Of Human Bondage

“‘I suppose no one ever has faith enough,’ he said.”

Philip reflects on why his earnest prayers did not result in the miraculous healing of his clubfoot. At this point in his life, Philip has absorbed a literal belief in the power of faith and assumes that he has been unable to cure himself because of a lack of faith. The quotation reveals the importance of religion in Philip’s early life and sets the stage for him to continue to explore his spiritual and philosophical beliefs throughout his maturation.

“Enthusiasm was ill-bred. Enthusiasm was ungentlemanly.”

The quotation describes the reaction of the more senior teachers at Philip’s school when a new head of the school is being hired. The more sedate and conservative teachers recoil from someone who is more innovative and energetic. The quotation shows how assumptions around social class are embedded in the institution where Philip receives his education and thus passed down to him as well. Philip grows up in environments with very strict norms around appropriate or “gentlemanly” behavior and the performance of social class.

“He shivered at the thought of leading such a life; he wanted to get out into the world.”

Philip begins to feel unhappy about becoming a minister and starts to consider alternative career paths. Philip does not aspire to have a life similar to that of his uncle, as Philip’s reading and learning have made him curious about having new experiences and broader horizons. The quotation reveals a moment where Philip begins to turn away from the expected path, deciding to make his own decisions, for better or for worse.

“He was dissatisfied with himself and with all his circumstances. He asked himself dully whether whenever you got your way you wished afterwards that you hadn’t.”

Philip persuades everyone to let him go off to study in Germany rather than attending university. While Philip has been passionate about this plan, he begins to doubt himself and feel much less enthusiastic. The quotation reveals an important tendency in Philip’s character: He often second-guesses his decisions and struggles to maintain consistent commitments. Philip’s doubt foreshadows how he will later also lose interest in studying art and living in Paris.

“And he talks English like a gentleman, and he wears the right sort of things, and if he’s a gentleman he can always tell if another chap’s a gentleman.”

Philip describes his ideas of what it means to be a “gentleman” to some of his new friends in Germany. The quotation reveals that Philip has absorbed traditional ideas about social class but also that his experiences traveling abroad and meeting new people are shaping him as well. Philip’s explanation reveals ideas of social class to be shallow and arbitrary, and by articulating his ideas, he begins to see the flaws in them. Throughout Philip’s life, he will often be prompted to grow and change as a result of engaging in discussion and debate with people from backgrounds different from his own.

“‘I don’t see why one should believe in God at all.’ The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he realized that he had ceased to do so. It took his breath away like a plunge into cold water.”

While Philip is studying in Germany, he realizes that his ideas about religion have dramatically shifted to the point that he no longer believes in God. Philip’s changed views result from learning about different religions and philosophies. The quotation reveals a key moment in Philip’s character development: After he realizes he no longer believes in God, he has to grapple for other sources of purpose and meaning. The quotation uses a simile to describe how sudden and shocking this realization is for him by comparing it to a bracing “plunge into cold water.”

“As he put the letter in his pocket, he felt a queer little pang of bitterness because reality seemed so different from the ideal.”

Philip receives a letter from Hayward congratulating him on his first romantic relationship after Philip writes to him about his affair with Miss Wilkinson. Philip misrepresented the details so as to make it seem more romantic and beautiful than it actually is. Philip’s attitude toward his first sexual and romantic relationship (which he has spent years imagining and idealizing) reflects his overall pattern of building up experiences in his mind and then being disappointed when they actually occur.

“I see no talent in anything you have shown me. I see industry and intelligence. You will never be anything but mediocre.”

A French art teacher says this to Philip after Philip asks for a totally honest assessment of his potential as an artist. Especially after witnessing what happens to Fanny Price with The Dangers of Financial Instability, Philip does not want to waste his life pursuing a career as an artist if he does not have the potential for true greatness. This quotation becomes the spur for Philip to give up art, return to England, and eventually begin training as a doctor.

“I learned to look at hands, which I’d never looked at before. And instead of just looking at houses and trees I learned to look at houses and trees against the sky. And I learned also that shadows are not black but coloured.”

