# XXVII: Recovery explained — The Red Room

> Chapter companion for The Red Room by August Strindberg.

## What happens

Arvid Falk returns to civilized society, taking a job as a teacher at a girls' school and re-entering the world of government offices and social engagements. He reconnects with old friends at the Red Room, though Olle Montanus remains absent and morose.

## Themes in this chapter

### Illusion vs. Reality

Falk's return to society is marked by a performance of respectability, contrasting with his inner savagery and the grim reality of Olle's despair.

### Ambition and Moral Compromise

Falk compromises his earlier ideals, teaching a sanitized version of history and conforming to social expectations for a comfortable life.

### Death and Existential Despair

Olle's absence and morose state, along with Falk's work at the Department for Death Duties, underscore themes of mortality and despair.

## Character check-ins

### Arvid Falk

Returns to society as a teacher and government clerk, struggling with his past savagery and finding a new routine.

### Dr. Borg

Corresponds with Falk and is a regular at the Red Room, approving of Falk's boisterous mood.

### Struve

Falk writes to him; he is a secret enemy and envier at the Red Room.

### Sellén

Present at the Red Room, preparing his second success.

### Lundell

Now a fat Epicurean who only comes to the Red Room when he has no money for dinner.

### Olle Montanus

Still employed by the stonemason, has become a gloomy misanthrope and has not been seen at the Red Room for a long time.

### Isaac Levi

Falk's admirer, present at the Red Room.

## Key lines

> He had discarded his disreputable hat and bought a high one which he found difficult, at first, to keep on his head; he had bought gloves, but in his savagery he had replied 'fifteen' when the shopgirl asked for his size, and blushed when his reply brought a smile to the face of every girl in the shop.

Falk replaced his old hat with a top hat that kept falling off, and when buying gloves, he embarrassingly gave the wrong size, causing the shopgirls to laugh.

_Illustrates Falk's awkward re-entry into polite society after his bohemian period._

> He made allowances, and let Louis XIV and Alexander be termed great men, like all others who had been successful; he permitted the French Revolution to be called a terrible event, during which the noble Louis XVI and the virtuous Marie Antoinette perished miserably, and so on.

Falk taught a conventional, uncritical version of history, accepting the standard praise of monarchs and condemnation of the French Revolution.

_Shows Falk's moral compromise in his teaching role._

> But if, while he lets off his fireworks for the amusement of his friends, he should catch, through the dense tobacco smoke, a glimpse of the morose Olle on the other side of the room, his mood changes, he becomes gloomy like a night on the sea, and swallows large quantities of strong liquor, as if he wanted to extinguish a smouldering fire.

When Falk sees the gloomy Olle at the Red Room, his cheerful demeanor collapses into despair, and he drinks heavily to suppress his inner turmoil.

_Highlights the contrast between Falk's surface recovery and his underlying existential dread._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_red_room_se/chapters/xxvii-recovery
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_red_room_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_red_room_se/chapters