The Perennial Bachelor · Chapter
XXXIII explained
Lily reflects on aging with contentment, finding joy in small pleasures like market days, movies, and church.
What happens
Lily reflects on aging with contentment, finding joy in small pleasures like market days, movies, and church. Victor, however, desperately fights aging through exercise and cold plunges, but his efforts fade. He visits Dorothy Spear's house party, where he is turned away, and walks home to Lily, who watches for him.
Themes in this chapter
The Passage of Time
Lily accepts aging while Victor fights it, highlighting the inevitable march of time.
Isolation and Loneliness
Victor is turned away from the party, feeling out of place among the younger generation.
Characters to notice
- Lily Campion
Lily accepts aging gracefully, finding happiness in simple routines and comforts.
- Victor Campion
Victor struggles against aging, attempting exercises and cold baths, but his efforts wane.
- Dorothy Spear
Dorothy hosts a lively party and turns Victor away, feeling a pang of pity.
- Gregory Hart
Gregory dances with Dorothy and engages in conversation about suppressed desires.
Key passages
“Lily didn’t really mind getting old. Not that sixty-six was old, but it certainly wasn’t young.”
Lily was not troubled by aging; although sixty-six was not young, she did not consider it old.
Lily's acceptance of aging contrasts with Victor's resistance.
“He began to drink buttermilk. He had read somewhere that buttermilk would keep you young practically forever.”
Victor started drinking buttermilk after reading it could preserve youth indefinitely.
Victor's desperate measures to stay young.