# Chapter XXVII explained — Looking Backward

> Chapter companion for Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy.

## What happens

Julian West experiences profound depression on his first Sunday in the twentieth century, feeling utterly isolated and alienated from the society around him. He realizes he loves Edith Leete but believes she can only pity him as a relic of a bygone era. After a heartfelt conversation in the subterranean chamber, Edith confesses her love for him, revealing that she feels spiritually connected to her great-grandmother Edith Bartlett. Julian's love is reciprocated, and Dr. Leete gives his blessing, leading to a joyful union that blends past and present.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Human Connection

Julian's love for Edith Leete bridges the centuries, blending past and present in a transcendent union.

### Moral and Social Progress

The sermon highlights the vast moral gap between the 19th and 20th centuries, deepening Julian's sense of alienation.

## Character check-ins

### Julian West

Falls into deep depression on his first Sunday in the new century, feeling isolated and unworthy of love; confesses his love for Edith Leete.

### Edith Leete

Comforts Julian in his despair, reveals her love for him, and expresses a spiritual connection to her great-grandmother Edith Bartlett.

### Dr. Leete

Consents to Julian and Edith's engagement, acknowledging the extraordinary circumstances.

### Mrs. Leete

Discusses with Julian the fateful connection between Edith and her great-grandmother, and the quickness of love in the twentieth century.

### Mr. Barton

His sermon accentuates Julian's sense of alienation and the moral gap between centuries.

### Edith Bartlett

Mentioned as Julian's former love; her grave and memory are invoked, and Edith Leete feels her spirit lives on.

## Key lines

> I never could tell just why, but Sunday afternoon during my old life had been a time when I was peculiarly subject to melancholy, when the color unaccountably faded out of all the aspects of life, and everything appeared pathetically uninteresting.

Julian recalls that Sundays in his former life always brought on a deep, unexplained sadness that drained the color and interest from everything.

_Establishes Julian's susceptibility to Sunday melancholy, setting the emotional tone for the chapter._

> The sermon of Mr. Barton, with its constant implication of the vast moral gap between the century to which I belonged and that in which I found myself, had had an effect strongly to accentuate my sense of loneliness in it.

Mr. Barton's sermon emphasized the huge moral differences between Julian's original century and the present, making him feel even more isolated.

_Highlights how the sermon deepens Julian's alienation and despair._

> I was neither dead nor properly alive.

Julian feels he exists in a limbo, not truly belonging to either the past or the present.

_Captures Julian's existential crisis and sense of displacement._

> What if I were to tell you that I have sometimes thought that her spirit lives in me—that Edith Bartlett, not Edith Leete, is my real name.

Edith Leete suggests that the spirit of Edith Bartlett may inhabit her, implying a mystical continuity between the two women.

_Reveals Edith's belief in a spiritual connection that justifies her love for Julian._

> From the moment the secret of the locket was out, it had to be, I fancy.

Dr. Leete implies that once the locket's secret was revealed, Julian and Edith's union was inevitable.

_Indicates the predestined nature of their relationship, tied to the locket and family history._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters/xxvii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/looking_backward_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/looking_backward_se/chapters