Appearance
Excerpt
Excerpt from Of Human Bondage, by W. Somerset Maugham
“We must go tomorrow, because on Saturday I’ve got to prepare my
sermon, and you must tell Emma to get your things ready today. You can
bring all your toys. And if you want anything to remember your father
and mother by you can take one thing for each of them. Everything else
is going to be sold.”
The boy slipped out of the room. Mr. Carey was unused to work, and he
turned to his correspondence with resentment. On one side of the desk
was a bundle of bills, and these filled him with irritation. One
especially seemed preposterous. Immediately after Mrs. Carey’s death
Emma had ordered from the florist masses of white flowers for the room
in which the dead woman lay. It was sheer waste of money. Emma took far
too much upon herself. Even if there had been no financial necessity,
he would have dismissed her.
But Philip went to her, and hid his face in her bosom, and wept as
though his heart would break. And she, feeling that he was almost her
own son—she had taken him when he was a month old—consoled him with
soft words. She promised that she would come and see him sometimes, and
that she would never forget him; and she told him about the country he
was going to and about her own home in Devonshire—her father kept a
turnpike on the high-road that led to Exeter, and there were pigs in
the sty, and there was a cow, and the cow had just had a calf—till
Philip forgot his tears and grew excited at the thought of his
approaching journey. Presently she put him down, for there was much to
be done, and he helped her to lay out his clothes on the bed. She sent
him into the nursery to gather up his toys, and in a little while he
was playing happily.
Explanation
Detailed Explanation of the Excerpt from Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham
Context of the Excerpt
Of Human Bondage (1915) is a semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman (coming-of-age novel) by W. Somerset Maugham, following the life of Philip Carey, a boy born with a clubfoot who struggles with self-worth, love, and independence. The novel explores themes of freedom vs. constraint, emotional dependency, and the harshness of life’s transitions.
This excerpt occurs early in the novel, shortly after Philip’s mother dies in childbirth and his father has already passed away. His uncle, William Carey (a clergyman), arrives to take Philip to live with him and his wife in a small village. The scene captures Philip’s abrupt uprooting from his home, the emotional detachment of his uncle, and the warmth of Emma (the family servant), who provides the only comfort in his grief.
Themes in the Excerpt
Loss and Abandonment
- Philip is orphaned twice over—his father is dead, his mother has just died, and now he is being taken from the only home he knows.
- The cold, bureaucratic tone of his uncle’s instructions ("You can bring all your toys. And if you want anything to remember your father and mother by you can take one thing for each of them") underscores the emotional emptiness of the transition. Philip is treated as an inconvenience rather than a grieving child.
- The fact that everything else is to be sold symbolizes the erasure of his past—his parents’ belongings (and thus their memory) are reduced to financial transactions.
Emotional Neglect vs. Maternal Warmth
- Mr. Carey is indifferent and irritable, more concerned with bills and sermons than Philip’s grief. His resentment toward Emma (for ordering flowers for his sister’s funeral) shows his stinginess and lack of compassion.
- Emma, in contrast, is the only source of love. She holds Philip, consoles him, and distracts him with stories—acting as a surrogate mother. Her description of her rural home (pigs, cows, a calf) creates a warm, living world in contrast to the cold, transactional one of his uncle.
The Illusion of Choice and Control
- Philip is given false agency: he can choose "one thing" to remember each parent by, but the rest is taken from him. This mirrors how life often offers limited control—he is being moved, not choosing.
- His uncle’s authoritative tone ("We must go tomorrow") reinforces that Philip has no real say in his fate.
Class and Social Expectations
- Mr. Carey’s resentment toward Emma (for ordering flowers) reflects class tensions—she is a servant who has overstepped in his eyes.
- The sale of belongings suggests financial strain, hinting at the Carey family’s modest means and the burden Philip represents.
Childhood Innocence vs. Harsh Reality
- Philip weeps uncontrollably, showing his raw, unfiltered grief, but he is quickly distracted by Emma’s stories—highlighting how children oscillate between pain and curiosity.
- The toys and clothes being packed symbolize childhood’s end—he is being forced into a new, unfamiliar world.
Literary Devices & Stylistic Choices
Juxtaposition
- The cold, practical language of Mr. Carey ("prepare my sermon, bills, sold") is contrasted with Emma’s warm, storytelling tone ("pigs in the sty, cow had a calf").
- Philip’s tears vs. his excited play show the duality of childhood emotions.
Symbolism
- The flowers for the funeral → Represent love and memory, but Mr. Carey sees them as wasteful, symbolizing his emotional barrenness.
- The toys and clothes → Symbolize childhood innocence, now being packed away as Philip enters a harsher world.
- The turnpike, pigs, and cow → Represent a simpler, warmer life, contrasting with the sterile, religious household he is entering.
