Look Homeward, Angel · Chapter
XXXI explained
As the nation mobilizes for war, Eugene experiences a season of departures and loneliness.
What happens
As the nation mobilizes for war, Eugene experiences a season of departures and loneliness. Luke goes to training school, Ben and Helen take Gant to Baltimore for radium treatment, and Eugene visits the Leonards, feeling unable to confess his heart to Margaret. He spends evenings with Irene Mallard, finding comfort without touch, and has a tense encounter with a boarder, Mrs. Selborne. Eliza prepares him for his return to university, their parting marked by mutual guilt and sorrow.
Themes in this chapter
Alienation and Loneliness
Eugene feels profoundly alone despite being surrounded by people; he cannot share his heart with Margaret Leonard and finds only fleeting comfort with Irene Mallard.
Family Conflict and Dysfunction
Gant's drunken spree provokes Helen's fury; Eliza's tearful guilt and Eugene's bitter retorts highlight the strained family bonds.
The Power of Memory and the Past
Gant recalls his boyhood in Baltimore; Eugene reflects that he never knew Irene Mallard until he remembered her years later, emphasizing memory's role in shaping experience.
Characters to notice
- Eugene Gant
Feels the strangeness of war and departure; visits Margaret Leonard but cannot confess his pain; dances with Irene Mallard and confides in her; has a charged encounter with Mrs. Selborne; prepares to leave for university.
- Eliza Gant
Packs Eugene's trunk, gives him Gant's check, and expresses hurt that he spends little time with her; their farewell is fraught with tears and recrimination.
- Oliver Gant
Goes to Baltimore for radium treatment after a violent spree; lies moaning in bed, provoking Helen's anger; mutters about his boyhood as he enters the hospital.
- Helen Gant
Accompanies Gant and Ben to Baltimore; scolds Gant for his excesses but holds his hand comfortingly as they enter the hospital.
- Ben Gant
Goes to Baltimore with Helen and Gant; reacts with scowling disgust to Gant's behavior.
- Luke Gant
Has gone away to the training-school at Newport.
- Margaret Leonard
Looks thin and ill but radiates tranquil patience; laughs off Eugene's attempt to confess about Laura, telling him he doesn't know what love is.
- Irene Mallard
Teaches Eugene to dance; listens to his confessions and strokes his hand; gives him comfort without physical intimacy.
Key passages
“He felt the death of joy; but the groping within him of wonder, of glory.”
He sensed that happiness was fading, yet still felt a stirring of awe and brilliance inside himself.
Captures Eugene's ambivalent mood amid the war's onset.
“All of his sin, all of his pain, all the vexed weariness of his soul were washed away in that deep radiance: the tumult and evil of life dropped from him its foul and ragged cloak.”
In Margaret Leonard's serene presence, his guilt, suffering, and exhaustion dissolved, and the chaos of life fell away like a dirty tattered coat.
Describes the healing effect Margaret has on Eugene.
“How I have cut my brain open for you to see, and would my heart, if I had dared, and how alone I am, and always have been.”
I have exposed my deepest thoughts to you, and would have shown you my heart if I had been brave enough, yet I remain utterly and eternally solitary.
Eugene's internal lament after Margaret dismisses his confession about Laura.
“It is the union of the ordinary and the miraculous that makes wonder.”
Wonder arises when everyday life meets the extraordinary.
Narrator's reflection on the strange beauty of the wartime atmosphere.
