Alice Adams · Chapter
Chapter XVII explained
Virgil Adams, driven by a newfound ambition, throws himself into establishing a new business, leasing a dilapidated brick shed in a decaying industrial district.
What happens
Virgil Adams, driven by a newfound ambition, throws himself into establishing a new business, leasing a dilapidated brick shed in a decaying industrial district. He works obsessively, ignoring his health, and seeks Charley Lohr's help to deliver a letter to J.A. Lamb, anxiously awaiting a response. Meanwhile, Alice attempts to manage appearances with Arthur Russell, explaining her father's absence and her own conflicted happiness.
Themes in this chapter
Ambition and Disappointment
Virgil's frantic drive to establish a new business contrasts with his physical decline and the anxiety of waiting for J.A. Lamb's response, highlighting the tension between ambition and potential disappointment.
Family Dynamics and Sacrifice
Alice's concern for her father's health and her attempt to help him reflect the family's involvement in his risky venture, while Virgil's obsession isolates him from their worries.
Social Class and Mobility
Virgil's shift from a modest bondholder to a small manufacturer, leasing a cheap shed in a slummish quarter, illustrates the precarious nature of upward mobility and class anxiety.
Characters to notice
- Virgil Adams
Driven and anxious, he paces at night, works relentlessly at his new plant, leases a brick shed, and delivers a letter to J.A. Lamb via Charley Lohr, showing physical strain and obsessive focus.
- Alice Adams
Attempts to explain her father's ambition to Arthur Russell, expresses concern for her father's health, and begs to accompany him in the cab to help.
- Arthur Russell
Listens to Alice's explanation about her father and her 'sadly' happy state, showing curiosity and absorption.
- Charley Lohr
Delivers Virgil's letter to J.A. Lamb, observes Virgil's haggard appearance, and predicts Virgil will return anxiously for news.
- Mrs. Lohr
Inquires about Virgil's health and appearance, and is given limited information by her husband.
- J. A. Lamb
Receives Virgil's letter but gives no immediate response, reading it slowly and then rereading it in silence.
Key passages
“When a man gets an ambition to be a multimillionaire his family don’t appear to have much weight with him.”
Alice suggests that a man's drive for wealth overshadows his family's influence.
Alice explains her father's relentless work to Arthur Russell.
“I wish I did know,” he thought, over and over. “I do wish I knew how he feels about it.”
Virgil repeatedly wonders about Arthur Russell's true feelings.
Virgil's internal anxiety about the letter and Russell's response.
“You look out: the toiler’s day is a-comin’, and it ain’t so fur off, neither!”
A worker warns that laborers will soon rise up against capitalists.
A resigning worker criticizes Virgil's capitalist approach.
“Just skin and bones.”
Charley Lohr describes Virgil as extremely thin and frail.
Lohr comments on Virgil's deteriorating health to his wife.
“He didn’t say a word, Virgil; nary a word.”
Charley reports that J.A. Lamb gave no verbal response to the letter.
Lohr relays the lack of reaction from Lamb, increasing Virgil's anxiety.
