave face on a situation that has profoundly impacted both her and her family.
Themes
