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Pages 150-167
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Tropic of Cancer, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Literature and Artistic Freedom
The United States vs. Europe
Friendship, Loneliness, and Art
Hunger, Sex, and the Human Condition
Summary
Analysis
Henry returns to Paris with a few hundred francs Collins gave to him—more money than he’s had in years. He tries to ration the money but is totally unaccustomed to the idea and finds it distasteful. A confused woman stops him, asking for some kind of help in a funny accent and with excessive politeness. They sit for coffee and Henry propositions her. She’s surprised but doesn’t hold it against him, even though she’s not a prostitute. She kisses his hand, which touches him deeply, and he escorts her home and gives her fifty francs.
Henry’s touching encounter here resembles a scene out of nineteenth-century literature more than the depraved underworld he has been depicting thus far. His own rebuffed attempt to solicit sex from the woman emphasizes the base desires motivating him, in contrast to the one apparently wholesome character in the novel so far.
Themes
Henry enters a nightclub, orders champagne, and dances with a blonde woman. She soon tells him that her child has just died. He takes care to hide his hundred-franc notes and then propositions her. She seems offended at first but then agrees for a high price, suggesting they go to her apartment, where she says her mother is sick in bed in the unit downstairs.
Henry’s failure with the last woman has not dissuaded him, however, and he soon finds his sexual opportunity in a grieving mother. The uncommon condition of having cash on hand empowers Henry to make riskier sexual proposals.
Themes
When they arrive, they talk briefly about middlebrow literature, and then the woman goes downstairs to check on her mother. Henry gets the feeling that something about this situation is not right. He sees her diploma on the wall, as promised, and a photo of her recently deceased child. The woman returns distraught, claiming that her mother is dying. Henry is unsure what to do. She soon lunges on him, however, and they make love, though Henry remains ill at ease the whole time.
The scene is deeply uncomfortable, as it’s never clear whether Henry is in some sense being duped or in danger, and the woman’s behavior is somewhat bizarre. The discussion of literature recalls Henry’s avowed distaste for the prostitute Claude’s tendency to discuss literature with him, when he just wanted sex.
Themes
At one point, the woman had taken Henry’s 100-franc note and put it in her purse. After they make love, she leaves again to check on her mother, and Henry finds her purse in a wardrobe. After ensuring that she’s not nearby, he takes the money back and slinks out of the building, walking off in a hurry. On the street, he passes some prostitutes taunting a fat man who’s fallen asleep at a restaurant.
Henry’s decision to take back his money is morally questionable, but again, it’s very hard to tell what’s actually going on with the woman and whether or not she’s trying to scam him. The sleeping fat man presents an image of the type of gullible victim of prostitutes that Henry wants to avoid becoming.
Themes
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