Previous
Chapter 19
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in My Brilliant Career, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Womanhood
Class and Poverty
Ambition, Respectability, and Pride
Love
Maturity and Suffering
Summary
Analysis
The servants and laborers at Five-Bob Downs have left to attend the servants’ ball, so Harold leaves to attend to the horses. Sybylla and Aunt Helen do not have access to their wardrobes, so they make themselves presentable as best they can and then go down to dinner. At the table are 20 other guests, including Joe Archer and Miss Derrick. Sybylla gets her first look at Miss Derrick and perceives that she is governed by self-confidence and propriety instead of emotions. Miss Derrick would never make a fool of herself, nor become a genuine companion to her husband. Sybylla thinks that the notion of a husband wanting a wife to act as his companion, rather than a prize to show off to his friends, is a modern-day myth.
Sybylla’s understanding of companionship suggests that she believes in the possibility of an equal partnership between a man and a woman. That partnership, however, does not exist within marriage, and a woman would make a fool of herself in pursuit of it. Sybylla sees a wife as a possession of her husband, which he can show off as he pleases. This highlights that Sybylla perceives marriage’s social role for men is one of reputation-building. In Sybylla’s mind, a traditional woman like Miss Derrick would accept this arrangement with ease, as she is not dominated by her emotions like Sybylla.
Active
Themes
Literary Devices
Since the guests have to serve themselves, the dinner is informal, and afterwards they all help wash the dishes. Despite the heat of the evening, the younger guests propose dancing, and they go to the dancing room to play piano and dance together. After a few songs, Harold orders Joe Archer to play a waltz and asks for the pleasure of dancing with Sybylla. She protests that her poor dancing ability will not bring him pleasure, but he asks her to let him judge his own pleasure, and the two begin to dance. As they move, he tells Sybylla to come to his room to strike a bargain.
The presence of Joe Archer again allows Harold to exert his authority, which is especially notable because Archer is one of the only laborers eating with the guests instead of attending the servants’ ball. While Archer’s presence at the dinner suggests a level of privilege, Harold undermines that privilege when he orders the jackeroo to separate from the dancing guests and provide them with a waltz. During the waltz, Sybylla once again demonstrates her insecurity, as she insists Harold will be displeased by her dancing. Harold’s request that she let him decide what pleases him is symbolic of their relationship: she refuses to believe he can love her, and he only wants to convince her of his feelings.
Active
Themes
Sybylla does what Harold asks and follows him to a detached building considered Harold’s domain. They stand apart, and he tells her, calmly, that “it is no use [...] making a long yarn about nothing,” so he will not make a speech––instead, he simply asks her, “Yes or no?” Sybylla is stricken and disappointed by Harold’s lack of emotion. Despite his proposal, he still has not professed his love or asked her to profess hers. Sybylla attributes this to Harold’s conceitedness, but the older Sybylla who narrates the story says that this interpretation was wrong. Harold is just a quiet and straightforward man who expresses himself through actions and expects others to do the same.
Active
Themes
With some annoyance, Sybylla accepts Harold’s proposal. She internally qualifies her acceptance as temporary and intends to break it off one day to surprise Harold and cure his conceitedness. Harold is pleasantly surprised; he laughs that he never thought Sybylla would say yes “so easily, just like any other girl.” He moves to kiss her.
Active
Themes
Literary Devices
Get the entire My Brilliant Career LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Sybylla is unsure why she undertakes her following action. Perhaps she is hysterical; perhaps she is irritated by Harold’s sudden assumption of ownership over her; perhaps Satan himself took hold of her. Whatever the reason, Sybylla responds to Harold’s kiss by grabbing a whip and striking him across the face. The wound cuts across his face, and anger enters his eyes. Harold moves slightly, and Sybylla hopes he will hit her back. She is paralyzed by the significance of her action. She drops the whip and falls to the ground, hoping that Harold will beat her. She is humiliated at her unwomanly attack of a man, who is bound by the laws of his sex not to strike a woman.
Active
Themes
Harold breaks the silence. He calmly informs Sybylla that a less violent rejection would have stopped him from kissing her, though he didn’t realize that a kiss from a fiancé would be so offensive to her. Sybylla wants to tell him that she does not blame him, but she cannot bring herself to speak. Harold cleans his face with water and comes over to comfort Sybylla. He reassures her that he knows she didn’t mean to hurt him and apologizes for speaking harshly to her. In a gesture of forgiving courtesy, he asks Sybylla to tie his handkerchief for him. She does so, and they return to the other guests.
Active
Themes
The other dinner guests ask what happened to Harold, but he dismisses their questions and puts the matter to an end. Sybylla slips away from the party to reason through the events of the night. She cannot understand why Harold Beecham would choose a charmless, ugly woman like her. Is his proposal a whim, or does he really love her? She stands in the dark as music begins to play again inside. Harold comes through the flowers calling her name and asks Sybylla to come in and dance with him. She agrees, and they dance for a few more hours. That night, Sybylla does not sleep, but lies awake listening to the owls.
Active
Themes
