# XXII explained — Point Counter Point

> Chapter companion for Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley.

## What happens

Philip Quarles's notebook entries explore the theory of the novel of ideas, the nature of acquisitiveness, and the musicalization of fiction. He recounts an odd association of ideas at Lucy Tantamount's party, linking her painted lips to the white mouths of crocodiles in India, and reflects on how to incorporate such strangeness into his writing.

## Themes in this chapter

### Art and Artifice

Philip discusses the novel of ideas, musical structure in fiction, and the artificiality of characters who express neatly formulated notions.

### Modern Alienation and Despair

Philip's association of Lucy's laugh with crocodile mouths conveys a sense of estrangement and the uncanny in modern life.

## Character check-ins

### Philip Quarles

Author of the notebook; reflects on novelistic techniques, acquisitiveness, and his own under-acquisitive nature.

### Lucy Tantamount

Described as a 'French tricolor' with blue eyes, scarlet mouth, and dead white skin; her laugh triggers Philip's crocodile association.

### Illidge

Mentioned as someone who would attribute Philip's lack of acquisitiveness to his upbringing with easy money.

## Key lines

> The chief defect of the novel of ideas is that you must write about people who have ideas to express⁠—which excludes all but about .01 percent of the human race.

The main flaw of the novel of ideas is that it requires characters who can articulate thoughts, limiting the subject matter to a tiny fraction of humanity.

_Philip critiques the novel of ideas for its narrow focus on intellectual characters._

> The instinct of acquisitiveness has more perverts, I believe, than the instinct of sex.

I think more people have abnormal attitudes toward acquiring possessions than toward sex.

_Philip compares the perversity of acquisitiveness to that of sex, arguing the former lacks physical regulation._

> I shall begin the book with it. My Walterish hero makes his Lucyish siren laugh and immediately (to his horror; but he goes on longing for her, with an added touch of perversity, all the same and perhaps all the more) sees those disgusting crocodiles he had been looking at in India a month before.

I'll start my novel with this: when the Walter-like hero makes the Lucy-like woman laugh, he is horrified to recall the crocodiles he saw in India, yet his desire for her only grows more perverse.

_Philip plans to use his crocodile association as the opening of his novel, blending horror and desire._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/point_counter_point_se/chapters/xxii
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/point_counter_point_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/point_counter_point_se/chapters