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Part 4, Chapter 7
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 says he came to know Suzanne when she was living with a painter with whom he was acquainted. Somerset didn’t see her often, but the manufacturer she began seeing, Monsieur Achille, had read Somerset’s books in translation, so Suzanne invited Somerset to have dinner with them. When Suzanne decided to try her own hand at painting, Monsieur Achille encouraged her. He also pays for Suzanne’s daughter to attend a convent where she receives an education. Suzanne and Monsieur Achille have now been together for five years.
The novel condemns neither Suzanne’s transactional approach to relationships nor Elliott’s and Isabel’s. Instead, mirroring Somerset’s cosmopolitan view of life in which everyone is worthy of consideration, the novel explores them with an open mind, highlighting some of the mutual benefits that can come with transactional relationships while still pointing to some potential pitfalls. With that in mind, the novel tries to explore the issue of transactional relationships from a variety of perspectives without dismissing what it portrays as a common human tendency.
Themes
