Of Human Bondage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Creator |
| ||||
| Contributor(s) | |||||
| Properties |
| ||||
| Name of Work | Of Human Bondage | ||||
| Production Date | 1915 | ||||
| Production Location | United Kingdom | ||||
| Current Location | United Kingdom | ||||
| General Notes | |||||
Description
The main character Philip drifts through life going from one non-chosen profession to another. He is portrayed as a rather passive character from the opening passage of being carried around by a nurse, and being there when his mother dies. We also learn he has a deformed foot, which indicates the inherent deformity in the human condition. His affairs with women seem driven by uncontrolled emotions rather than any shared values. At the end, he gives up any remaining glimmers of special values and decides that life should be one of settling for whatever occurs -- conventionality deified.
Theme
Man's life is outside his control. Conventionality is the final ideal.
Emotional Sum or Sense-of-life
Life is a fearful gray spread of actions and in-actions without genuine values. We are all deformed in mind or spirit and should accept convention as demanded by those around us.
Context Information
The book is widely regarded as largely autobiographical, though given the strictures of the times, it does not go into the homosexual interests of the author, but keeps everything in the heterosexual realm.
