Bertram Cope’s Year · Chapter
IV: Cope Is Considered explained
Basil Randolph investigates Bertram Cope's background by consulting university records, finding his faculty page and address.
What happens
Basil Randolph investigates Bertram Cope's background by consulting university records, finding his faculty page and address. He later visits Medora Phillips to discuss Cope, learning about his family, his singing, and his teaching at a college in Winnebago. Randolph reflects on his own collecting habits and his interest in young men like Cope.
Themes in this chapter
Social Manipulation and Patronage
Randolph uses indirect inquiries and patronage to learn about Cope, reflecting his desire to control social interactions.
Youth vs. Middle Age
Randolph contrasts his own settled life with the transient, indifferent nature of students and young instructors like Cope.
Performance and Artifice
Cope's singing is described as 'cool and correct, but pleasant,' suggesting a performative aspect to his social interactions.
Characters to notice
- Basil Randolph
Investigates Cope's background at the university registrar's office, then discusses Cope with Medora Phillips.
- Bertram Cope
Subject of Randolph's investigation; his faculty page is now in place, showing his interest in English Literature.
- Medora Phillips
Discusses Cope with Randolph, describing him as charming but self-assured and cool.
- Joe Foster
Mentioned as the invalid half-brother of Medora's husband, whom Randolph visits upstairs.
- Carolyn Thorpe
Briefly mentioned as having given Joe the headlines earlier in the day.
Key passages
“He was, after all, sufficiently in the academic tradition to prefer the consultation of records as against the employment of viva voce methods; and he saw no reason why his new interest should be widely communicated to other individuals.”
Randolph, true to academic custom, chose to examine written records rather than ask questions directly, and he wanted to keep his interest in Cope private.
Highlights Randolph's methodical and discreet approach to gathering information.
“Why could an interesting young organism so seldom be detached from its milieu and enjoyed in isolation?”
Randolph laments that an intriguing young person like Cope cannot be separated from his family background and appreciated on his own.
Reveals Randolph's desire to possess or control Cope without the complications of his family.
“They were restless birds of passage who fidgeted through their years, and even through the days of which the years were made: intent on their own affairs and their own companions; thankless for small favors and kind attentions—even unconscious of them; soaking up goodwill and friendly offices in a fashion too damnably taken-for-granted...”
Randolph views students as transient and ungrateful, focused only on their own lives and oblivious to the kindness shown to them.
Expresses Randolph's frustration with the younger generation and his sense of being undervalued.