Summer · Chapter
Chapter XV explained
After Harney's departure, Charity struggles with shame and uncertainty about their future.
What happens
After Harney's departure, Charity struggles with shame and uncertainty about their future. She receives a letter from Harney that is tender but vague, and she responds with a postcard. Ally Hawes reveals that Harney is likely engaged to Annabel Balch, leading to a confrontation. Charity writes to Harney urging him to marry Annabel if promised. She experiences nausea and realizes she is pregnant. Harney's reply confirms his engagement to Annabel, devastating Charity. She goes to Mr. Royall's office for letter paper and finds him there.
Themes in this chapter
Shame and Social Stigma
Charity feels a 'leaden weight of shame' after her intimacy with Harney, and the fear of social judgment pervades her thoughts about their future.
Isolation and Escape
Charity feels isolated in her emotions and struggles to express herself; she roams the hills to avoid others, and the vast landscape mirrors her internal solitude.
Love and Marriage
The chapter explores the tension between romantic love and societal expectations of marriage, as Charity confronts Harney's engagement to Annabel Balch.
Characters to notice
- Charity Royall
Struggles with shame and uncertainty after Harney's departure; writes to him urging him to do right; experiences nausea and realizes she is pregnant; devastated by Harney's letter confirming his engagement to Annabel Balch.
- Lucius Harney
Leaves North Dormer; writes a tender but grave letter to Charity; later writes confirming his engagement to Annabel Balch and expressing hope for their dream.
- Ally Hawes
Visits Charity and reveals that Harney is likely engaged to Annabel Balch; confronts Charity about her relationship.
- Lawyer Royall
Returns from a trip; finds Charity in his office at night; offers an unexpected gesture of reaching out his hands.
- Annabel Balch
Revealed as Harney's fiancée; represents the kind of girl Harney would naturally marry.
- Old Verena Marsh
Tells Charity that Mr. Royall has gone to Worcester and Portland.
Key passages
“She had not had to put the thought from her mind; it had not been there. If ever she looked ahead she felt instinctively that the gulf between them was too deep, and that the bridge their passion had flung across it was as insubstantial as a rainbow.”
Charity never seriously considered marrying Harney because she sensed their social differences were too great, and their connection felt fragile.
Reflects Charity's awareness of class barriers and the impermanence of their relationship.
“She could not forget that he had never spoken to her of marriage till Mr. Royall had forced the word from his lips; though she had not had the strength to shake off the spell that bound her to him she had lost all spontaneity of feeling, and seemed to herself to be passively awaiting a fate she could not avert.”
Charity remembers that Harney only mentioned marriage after Mr. Royall confronted him, and she feels trapped and passive, unable to change her situation.
Highlights Charity's sense of powerlessness and the coercive nature of her relationship with Harney.
“She had never known how to adapt herself; she could only break and tear and destroy.”
Charity feels she lacks the ability to conform or compromise, and instead reacts with destructive impulses.
Illustrates Charity's self-awareness of her own fierce and untamed nature.
“It was so beautifully expressed that she found it almost as difficult to understand as the gentleman’s explanation of the Bible pictures at Nettleton; but gradually she became aware that the gist of its meaning lay in the last few words.”
Harney's letter is so elegantly written that Charity struggles to grasp its meaning, but she eventually understands that the key point is in the final sentences.
Shows Charity's lack of education and her difficulty interpreting Harney's sophisticated language.
