IX explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Authenticity vs. Performance

  Gumbril's adoption of the false beard and padded coat to become the 'Complete Man' exemplifies the tension between his true mild, melancholy self and the performed, Rabelaisian persona he adopts to navigate social and romantic encounters.

• Modern Ennui and Disillusionment

  Gumbril's weariness with conversations about love and the mysterious woman's complaints about her narrow, uninteresting life reflect a pervasive sense of boredom and disillusionment with modern existence.

• Commerce and Commodification

  The chapter is filled with references to shopping, from the New Season's Models to the 'Hire Purchase' furniture, highlighting how consumer culture shapes identities and relationships.

Characters to notice

• Theodore Gumbril

  Gumbril adopts the 'Complete Man' persona with a false beard and padded coat, feeling transformed into a Rabelaisian figure. He initiates a conversation with a mysterious woman at shop windows and later accompanies her to her flat.

• Emily

  The mysterious woman who meets Gumbril at the National Gallery and later at shop windows. She is described as having green eyes, a slightly aquiline nose, and a wide mouth. She invites Gumbril to her maisonnette in Bloxam Gardens, complaining of her husband's neglect.

• Coleman

  Mentioned as the one who pointed out the way to Thelema, for which Gumbril feels grateful. Gumbril plans to share a joke about his beard with Coleman.

• Bojanus

  Mr. Bojanus is the tailor from whom Gumbril orders an American coat padded at the shoulders, and who calls the light coat a 'toga' in real West Country whipcord.

• Mercaptan

  Referenced indirectly as the 'great exponent of civilization' whose sense of the term 'highly civilized' is used to describe the mysterious woman's apparent sophistication.

Key passages

• “If there was anything he disliked it was conversations about love. It bored him, oh, it bored him most horribly, this minute analysis of the passion that young women always seemed to expect one, at some point or other in one’s relation with them, to make.”

  Gumbril found discussions about love tedious and dreaded the detailed analysis of romance that women often demanded.

  This reveals Gumbril's deep ennui and his reluctance to engage in emotional intimacy, contrasting with his performed persona.

• “The beard now supplied the deficiencies in the stylobate, and planted now on a firm basement of will, the order of the senses, the aerial attic of ideas, reared themselves with a more classical harmoniousness of proportion.”

  The beard corrected the imbalance of his face, making his features appear more harmonious and giving him an air of strength and intellect.

  This metaphor illustrates Gumbril's belief that the beard transforms him into a more complete, classical figure, blending physical and intellectual attributes.

• “The Complete Man nodded sympathetically. 'Other people’s tastes,' he held up his hands, they both laughed.”

  Gumbril, in his Complete Man persona, nodded in understanding and they shared a laugh about the poor taste of others.

  This moment shows Gumbril performing empathy and sophistication, reinforcing his adopted identity.