Chapter LI explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Survival and Resilience

  Cowperwood faces his impending imprisonment with composure and self-sufficiency, embodying resilience in the face of personal and financial collapse.

• Deception and Self-Justification

  Cowperwood rationalizes his moral choices regarding his family and his affair with Aileen, believing his children will fare well regardless.

Characters to notice

• Frank Algernon Cowperwood

  Says farewell to his family, shows affection to his children, and maintains a composed demeanor before departing for prison.

• Lillian Cowperwood

  Has a distant, matter-of-fact talk with Cowperwood; feels jealous of the attention he gives their daughter.

• Mrs. Henry W. Cowperwood

  Shares an emotional, despairing embrace with Cowperwood and prays for him as he leaves.

• Henry Worthington Cowperwood

  Looks as though he has lost his last friend but tries to appear self-contained.

• Anna Adelaide Cowperwood

  Bids Cowperwood goodbye and comforts Lillian after his departure.

• Frank Cowperwood Jr.

  Cowperwood encourages him to be more active and strong; he responds sourly.

Key passages

• “He realized that his general moral or unmoral attitude was perhaps working them a temporary injustice. Still he was not sure. Most people did fairly well with their lives, whether coddled or deprived of opportunity.”

  Cowperwood acknowledged that his questionable morals might be harming his children temporarily, but he doubted it, believing people generally succeed regardless of upbringing.

  Cowperwood's self-justification regarding the impact of his actions on his children.

• “He did not want to separate his wife from her children, nor them from her. She should keep them. He wanted them to be comfortable with her. He would like to see them, wherever they were with her, occasionally. Only he wanted his own personal freedom, in so far as she and they were concerned, to go off and set up a new world and a new home with Aileen.”

  Cowperwood wished for his wife to keep the children and remain comfortable, while he sought personal freedom to build a new life with Aileen.

  Cowperwood's plan to leave his family for Aileen while maintaining financial support.

• “There was no use crying over spilled milk. It was impossible at times for him not to feel intensely in moments of success or failure; but the proper thing to do was to bear up, not to show it, to talk little and go your way with an air not so much of resignation as of self-sufficiency, to whatever was awaiting you.”

  Cowperwood believed in facing success or failure with composure and self-reliance, not showing emotion, and moving forward without complaint.

  Cowperwood's philosophy of stoic resilience in the face of adversity.