Free Indirect Discourse
- Maugham blurs the line between narration and Philip’s perspective, making the reader feel his confusion and grief without explicit explanation.
- Example: "And if you want anything to remember your father and mother by you can take one thing for each of them." → The detached phrasing makes the loss feel even more cruel.
Irony
- Mr. Carey is a clergyman, supposed to be compassionate, yet he is more concerned with money than a grieving child.
- Emma, a servant, shows more maternal love than Philip’s own uncle.
Foreshadowing
- Philip’s dependency on Emma for comfort foreshadows his later emotional dependencies (especially on women like Mildred).
- The sale of his parents’ belongings hints at future financial and emotional struggles.
Significance of the Scene
This excerpt is pivotal because it:
- Establishes Philip’s emotional vulnerability—his need for love and fear of abandonment will drive his later relationships.
- Introduces the theme of bondage—Philip is not free; he is controlled by others’ decisions (his uncle, later lovers, society).
- Shows the contrast between cold rationality (Mr. Carey) and emotional warmth (Emma)—a tension that will recur in Philip’s life.
- Sets up the novel’s central question: Can Philip ever be truly free, or is he doomed to be bound by others’ expectations?
Conclusion: The Emotional Core of the Passage
The power of this scene lies in its quiet devastation. There is no dramatic outburst, yet the accumulation of small cruelties—the dismissal of Emma, the sale of belongings, the uncle’s irritation—makes Philip’s loneliness and powerlessness deeply felt. Emma’s brief comfort is the only light in an otherwise bleak transition, reinforcing the novel’s theme that human connection is both necessary and fleeting.
This moment shapes Philip’s character: his desperation for love, his resentment of authority, and his struggle to find meaning in a world that often treats him as an afterthought. The excerpt is a microcosm of the novel’s larger concerns—bondage vs. freedom, emotion vs. duty, and the painful process of growing up.
Questions
Question 1
The passage’s depiction of Mr. Carey’s reaction to the florist’s bill serves primarily to:
A. illustrate the financial precarity of the Carey household, justifying his pragmatic approach to Philip’s upbringing.
B. expose the hypocrisy of a clergyman prioritising fiscal responsibility over spiritual or emotional consolation.
C. contrast the extravagance of Victorian funeral customs with the austere values of rural clerical life.
D. foreshadow Philip’s later struggles with materialism and the corrupting influence of wealth.
E. reveal the emotional aridity of a man who perceives grief as an imposition rather than a human necessity.
Question 2
Emma’s description of her father’s turnpike and the livestock most significantly functions as:
A. a nostalgic interlude that underscores the irrecoverable pastoral simplicity of Philip’s lost childhood.
B. a subtle critique of urban decadence, positioning rural life as morally and emotionally superior.
C. an ironic counterpoint to Mr. Carey’s spiritual vocation, suggesting true divinity resides in earthly labour.
D. a narrative distraction that temporarily shields Philip from the trauma of abandonment and loss.
E. a symbolic prefiguration of Philip’s eventual rejection of institutional religion in favour of secular humanism.
Question 3
The instruction to Philip—“you can take one thing for each of them”—is most thematically resonant with which of the following ideas?
A. The Protestant ethic of frugality, where sentimental attachment to objects is discouraged as morally suspect.
B. The legalistic parsing of inheritance, reflecting the novel’s preoccupations with class and proprietary rights.
C. The arbitrary nature of memory, where the significance of an object is imposed rather than intrinsic.
D. The imposition of artificial limits on grief, forcing the bereaved to conform to external expectations of mourning.
E. The child’s inherent egocentrism, whereby Philip is invited to reduce his parents’ lives to mere possessions.
Question 4
The passage’s shifting focalisation—moving from Mr. Carey’s irritation to Philip’s tears to Emma’s storytelling—primarily achieves which effect?
A. It fragmentises the narrative perspective to mirror Philip’s psychological disintegration in the face of trauma.
B. It democratises sympathy by distributing reader allegiance evenly among the three characters.
C. It constructs a hierarchy of moral authority, wherein Emma’s empathy exposes the deficiencies of Mr. Carey’s worldview.
D. It accelerates the pacing to reflect the hasty, perfunctory manner in which Philip’s life is being rearranged.
E. It subverts the Bildungsroman convention by depriving the protagonist of introspective agency.
Question 5
Which of the following interpretations of the “toys” motif is least supported by the passage?
A. They symbolise the transitory nature of childhood, soon to be discarded as Philip enters a world of adult obligations.
