# XXV explained — Of Human Bondage

> Chapter companion for Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham.

## What happens

Philip learns about his French teacher, Monsieur Ducroz, a taciturn and shabby old man who fought with Garibaldi and was involved in revolutionary movements. Philip offers him advance payment when he is ill, and later learns that the money saved him from starvation.

## Themes in this chapter

### Suffering and Disillusionment

Monsieur Ducroz's life embodies the bitterness of failed revolutionary ideals and the harshness of poverty.

### Class and Social Mobility

The contrast between Philip's comfortable life and Monsieur Ducroz's destitution highlights class disparities.

## Character check-ins

### Philip Carey

Philip observes his French teacher with curiosity and offers him advance payment out of sympathy.

### Monsieur Ducroz

Philip's French teacher, a former revolutionary who fought with Garibaldi, now old, poor, and taciturn.

## Key lines

> The oddest of Philip's masters was his teacher of French. Monsieur Ducroz was a citizen of Geneva. He was a tall old man, with a sallow skin and hollow cheeks; his gray hair was thin and long. He wore shabby black clothes, with holes at the elbows of his coat and frayed trousers. His linen was very dirty.

Philip's most peculiar instructor was his French teacher, Monsieur Ducroz, a tall, gaunt old man from Geneva, always dressed in worn-out black clothing with frayed trousers and dirty linen.

_Introduces Monsieur Ducroz's appearance and poverty._

> If it hadn't been for the money you gave me I should have starved. It was all I had to live on.

Monsieur Ducroz admits that Philip's advance payment was his only means of survival.

_Reveals the depth of Ducroz's poverty and Philip's impact._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/of_human_bondage_se/chapters/xxv
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/of_human_bondage_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/of_human_bondage_se/chapters