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Chapter 24
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Wives and Daughters, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Friendship
Class, Status, and Romance
Independence, Opportunities, and Gender
Challenges, Growth, and Community
Gossip and Rumors
Summary
Analysis
Molly, Cynthia, and Clare prepare for the Easter ball. Clare thinks that it would be best to find a gentleman to accompany Cynthia and Molly to the ball. Roger and Osborne are not available because they’re in mourning following Mrs. Hamley’s death. Clare suggests Mr. Preston, despite her misgivings about his character. Cynthia vehemently refuses to attend the ball if Preston accompanies them. That settles the matter: Clare decides that no one will accompany Molly and Cynthia.
Cynthia’s response to Clare’s suggestion that she attend the ball with Preston further hints that there is some reason that Cynthia is especially averse to Preston. Though Molly picks up on Cynthia’s animosity toward Preston, she remains unaware as to what might have caused Cynthia’s ire.
Active
Themes
Literary Devices
Later, Lady Harriet pays a visit to Clare while Molly and Cynthia are out. During that visit, Harriet invites Clare to lunch at Cumnor Towers the next day at Lady Cumnor’s bequest. When Clare arrives at lunch the next day, though, she quickly finds that she’s treated as an afterthought. She waits alone for more than an hour before lunch is served, and then Lady Cumnor treats her as if she still works for the Cumnors.
This passage points to the indignities that can come with Clare’s quest to achieve higher status. Though Clare believes that proximity to the Cumnors’ wealth and status is one of the highest things she can aspire to, this passage shows that Clare must perhaps sacrifice her own dignity to pursue those aims.
Active
Themes
On the day of the ball, Cynthia and Molly are getting ready when they receive a bouquet of flowers sent from the Hamley brothers. Cynthia quickly dismantles the bouquet and pins some flowers in Molly’s hair and some in her own. Molly protests and says it seems as if the flowers have been carefully picked and arranged—Molly suspects that Roger put the flowers together—but Cynthia says she won’t be stifled by sentimentality. Just before Cynthia and Molly head out, Cynthia receives a second bouquet of flowers. Cynthia tells Molly that it’s a bouquet from Preston. She then throws the flowers and the note into the fire.
Active
Themes
