A Bid for Fortune · Chapter
III: I Visit My Relations explained
The narrator travels to the English countryside to visit his father's family.
What happens
The narrator travels to the English countryside to visit his father's family. He meets his miserly uncle, Sir William Hatteras, who lives in a decaying ancestral hall. Sir William initially mistakes him for a fortune-seeker but learns of his wealth. The uncle shows him the house, including the room where his father was born, and reveals his poverty and paranoia. Over a meager lunch, Sir William mentions his daughter Gwendoline and reluctantly agrees to introduce her.
Themes in this chapter
Identity and Belonging
The narrator explores his family roots and heritage, grappling with his sense of belonging as a colonial-born Englishman visiting his ancestral home.
Class and Social Mobility
The contrast between the narrator's wealth and his uncle's poverty, and the decay of the aristocratic estate, highlight class decline and social mobility.
Deception and Appearances
Sir William's initial suspicion and miserly behavior, and his attempts to appear generous while hoarding, underscore themes of deception and appearances.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
The narrator visits his father's family in England, discovering his heritage and meeting his miserly uncle.
- Sir William Hatteras
The narrator's uncle, a miserly and paranoid old man living in a decaying ancestral hall, who initially suspects the narrator of seeking his fortune.
- James Dymoke Hatteras
The narrator's father, mentioned as having run away from home after a quarrel with the squire and gone to foreign parts.
- Gwendoline
Sir William's daughter and the narrator's cousin, mentioned but not yet seen; Sir William orders her to be brought to meet the narrator.
Key passages
“And that selfsame sticking at home is one of the things about England and yokel Englishmen that for the life of me I cannot understand. It seems to me—of course, I don’t put it forward that I’m right—that a man might just as well be dead as only know God’s world for twenty miles around him.”
The narrator criticizes Englishmen who never travel, suggesting that a limited worldview is akin to being dead.
Reflects the narrator's colonial perspective and theme of adventure.
“Well, well, you mustn’t expect too much, my boy! You see for yourself the position I’m in. The old place is shut up, going to rack and ruin. Poverty is staring me in the face; I am cheated by everybody. Robbed right and left, not knowing which way to turn.”
Sir William complains about his poverty and the decay of his estate, blaming others for his misfortunes.
Reveals Sir William's miserly and paranoid character.
“This is where all our family were born,” he answered. “ ’Twas here your father first saw the light of day.” I looked at it with a new interest. It seemed hard to believe that this was the birthplace of my own father, the man whom I remembered so well in a place and life so widely different.”
Sir William shows the narrator the room where his father was born, evoking a sense of connection and wonder.
Highlights the theme of identity and belonging.