The Turmoil · Chapter
VI explained
The Sheridan family hosts a grand banquet at their home, showcasing their wealth and social standing.
What happens
The Sheridan family hosts a grand banquet at their home, showcasing their wealth and social standing. Bibbs sits quietly among the less important guests, while his father James Sheridan dominates the table with boisterous talk. Mary Vertrees flirts with both Roscoe and Jim Sheridan, and James Sheridan jokingly threatens to send Jim to the machine shop if he does not propose to Mary. Bibbs overhears and realizes his father's plans.
Themes in this chapter
Bigness and Industrialization
The table centerpieces are miniature models of the Sheridan Building, Apartments, and Pump Works, symbolizing the family's industrial empire.
Class and Social Mobility
The seating arrangement mirrors a feudal hierarchy, with the family at the head and employees at the foot, highlighting class divisions.
Gender Roles and Marriage
Mary Vertrees uses flirtation as a social tool, and James Sheridan pressures Jim to propose, reflecting marriage as a business and social expectation.
Characters to notice
- Bibbs Sheridan
Sits meekly among the retainers at the foot of the table, content to be left alone, and overhears his father's plans for Jim and Mary.
- James Sheridan
The host, radiant and boisterous, dominates the banquet with loud talk and jokes, showing off his power and health.
- Mary Vertrees
Flirts with Roscoe and Jim Sheridan, laughs at James Sheridan's bragging, and draws attention with her bold manner.
- Roscoe Sheridan
Sits next to Mary Vertrees, is taken aback by her flirtation, and is described as a literal, steady young businessman.
- Jim Sheridan
Sits on Mary's left, is eager to talk with her, and is the target of his father's joke about proposing.
- Edith Sheridan
Observes Mary's behavior with concern, thinking it improper for a married man like Roscoe.
Key passages
“Yes, young lady, that's just what did it for me, and that's just what'll do it for my boys—they got to make two blades o' grass grow where one grew before!”
James Sheridan boasts that his success came from hard work and efficiency, and he expects his sons to follow the same principle.
This is Sheridan's familiar motto, repeated for Mary Vertrees's benefit.
“Jim, if you don't propose to that girl tonight I'll send you back to the machine-shop with Bibbs!”
James Sheridan jokingly threatens to demote Jim to manual labor if he fails to propose to Mary Vertrees.
This reveals Sheridan's matchmaking intentions and his view of the machine shop as punishment.