# Vile Bodies — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh.

- [Epigraph](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/epigraph.md): The epigraph presents two excerpts from Lewis Carroll's 'Alice Through the Looking Glass,' contrasting the Red Queen's notion that one must run twice as fast to stay in place with Tweedledum's dismissal of Alice's tears 
- [Vile Bodies](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/vile-bodies.md): Adam Fenwick-Symes arrives in England after a rough channel crossing, only to have his autobiographical manuscript seized by customs. He then attends a series of wild parties, including Archie Schwert's savage party wher
- [I](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/i.md): The chapter opens on a rough Channel crossing from France to England. Among the passengers are Mrs. Melrose Ape and her angels, the Bright Young People (including Miss Runcible and Miles Malpractice), two tipsy old ladie
- [Chapter II](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/ii.md): Adam Fenwick-Symes, after his manuscript is burned by customs, telephones his fiancée Nina Blount to break the news that he cannot marry her. They agree to meet later at Archie Schwert's party. Adam then visits his publi
- [III](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/iii.md): Adam Fenwick-Symes arrives at Shepheard's Hotel, run by the indomitable Lottie Crump, a relic of Edwardian certainty. The chapter introduces the hotel's eccentric atmosphere and its assortment of guests, including the de
- [IV](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/iv.md): After Archie Schwert's party, Adam and a group of Bright Young People continue the night, moving from Shepheard's to Judge Skimp's suite (where a chandelier has been broken), then to Agatha Runcible's (no latchkey), and 
- [V](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/v.md): Adam visits Colonel Blount to discuss marrying Nina, and the Colonel unexpectedly gives him a thousand-pound cheque. Adam later discovers the cheque is signed 'Charlie Chaplin' and is worthless. Meanwhile, at Shepheard's
- [VI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/vi.md): At Lady Metroland's party, the Angels (Mrs. Ape's choir) wait nervously in the schoolroom, bickering among themselves and pinching Chastity for riding with Mrs. Panrast. Guests arrive, including Lady Circumference and th
- [VII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/vii.md): Adam becomes the gossip columnist Mr. Chatterbox for the Daily Excess after Simon Balcairn's suicide. He and Nina plan to marry on his salary. The chapter details the chaos of libel suits from Balcairn's final story, the
- [VIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/viii.md): At a formal party, the older generation discusses the younger generation's moral decay, while Mr. Outrage, Lord Metroland, and Father Rothschild debate the future. Later, Adam, Nina, and Ginger attend a party in a captiv
- [IX](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/ix.md): Adam telephones Nina about visiting her father to discuss marriage now that he has a job. Nina suggests she and Ginger will write his column. Adam has lunch with Agatha Runcible and Archie Schwert, who invite him and Nin
- [The Motor Race Trip](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/x.md): Adam, Miss Runcible, Miles, and Archie Schwert drive to the motor races in Archie's car, enduring a cold journey, rude hotel staff, and a fruitless search for lodging. They eventually stay at the Royal George, a squalid 
- [XI](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/xi.md): Adam and Nina exchange painful phone calls. Nina reveals that the Major is bogus and she has no money, then later announces her engagement to Ginger, leaving Adam heartbroken.
- [XII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/xii.md): Adam, desperate and broke, sells his claim to Nina to Ginger for £78.16.2 after Lottie presents her bill. He tries to break off contact, but they inevitably meet again at Miss Runcible's nursing home party, where Agatha 
- [XIII](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/xiii.md): Adam and Nina spend Christmas at the Blount family home, enjoying a series of traditional festivities including gift-giving, church services, and visits to the servants' hall. Colonel Blount proposes that Adam become his
- [Happy Ending](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/happy-ending.md): On a desolate battlefield, Adam reads a letter from Nina, who is now married to Ginger and expecting a baby. He encounters the drunk Major, now a General, who owes him money. They find the General's car, where a young wo
- [Endnotes](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters/endnotes.md): The endnotes provide explanatory context about the three types of formal invitation cards in use at the time, referencing Johnnie Hoop's adaptation of Futurist Manifesto styles, and note the later publication of a story 

HTML index: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/vile_bodies_se/chapters