Years of Grace · Chapter
Commencement explained
Jane participates in Bryn Mawr's commencement procession and ceremony, reflecting on her impending departure from college.
What happens
Jane participates in Bryn Mawr's commencement procession and ceremony, reflecting on her impending departure from college. She is a sophomore marshal, helping to organize the seniors. The day is hot and sultry, with thunderheads gathering. Jane recalls picking daisies at dawn with Agnes and Marion, and shares a humorous epigram about Wordsworth. During the ceremony, she feels sleepy and sad, knowing she will not return for her junior year. Her father has agreed she must come out with Flora and Muriel, and she will live at home, be a good daughter, a sister to Isabel, and an aunt to Isabel's expected baby. She treasures the memory of the campus and quotes Wordsworth's 'inward eye.' The speaker discusses Opportunity and Preparation for Wifehood and Motherhood. After the ceremony, rain forces the luncheon indoors, and Jane's planned last walk with Agnes and Marion is cancelled. She must hurry to change for her train west.
Themes in this chapter
Education and Self-Fulfillment
Jane treasures her Bryn Mawr education and the memories it provides, but must leave college to fulfill family expectations.
Womanhood and Ambition
Jane faces the tension between her academic life and the prescribed roles of daughter, sister, and future wife/mother.
Generational Change
Jane's departure from college marks a transition from student life to adult responsibilities, while the commencement speaker emphasizes preparation for wifehood and motherhood.
Characters to notice
- Jane Ward
Sophomore marshal at commencement; reflects on leaving college and her future at home.
- Agnes Johnson
Sophomore marshal; picks daisies with Jane and makes a humorous epigram about Wordsworth; has a summer job at Scribner's.
- Marion Park
Sophomore marshal; picks daisies with Jane and Agnes.
- Isabel
Jane's sister; expecting a baby in July.
- Robin Bridges
Isabel's husband; mentioned as Robin.
- Flora Furness
Jane is to come out with Flora.
Key passages
“She was going out into a world where, she was quite certain, nothing would ever seem as irresistibly funny as everything did at Bryn Mawr.”
Jane believes that the humor and joy she experienced at college will be unmatched in the outside world.
Reflects Jane's anxiety about leaving the supportive, fun environment of Bryn Mawr.
“If her education had done nothing else for her, Jane reflected, it had provided her with an apt quotation for every romantic emotion.”
Jane feels that her education has given her the language to articulate her feelings.
Highlights the value of a liberal arts education in shaping personal expression.
“She would carry it with her, though, back to the flat, sandy shores of Lake Michigan. She would remember, always, this paradise of flowering shrub and tree, of sweet green spaces and grey ivied walls. The memory would be a sanctuary.”
Jane vows to keep the beauty of Bryn Mawr in her heart as a refuge.
Shows Jane's deep emotional attachment to the college campus.