The Moon and Sixpence · Chapter
XI explained
The narrator travels to Paris to confront Charles Strickland on behalf of his wife.
What happens
The narrator travels to Paris to confront Charles Strickland on behalf of his wife. He reflects on Mrs. Strickland's contradictory behavior, suspecting her grief is mixed with wounded vanity. Upon arriving, he finds Strickland living in a shabby hotel on the Rue des Moines, not the luxurious hideaway he expected. Strickland appears untidy but at ease, and invites the narrator for a drink and dinner, revealing he has been alone for days.
Themes in this chapter
Convention vs. Individuality
Strickland's rejection of respectability and his comfort in a shabby, solitary life contrast sharply with the narrator's expectations and societal norms.
The Artist as Outcast
Strickland's isolation in a mean street, living in squalor, foreshadows his role as an artist who has abandoned social conventions.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Travels to Paris to confront Strickland; reflects on Mrs. Strickland's behavior and his own dramatic role.
- Charles Strickland
Found living alone in a shabby hotel; unshaven, wearing an old Norfolk jacket, but appears perfectly at home.
- Mrs. Strickland
Her distress and prepared tears are recalled by the narrator; he questions whether she wants her husband back out of love or fear of scandal.
Key passages
“I had not yet learnt how contradictory is human nature; I did not know how much pose there is in the sincere, how much baseness in the noble, nor how much goodness in the reprobate.”
The narrator reflects that he was still naive about the complexity of human character, not realizing how sincerity can be mixed with pretense, nobility with baseness, and wickedness with goodness.
The narrator's philosophical observation on human contradictions.
“I saw myself, too, from the dramatic standpoint, and I was pleased with my role of the trusted friend bringing back the errant husband to his forgiving wife.”
The narrator imagined himself as a character in a drama, enjoying the part of the loyal friend who reconciles the straying husband with his wife.
The narrator's self-awareness of his own theatrical perspective.