Barriers Burned Away · Chapter
The Two Heights explained
Dennis, in a tumult of hope and fear, decides to paint a two-part picture to express his feelings for Christine.
What happens
Dennis, in a tumult of hope and fear, decides to paint a two-part picture to express his feelings for Christine. She continues to manipulate him, using his love to study his expressions for her own artistic gain. She invites him to sing at her home, then leads him into society, where she alternately encourages and tortures him with jealousy. Dennis grows pale and thin from the emotional strain and his secret early-morning painting sessions. Christine proposes to her father that they buy and refurbish Mr. Jones's house, using Dennis's help, as a speculative investment and a preparation for her future in Europe.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Sacrifice
Dennis's love for Christine drives him to sacrifice his sleep and health, painting secretly and enduring emotional torture, all in the hope of expressing his feelings.
Art and Ambition
Christine uses Dennis as an unconscious model to capture genuine emotion for her art, while Dennis channels his love into a symbolic painting. Christine also reveals her ambition to create a notable home as a stepping stone to social and artistic success in Europe.
Suffering and Providence
Dennis suffers intensely from Christine's manipulative coldness and jealousy, yet he continues to hope, suggesting a providential testing or endurance.
Characters to notice
- Dennis Fleet
Torn between hope and fear, he begins painting a symbolic two-part picture to convey his love. He is manipulated by Christine, who studies his expressions for her art, and he grows thin and pale from emotional strain and sleepless work.
- Christine Ludolph
She deliberately encourages Dennis's attention to study his face for her painting, keeping him hot and cold by turns. She orchestrates his visits to her home and his entry into society, and proposes a plan to buy and refurbish a house as an investment.
- Mr. Ludolph
He unknowingly aids Christine's scheme by inviting Dennis to sing. He is initially skeptical but eventually considers Christine's proposal to buy Mr. Jones's house.
- Mr. Bruder
Dennis's painting teacher, who is puzzled by Dennis's sudden obsession with painting ice, then warm light and foliage, but obliges his requests.
- Mrs. Bruder
She worries over Dennis's health, pleading with him not to work so hard.
- Brandt
Mr. Ludolph's servant, sent to fetch Dennis to the Ludolphs' rooms.
Key passages
“The ice is broken at last.”
Dennis believes that the initial barrier between him and Christine has been overcome.
Dennis's hopeful interpretation of Christine's behavior, though he is unaware of her manipulative intentions.
“She would then watch his face grow pale and his manner restless, as quietly and critically as an entomologist regards the struggles of an insect beneath his microscope.”
Christine observed Dennis's emotional pain with the detached, analytical eye of a scientist studying a specimen.
Highlights Christine's cold, artistic exploitation of Dennis's feelings.
“Thus she kept him hot and cold by turns—now lifting him to the pinnacle of hope, again casting him down into the valley of fear and doubt.”
She alternated between giving him intense hope and plunging him into despair, manipulating his emotions.
Describes Christine's calculated emotional manipulation of Dennis.