Bertram Cope’s Year · Chapter
XIX: Cope Finds Himself Committed explained
Amy Leffingwell's persistent advances and letters push Bertram Cope into a reluctant commitment.
What happens
Amy Leffingwell's persistent advances and letters push Bertram Cope into a reluctant commitment. As she writes home to her mother about her hopes, Cope struggles with his own repugnance toward marriage and the life it entails. Medora Phillips, Hortense Dunton, and Joseph Foster each react to the shifting household dynamics. Foster dines with Basil Randolph, revealing the tension and Cope's absence, while Cope wanders the streets in distress after a fateful walk with Amy.
Themes in this chapter
Unrequited and Ambiguous Desire
Cope's fundamental repugnance to Amy's advances contrasts with her confident assumptions, highlighting his ambiguous feelings and her unrequited pursuit.
Escape and Confinement
Cope feels trapped by Amy's demands and the conventional life of marriage, pacing the streets in a futile attempt to escape his commitment.
Social Manipulation and Patronage
Medora Phillips and Basil Randolph both attempt to manipulate Cope's social availability for their own gratification, while Amy's letters manipulate family expectations.
Characters to notice
- Bertram Cope
Feeling trapped by Amy's expectations, he reluctantly kisses her and agonizes over his commitment, repulsed by the conventional life ahead.
- Amy Leffingwell
Persistent in her pursuit, she writes to her mother, demands walks and kisses, and speaks incessantly of 'happiness,' forcing Cope into a corner.
- Medora Phillips
Initially charmed by Cope, she now frowns on Amy's claims and requisitions Cope for a private evening at the theatre, asserting her own claim.
- Hortense Dunton
Secretly paints a portrait-sketch of Cope, imagining a bold presentation, and despises herself for her interest.
- Joe Foster
Dines with Randolph, bitterly describing the household as 'reeking' with Cope's presence and the stale courtship, revealing his discomfort.
- Basil Randolph
Disappointed by Cope's absence and the news of his courtship, he reflects on Cope's ingratitude and his own disrupted plans.
Key passages
“She 'wouldn't hurt a kitten,' we say; and we assume that her 'striking out a line for herself' is the last thing she would try to do. Yet such an unimpressive and disarming façade may mask large chambers of stubbornness and tenacity.”
Amy's gentle appearance hides a determined and stubborn nature.
The narrator warns against underestimating Amy's resolve despite her innocent looks.
“He saw the distaste of his own home circle, to which this event had come at least a year too soon. He saw the amazement, and worse, of Arthur Lemoyne, whose plans for coming to town were now all made and to whom this turn would prove a psychological shock which might deter him from coming at all.”
Cope imagines his family's disapproval and fears that Arthur Lemoyne will be shocked and may not visit.
Cope's thoughts reveal his anxiety about how his commitment will affect his relationships with family and Lemoyne.
“The whole miserable place is steaming with expectation—with the deadly aroma of a courtship going stale. I can't stand it! I can't stand it!”
Foster complains that the house is filled with the oppressive atmosphere of a failing romance.
Foster's outburst to Randolph conveys his intense discomfort with the household tension.
