# II explained — Pastors and Masters

> Chapter companion for Pastors and Masters by Ivy Compton-Burnett.

## What happens

Herrick and his half-sister Emily discuss duty, creativity, and mortality after the death of the old don Crabbe. Their conversation touches on Herrick's role in founding the school and his choice of Mr. Merry as headmaster. Later, Masson and Bumpus join them, and the talk turns to writing, ambition, and the nature of their friendship. Bumpus reveals his deep desire to write and the loss of his earlier manuscript, while Herrick reflects on his own critical work and the inevitability of death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Aging and Mortality

The chapter centers on Crabbe's death and the characters' reflections on their own aging, the fear of death, and the desire to be surrounded by friends at the end.

### Creativity and Failure

Herrick's disappointment in only producing critical work and Bumpus's anguish over his lost manuscript highlight the tension between creative ambition and perceived failure.

### Duty and Obligation

The conversation opens with Herrick and Emily discussing Mr. Merry's sense of duty, and extends to Herrick's own sense of obligation to the school and to his friends.

## Character check-ins

### Emily Herrick

Herrick's half-sister; a tall, dark woman of fifty who speaks frankly about duty and mortality.

### Mr. Herrick

Reflects on his creative role in founding the school, his disappointment in only doing critical work, and his views on death.

### William Masson

A tall, large don in late middle age; one of the watchers at Crabbe's deathbed, and a friend to Herrick and Bumpus.

### Bumpus

A small, dark man of about fifty-six; a don who feels deeply about his lost manuscript and his desire to write.

### Crabbe

The old don who has just died at eighty-nine; his death prompts reflections on mortality and legacy.

## Key lines

> The sight of duty does make one shiver. The actual doing of it would kill one, I think.

Emily suggests that merely contemplating duty is unsettling, and actually performing it would be overwhelming.

_Reflects the theme of duty and obligation, and the characters' ambivalence toward it._

> I never look back on my life. It seems to be lacking in too much.

Emily says she avoids reflecting on her past because she feels it is full of deficiencies.

_Contrasts with Herrick's more positive view of his own life, highlighting different attitudes toward aging and fulfillment._

> I have wanted to write all my life, felt it was this, it was mine to want. And it seemed not to come to me, after the early time when things happened as we know.

Bumpus confesses that he has always longed to write, but after losing his early manuscript, the opportunity seemed to elude him.

_Central to the theme of creativity and failure, and to Bumpus's character arc._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pastors_and_masters_se/chapters/ii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pastors_and_masters_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/pastors_and_masters_se/chapters