XXXIX explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• The American Dream and Materialism

  Eliza's obsessive real estate trading and the family's greed over inheritance highlight the corrosive pursuit of wealth.

• Family Conflict and Dysfunction

  Violent sibling fights over money, Gant's decline, and Helen's hysteria show the family's disintegration.

• Loss, Innocence, and the Passage of Time

  Eugene's graduation marks the end of youth and the beginning of a harsh adult reality, with the family's 'great wild pattern' broken.

Characters to notice

• Eugene Gant

  Graduates from university, reads his Class Poem, feels a mix of pride and alienation from his family's values.

• Eliza Gant

  Obsessed with real estate, sells Gant's properties, becomes niggardly, and engages in secretive trading.

• Oliver Gant

  In declining health, a spectre in waxen yellow, relapses into whining dotage after graduation.

• Helen Gant

  Cares for Gant, moves between houses, suffers from hysteria and brooding morbidity, no children.

• Luke Gant

  Appointed executor of Gant's will, engages in bitter conflict with Steve over inheritance.

• Steve Gant

  Returns from Indiana, becomes insane from whiskey and veronal, confronts Eugene and Luke over money.

Key passages

• “It was the end, the end. It was the beginning of the voyage, the quest of new lands.”

  Eugene feels that his graduation is both an ending and the start of a new journey.

  Reflects Eugene's ambivalence about leaving home and family.

• “The great wild pattern of the family had been broken forever.”

  The family's chaotic but familiar structure has been destroyed by Ben's death.

  Highlights the irreversible change in family dynamics.

• “She was obsessed. She talked real estate unendingly.”

  Eliza's mind is consumed by property dealings.

  Shows Eliza's monomania and its impact on the family.