Out of Paradise explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Identity and Deception

  Raffles deceives Bunny about the target of the burglary, leading him to believe they are robbing the house of his beloved's uncle when it is actually Lord Lochmaben's residence.

• Friendship and Loyalty

  Bunny's loyalty to Raffles is tested as he is drawn into a crime against his better judgment, and Raffles exploits their friendship for his own ends.

• Crime and Morality

  The chapter details the planning and execution of a burglary, with Bunny grappling with his moral qualms and Raffles treating crime as a calculated profession.

Characters to notice

• A. J. Raffles

  Raffles orchestrates the burglary, manipulating Bunny with false information about the target house.

• Bunny

  Bunny is the narrator, reflecting on his past engagement and his reluctant participation in the crime.

• Hector Carruthers

  Hector Carruthers is the pompous politician and uncle of Bunny's former fiancée, whose house Bunny mistakenly believes they are burgling.

• Lord Lochmaben

  Lord Lochmaben is the actual owner of the house being burgled, which was let furnished to the Carruthers family.

• Lady Lochmaben

  Lady Lochmaben's jewels are the target of the burglary, as Raffles had been planning to steal them.

Key passages

• “If I must tell more tales of Raffles, I can but back to our earliest days together, and fill in the blanks left by discretion in existing annals.”

  To continue recounting stories about Raffles, I must return to the beginning of our partnership and reveal details previously omitted out of caution.

  Bunny introduces the chapter as a confession of previously hidden events.

• “Raffles was a villain, when all is written; it is no service to his memory to glaze the fact; yet I have done so myself before today.”

  Raffles was fundamentally a criminal, and it does not honor him to hide that truth, though I have softened it in the past.

  Bunny acknowledges his earlier reluctance to fully portray Raffles's villainy.

• “I pick my words with care and pain, loyal as I still would be to my friend, and yet remembering as I must those Ides of March when he led me blindfold into temptation and crime.”

  I choose my words carefully and painfully, still wanting to be loyal to my friend, but I must recall that fateful day in March when he led me into crime without my full understanding.

  Bunny references the Ides of March as the moment Raffles first involved him in criminal activity.

• “The second offence, on the other hand, was to prove the less serious of the two against society, and might in itself have been published to the world years ago.”

  The second crime was actually less harmful to society and could have been revealed long ago.

  Bunny contrasts the two crimes, noting the second was less severe but kept secret for personal reasons.

• “One other was involved in it, one dearer to me than Raffles himself, one whose name shall not even now be sullied by association with ours.”

  Another person was involved, someone I loved more than Raffles, and I still refuse to tarnish their name by linking it to ours.

  Bunny protects the identity of his former fiancée, who was indirectly affected by the crime.

• “I had been engaged to her before that mad March deed. True, her people called it 'an understanding,' and frowned even upon that, as well they might.”

  I was engaged to her before that reckless March crime. Her family called it merely an informal agreement and disapproved, understandably.

  Bunny reveals his engagement and the family's disapproval.