The Razor’s Edge Themes

In The Razor’s Edge, each character serves as an example of the different ways that people try to find meaning in their lives. Elliott seeks meaning through social status, Isabel wants security and to be part of a thriving community, while Gray seeks wealth. Larry, the novel’s protagonist, is unsatisfied with each of these options. Instead, he wants to know the truth about reality and God, and he won’t be content, he tells…

The novel depicts unemployed World War I veteran Larry as a renegade who goes against social norms to try and find answers to the mysteries of the universe. He turns down well-paying jobs and refuses to marry his fiancée Isabel to follow his own path. By going against social expectations, Larry alienates friends and acquaintances, misses out on opportunities for wealth, and ultimately loses his relationship with Isabel. No one can understand why Larry does…

Somerset Maugham’s friend Elliott is the novel’s chief purveyor of snobbishness. He is a social climber who is always looking to reach a higher rung on the never-ending ladder of social status. While Elliott achieves higher and higher status for much of his life, trends change and Elliott ultimately finds himself excluded from the most selective parties. When Elliott is on his deathbed, the bishop who administers last rites says that Elliott’s faults are…

Larry is first spurred to pursue spiritual insight when his friend in the air corps, Patsy, dies while trying to save Larry’s life. Larry cannot understand why the universe, or God, would allow someone so good to die in such a cruel and meaningless way. When Larry explains his goals to Isabel, he says that he wants to make up his mind “whether God is or God is not” and to know “why…