# He Decides to Amuse Himself explained — The Cords of Vanity

> Chapter companion for The Cords of Vanity by James Branch Cabell.

## What happens

The narrator returns to Fairhaven after Stella's funeral, wrestling with grief and anger at her death. He reconnects with Bettie Hamlyn, who criticizes his latest book and his emotional detachment. He immerses himself in work—correcting proofs of 'Afield,' writing formulaic love stories for a women's magazine, and engaging in a vulgar affair with Celia Reindan. He decides to write a better book and to marry Rosalind Jemmett as a sensible match, then plans a trip to the Green Chalybeate with his Uncle George Bulmer. The chapter reflects on provincialism and the difficulty of writing humorously about familiar places.

## Themes in this chapter

### Artistic Identity and Escapism

The narrator juggles serious literary ambition with hack writing, using work and affairs to escape grief.

### Love and Its Disillusionments

Stella's death, the vulgar affair with Celia, and the pragmatic engagement to Rosalind all reflect disillusionment with love.

### Vanity and Self-Deception

The narrator's self-justifications, his 'resolutely boyish' manner with Bettie, and his rationalization of the affair reveal vanity and self-deception.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown Narrator

Grieves Stella's death, works on proofs and hack writing, engages in affair with Celia, plans marriage to Rosalind and a new book.

### Bettie Hamlyn

Reunites with the narrator in Fairhaven; criticizes his book and his emotional evasiveness, gently chides him.

### Celia Reindan

The narrator's vulgar affair partner; noted for her yellow hair, book-fed sentimentality, and unbridled temper.

### Rosalind Jemmett

The narrator's intended 'sensible match'; he says farewell to her as she leaves for Canada.

### George Bulmer

The narrator's uncle, who accompanies him to the Green Chalybeate as a sign of forgiveness for not lending money.

### Stella Musgrave

Recently deceased; the narrator mourns her funeral and recalls her as the first love.

## Key lines

> I had meanwhile decided, first, to write another and a better book than The Apostates or Afield had ever pretended to be; and afterward to marry Rosalind Jemmett, whom I found, in my too-hackneyed but habitual phrase, 'adorable.'

He resolved to produce a superior novel and then wed Rosalind, whom he routinely called 'adorable.'

_Shows his pragmatic, almost mechanical approach to both art and marriage._

> For to write convincingly of the persons peculiar to any locality it is necessary either to have thoroughly misunderstood them, or else perseveringly to have been absent from daily intercourse with them until age has hardened the brain-cells, and you have forgotten what they are really like.

To portray local characters authentically, one must either misunderstand them completely or be long absent from them until memory fades.

_Reflects the narrator's meta-commentary on writing and provincialism._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters/xv-he-decides-to-amuse-himself
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_cords_of_vanity_se/chapters