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Part 6, Chapter 1
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
A few months after Elliott’s death, Somerset goes to Paris for a week. Isabel and Gray are still living in Elliott’s old apartment, and in his will, Elliott has bequeathed to them almost the entirety of his estate, which Somerset surmises amounts to quite a bit of money. Since they have acquired this new fortune, Gray has grown restless and wants to return to the U.S. They plan to sell Elliott’s house in Antibes and his apartment in Paris and aim to return to the U.S. before winter.
While Elliott may not have ultimately achieved what he set out to find, he is to give Isabel and Gray a gift of the kind of wealth that Isabel has always coveted. In the end, then, while the novel argues that Elliott’s quest for social status may have been a dead end, one of his final acts highlights his capacity for generosity, at least toward members of his family.
Themes
