Comments | mr_edna_may: Another favorite passage in Maurice

storyfan in mr_edna_may

Another favorite passage in Maurice

Jul 22, 2010 23:05

From Ch. 34 - Maurice is visiting Penge ( Read more... )

Comments 7

miss_morland July 23 2010, 13:27:24 UTC

I love that bit of foreshadowing, too.

With the world as it is, one must marry or decay.

I think this might also have a second meaning: though his 'marriage' to Alec isn't a formal one, it's still Maurice's relationship that saves him from terrible loneliness and a life build on lies -- 'decay', if you will. *shrugs* Just a thought...

storyfan July 23 2010, 13:32:13 UTC

I didn't think of it that way. Your explanation makes sense, especially after Maurice understands that he wants to be with Alec for the rest of his life.

I really like how different people interpret the text in so many different ways. Thanks for the input.

sweet_fallacy July 23 2010, 13:29:52 UTC

I didn't read it as this "greater thing" being a woman. By this point, I think he knew there was no hope for him with women, which was why he sought out the doctor's help in the first place. This also tells me that he maintained a small hope that his "condition" could be changed, despite whatever reservations he may have had. But whatever this help was, it was beyond his level of imagination, which was where a professional would be required to step in. So yes, a greater thing.

storyfan July 23 2010, 13:38:30 UTC

Good interpretation. I do think Maurice wished for a "normal" life, one in which he wasn't always questioning himself and his motivations and one where he would actually have someone at his side.

Reading it again, I think perhaps you might be right. He wanted this greater thing, whatever it turned out to be, so that he wouldn't feel so lost and alone. Whether that greater thing might be a man or a woman or even just a deeper understanding of himself remained to be seen.

Sometimes I think Maurice's search for validation and understanding is the saddest part of this book.

Thanks for the input.

sweet_fallacy July 23 2010, 13:55:14 UTC

Sometimes I think Maurice's search for validation and understanding is the saddest part of this book.

Absolutely. But at the same time, I don't think I would have liked him if it wasn't for this blind struggle. Maurice is really a bit of an ass, but being forced to face something that is so outside the scope of his once narrow view of the world... it definitely softened him. It made him consider what secret parts other people (well, other men at least) must be hiding. I felt that Forster did a wonderful job of portraying an average man striving for an understanding almost beyond his grasp.

storyfan July 23 2010, 14:17:14 UTC

Oh, exactly. Maurice is a bit of an ass, which I, like you, attribute to his narrow view of the world. He views it through his position in society, neither looking up nor down to see how others might view life. But that was typical of the time (and quite frankly, it's often typical of ours, too ( ... )

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