Of Human Bondage · Chapter
LXXXVI explained
Philip becomes an inpatients' clerk at the hospital, where he meets Thorpe Athelny, a journalist and patient with jaundice.
What happens
Philip becomes an inpatients' clerk at the hospital, where he meets Thorpe Athelny, a journalist and patient with jaundice. Athelny, a cultured man who has lived in Spain, shares his passion for Spanish literature and poetry, including translations of San Juan de la Cruz. Philip is intrigued by Athelny's personality and background, and they begin a friendship.
Themes in this chapter
Art and Authenticity
Athelny's passion for translating Spanish poetry and his disdain for mundane commercial writing highlight the tension between artistic authenticity and practical work.
Class and Social Mobility
Athelny, a well-educated man, is a charity patient in the hospital, illustrating the fluidity and contradictions of social class.
Characters to notice
- Philip Carey
Serves as an inpatients' clerk, gaining medical knowledge and forming a friendship with patient Thorpe Athelny.
- Thorpe Athelny
A journalist and patient with jaundice, he discusses Spanish literature and poetry with Philip, revealing his cultured background.
- Clutton
Mentioned as having spent time in Toledo, connecting him to Athelny's past in Spain.
Key passages
“Oh, my principle is to profit by all the benefits that society provides. I take advantage of the age I live in. When I’m ill I get myself patched up in a hospital and I have no false shame, and I send my children to be educated at the board-school.”
Athelny explains that he uses public services like hospitals and schools without embarrassment, seeing it as practical.
Reflects Athelny's pragmatic and unpretentious attitude toward social institutions.
“It has not the mellifluousness of Italian, Italian is the language of tenors and organ-grinders, but it has grandeur: it does not ripple like a brook in a garden, but it surges tumultuous like a mighty river in flood.”
Athelny contrasts the smoothness of Italian with the powerful, grand quality of Spanish.
Shows Athelny's rhetorical flair and deep appreciation for the Spanish language.