B. They serve as a pathetic fallacy, their abandonment mirroring Philip’s own sense of being cast aside.
C. They represent the superficial consolation offered to children to mask the brutality of their disempowerment.
D. They foreshadow Philip’s later aesthetic sensibilities, hinting at his eventual career in the arts.
E. They function as a narrative device to transition Philip from despair to fleeting distraction.
Solutions and Explanations
1) Correct answer: E
Why E is most correct: The passage lingers on Mr. Carey’s resentment toward the florist’s bill not to establish financial context (A) or critique his hypocrisy as a clergyman (B), but to reveal his incapacity for emotional generosity. His irritation is directed at Emma’s gesture of mourning, which he deems “sheer waste”—a phrase that betrays his reduction of grief to a logistical inconvenience. This aligns with E’s framing of his emotional aridity, where even symbolic acts of remembrance are perceived as impositions. The focus is on his psychological inability to accommodate human need, not his fiscal prudence or moral failure.
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: While financial strain is implied, the passage does not prioritise this as the primary function of the bill scene. The emphasis is on Mr. Carey’s emotional reaction, not the household’s economics.
- B: Hypocrisy is a plausible reading, but the text does not explicitly contrast his clerical role with his actions—it’s more about his personal coldness than institutional failure.
- C: The passage does not engage with Victorian funeral customs as a cultural critique; the flowers are a vehicle for characterisation, not social commentary.
- D: There is no foreshadowing of materialism in Philip’s arc; the bill scene is about Mr. Carey’s present emotional limitations, not Philip’s future.
2) Correct answer: D
Why D is most correct: Emma’s rural anecdotes serve a therapeutic function: they divert Philip’s attention from his grief by immersing him in a vivid, sensory alternative reality. The passage notes that he “forgot his tears and grew excited”—this is textual evidence that her storytelling acts as a temporary emotional shield. The other options either over-intellectualise the moment (E) or misassign its primary purpose (A, B, C).
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: While the pastoral imagery could evoke nostalgia, the immediate context is distraction, not a meditation on lost innocence.
- B: There is no moralising contrast between urban and rural life here; the focus is on comfort, not ideological superiority.
- C: The passage does not frame Emma’s stories as a theological counterpoint to Mr. Carey’s faith; that’s an overread.
- E: The calf and turnpike are not symbolic of secular humanism; they are concrete, child-friendly images meant to engage Philip’s imagination.
3) Correct answer: D
Why D is most correct: The instruction to select “one thing” per parent is not about frugality (A) or legalism (B), but about the external imposition of limits on grief. The phrase is delivered with bureaucratic detachment (“you can take”), reducing complex mourning to a transactional allowance. This reflects the novel’s broader theme of how societal structures constrain emotional expression—a idea central to Philip’s struggles with autonomy. The other options either misread the tone (C, E) or impose anachronistic frameworks (B).
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: Protestant frugality is not the primary lens here; the focus is on emotional restriction, not theological doctrine.
- B: There is no legal or proprietary subtext; the instruction is psychological, not juridical.
- C: The passage does not explore the arbitrariness of memory—it’s about the arbitrariness of the rule itself.
- E: Philip is not being egocentric; the instruction is imposed on him, not chosen.
4) Correct answer: C
Why C is most correct: The shifting focalisation creates a moral hierarchy: Mr. Carey’s perspective is dismissive and self-absorbed, while Emma’s is empathetic and child-centred. The passage lingers on her comforting actions (“consoled him with soft words”) and Philip’s response, while Mr. Carey’s section is brusque and irritated. This juxtaposition elevates Emma’s emotional intelligence as the normative standard, exposing Mr. Carey’s deficiencies. The other options either misidentify the technique’s effect (A, D) or misapply theoretical frameworks (B, E).
Why the distractors are less supported:
- A: There is no psychological disintegration; Philip’s emotions are coherent, just overwhelmed.
- B: Sympathy is not distributed evenly—the text clearly sides with Emma.
- D: The pacing is not accelerated; the scene is deliberately paced to contrast the characters.
- E: Philip is not deprived of introspection; the passage grants him emotional depth (e.g., his tears).
5) Correct answer: B
Why B is most correct:Pathetic fallacy requires that non-human elements reflect human emotions—e.g., stormy weather mirroring turmoil. The toys are not described in a way that parallels Philip’s abandonment; they are objects he interacts with, not a narrative device embodying his state. The other options find some support in the text (A, C, D, E), but B is entirely unsupported by the passage’s imagery or tone.
Why the distractors are less supported (but more plausible than B):
- A: The toys do symbolise transitory childhood, as they are being packed away alongside Philip’s old life.
- C: The toys are a superficial consolation—Philip is allowed to keep them, but this does not address his deeper loss.
- D: While less central, the toys could hint at Philip’s later aesthetic sensibilities (he becomes an art student), but this is not the primary function here.
- E: The toys do help transition Philip from despair to play, as he “was playing happily” by the end.