# VI explained — The Painted Veil

> Chapter companion for The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.

## What happens

Kitty reflects on her failed marriage, blaming her mother Mrs. Garstin for pushing her into it. She examines photographs of her parents, noting her mother's manipulative and ambitious nature.

## Themes in this chapter

### Marriage and Social Expectation

Kitty's marriage is revealed as a mistake driven by her mother's social ambitions, highlighting the pressure to conform to societal norms.

### Self-Deception and Truth

Kitty acknowledges the truth of her failed marriage, yet her mother's photograph symbolizes the deceptive facade of social success.

## Character check-ins

### Kitty Fane

Reflects on her marriage mistake and her mother's role.

### Mrs. Garstin

Photograph shows her as ambitious and controlling; blamed for Kitty's marriage.

### Bernard Garstin

Photograph shows him as unassuming and mild; chosen by Mrs. Garstin to appear judicial.

## Key lines

> Within three months of her marriage she knew that she had made a mistake; but it had been her mother’s fault even more than hers.

Kitty realized her marriage was a mistake soon after the wedding, but she blamed her mother more than herself.

_Establishes Kitty's early regret and her resentment toward her mother's influence._

> She was a woman of fifty, thin and flat-chested, with prominent cheekbones and a large, well-shaped nose.

Mrs. Garstin is described as a thin, sharp-featured woman of fifty.

_Physical description of Mrs. Garstin, emphasizing her stern and calculating appearance._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se/chapters/vi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_painted_veil_se/chapters