Armed with Madness · Chapter
When We Were Very Young explained
Felix, drunk in a taxi with an American friend and a Russian named Boris, experiences a moment of clarity and purpose.
What happens
Felix, drunk in a taxi with an American friend and a Russian named Boris, experiences a moment of clarity and purpose. He decides that Boris is the companion he has been seeking, and he resolves to take him back to Russia. The chapter captures a bohemian, reckless night in Paris, blending intoxication, desire, and a sense of destiny.
Themes in this chapter
Sexuality and Desire
Felix's intense, romantic attraction to Boris is portrayed as a driving, almost fated desire, set against a backdrop of drunken revelry.
Art, Creativity, and Perception
The chapter's vivid, impressionistic language and Felix's starry-eyed perception of Paris and Boris evoke a creative, almost artistic vision of life.
Characters to notice
- Felix Taverner
Drunk and euphoric in a Paris taxi, Felix decides that Boris is the companion he came to find, feeling a romantic and purposeful connection.
- Boris
A Russian exile, young and wicked, who is amused and indifferent as Felix becomes infatuated with him.
Key passages
“And Felix knew that he had found what he had come for, this slip out of Russia, a burning black pillar of congenial romance.”
Felix realized that Boris was exactly the person he had been seeking—a romantic figure from Russia, intense and kindred.
Felix's moment of recognition and purpose.
“Like a bow bent and relaxed, and strung with fresh arrows, his desires took purpose.”
His desires became focused and directed, like a bow that is drawn and then released with new arrows.
Metaphor for Felix's newfound clarity and intention.