The Turmoil · Chapter
VII explained
Mrs.
What happens
Mrs. Vertrees waits up for Mary after the Sheridans' housewarming. Mary returns and recounts the evening in detail, describing the ostentatious display of wealth, her interactions with the Sheridan family, and her observations of Bibbs Sheridan's tragic reaction when his father threatens to send him to the machine shop. Mary reveals she will go out in Jim Sheridan's car and to the theater, signaling her strategic pursuit of the Sheridan fortune to save her family from financial ruin.
Themes in this chapter
Class and Social Mobility
Mary's calculated pursuit of Jim Sheridan highlights the desperate social maneuvering of the declining gentry to secure wealth and status.
Bigness and Industrialization
Sheridan's ostentatious display of his new house, including the icing models of the Sheridan Building, symbolizes the industrialist's pride in material achievement.
Family and Legacy
The Vertrees' backward-looking nostalgia and the Sheridans' forward-looking pride in their own accomplishments illustrate contrasting views of family legacy.
Characters to notice
- Mary Vertrees
Returns home late from the Sheridans' housewarming and recounts the evening to her mother, revealing her calculated plan to secure the Sheridan fortune.
- Mrs. Vertrees
Sits up anxiously waiting for Mary, reflecting on the family's past and their precarious financial hopes tied to the new neighbor.
- James Sheridan
Described by Mary as a forceful, uncomprehending man who proudly displays his wealth and threatens to send Bibbs to the machine shop.
- Bibbs Sheridan
Observed by Mary at the dinner table; his tragic reaction to his father's threat to send him to the machine shop is noted.
- Edith Sheridan
Mentioned as being interested in Robert Lamhorn and modest about her prize-winning poem read aloud by her father.
- Robert Lamhorn
Described by Mary as a 'bad lot' and the only one eager for a drink at the after-party.
Key passages
“Like her husband, she thought backward because she did not dare think forward definitely.”
Mrs. Vertrees dwells on the past because the future is too uncertain and frightening to contemplate.
Highlights the Vertrees' psychological avoidance of their financial crisis.
“I wish I hadn't been looking at that poor boy just then! I'm afraid I'll keep remembering—”
Mary regrets witnessing Bibbs's devastated reaction to his father's threat, fearing the memory will haunt her.
Shows Mary's empathy and the emotional impact of Sheridan's harshness on Bibbs.