The Magnificent Ambersons · Chapter
XXXII explained
George decides not to move into the new apartment with Aunt Fanny, revealing his plan to find dangerous work to support them both.
What happens
George decides not to move into the new apartment with Aunt Fanny, revealing his plan to find dangerous work to support them both. Fanny confesses she has lost all her money in the headlight company, leaving her with only twenty-eight dollars. George seeks advice from old Frank Bronson about high-paying dangerous trades, feeling he must make up for past behavior by being decent to Fanny.
Themes in this chapter
Pride and Arrogance
George's pride and past arrogance have led to his family's downfall, and he now seeks to atone by taking on dangerous work.
Love and Sacrifice
George sacrifices his own future and safety to provide for Aunt Fanny, showing a newfound sense of responsibility and love.
Materialism and Social Climbing
Fanny's desire for a comfortable apartment with bridge games and gossip highlights the social aspirations that remain even in poverty.
Characters to notice
- George Amberson Minafer
Decides to leave the house and not move with Aunt Fanny; seeks dangerous work to support them after learning of Fanny's financial ruin.
- Fanny Minafer
Reveals she has lost all her money in the headlight company, leaving her with only twenty-eight dollars; desperate and emotional about being left in the lurch.
- Frank Bronson
George's lawyer; listens to George's plan to take dangerous work and feels responsibility for Fanny's losses.
Key passages
“I’ve been thinking it over, and I’ve decided. I want you to take all the things from mother’s room and use them and keep them for me, and I’m sure the little apartment will be just what you like; and with the extra bedroom probably you could find some woman friend to come and live there, and share the expense with you. But I’ve decided on another arrangement for myself, and so I’m not going with you.”
George tells Fanny he won't move into the apartment with her, suggesting she find a roommate instead.
George's decision to separate from Fanny and seek his own path.
“I’ve got twenty-eight dollars. That’s all.”
Fanny admits she has only twenty-eight dollars left to her name.
Fanny reveals her complete financial ruin.
“I feel as if—as if perhaps I had one or two pretty important things in my life to make up for. Well, I can’t. I can’t make them up to—to whom I would. It’s struck me that, as I couldn’t, I might be a little decent to somebody else, perhaps—if I could manage it! I never have been particularly decent to poor old Aunt Fanny.”
George explains to Frank Bronson that he wants to make amends for his past by being kind to Aunt Fanny.
George's motivation for sacrificing his own future.