Philip says this to his uncle after returning to England and announcing that he is giving up art to become a doctor. His uncle rebukes Philip for wasting time and money studying art, but Philip argues his training as an artist has made him more sensitive to the world and given him The Appreciation of Art and Beauty. This quotation is significant because the novel explores the idea of education and finding a path in the world while unsettling the assumption that individuals should pick one career, train for it, and never explore anything else.

“Philip was repelled by her flat breast and narrow hips, and he hated the vulgar way in which she did her hair. He loathed and despised himself for loving her.”

Philip is here first wooing Mildred and grappling with the uncomfortable reality of his desire and love for her. Philip has an unusual dynamic with Mildred, in that he does not find her physically attractive and is keenly aware of her flaws, noting how she differs from his vision of the ideal woman. However, Philip cannot control his feelings, even though he doesn’t admire or respect Mildred. The quotation also reveals Philip’s recurrent fixation with Mildred’s thin and angular body, which contrasts with more traditional feminine ideals of curvaceous beauty.

“If you’re in love with him you can’t help it. I’ll just bear it as best I can.”

Philip says this to Mildred when he learns that Mildred has fallen in love with his close friend, Griffiths. Philip is somewhat numb to his initial feelings and focuses on not losing Mildred: He wants to continue the relationship with her, even while knowing that she has feelings for someone else. Philip’s somewhat masochistic resignation to being with Mildred while she openly loves another man reveals his desperation and his belief that he is not truly worthy of being loved.

“He found the work of absorbing interest. There was humanity there in the rough, the materials the artist worked on; and Philip felt a curious thrill when it occurred to him that he was in the position of the artist and the patients were like clay in his hands.”

Philip experiences growing enthusiasm for working as a doctor, realizing that he has finally found a career that he is well suited to. The quotation uses a metaphor comparing the work of a physician to the work of an artist in order to establish thematic continuity between the various paths that Philip explores and to show that all of Philip’s various experiences end up being synthesized into his final career choice.

“He was convinced that more might be got out of life than offered itself at present, and he thought that in Spain he could live with greater intensity.”

This quotation furthers the development of Philip’s character by revealing his growing fixation on travel and living abroad. Since Philip struggles with perpetual dissatisfaction and with finding that experiences do not live up to his ideas, he imagines that life in another country might finally satisfy him. The quotation shows that even as Philip gets older and matures in some ways, he is never able to shake his idealism and longing to find a new life for himself.

“Thing I’ve always noticed, people don’t commit suicide for love, as you’d expect, that’s just a fancy of novelists; they commit suicide because they haven’t got any money.”

An elderly nurse says this to Philip when he is training at a hospital, reflecting The Dangers of Financial Instability. Patients who come to the hospital include individuals who have experienced violence, accidents, and sometimes attempted suicide. The nurse’s observations reflect a pragmatism that contrasts with the idealism Philip often demonstrates, developing the theme of money and social class within the novel. The quotation also foreshadows Philip’s eventual financial disaster and how he will be driven to contemplate taking his own life.

“She could not reconcile herself to the fact that he no longer cared for her. She would make him. She suffered from pique, and sometimes in a curious fashion she desired Philip.”

Mildred feels confusion, frustration, and bitterness when she moves in with Philip after he finds out that she is destitute and has been engaging in sex work in order to survive. The quotation provides a rare moment of insight into Mildred’s subjectivity and motivations since she is typically described through Philip’s point of view. The quotation reveals Mildred’s volatile and contrary nature; in the past, she rejected and was disgusted by Philip’s attraction to her, but now she craves it. The quotation also reveals how Mildred is forced to rely on her sexuality as a kind of currency: She does not believe that Philip will be kind to her unless she can entrap him with lust for her.

“There was only one thing to free him and that was the death of his uncle. He would get a few hundred pounds then, and on this he could finish his course at the hospital. Philip began to wish with all his might for the old man’s death.”

Philip begins to fixate on his uncle’s death as the only possible solution to The Dangers of Financial Instability. This quotation reveals a dark side to Philip’s character: He ceases to see his uncle as a human being and begins to see the older man as simply an obstacle standing between him and his future plans. While Maugham overall portrays Philip in a sympathetic light, he also reveals how Philip can be very selfish and reckless.

“His insignificance was turned to power, and he felt himself suddenly equal with the cruel fate which had seemed to persecute him; for, if life was meaningless, the world was robbed of its cruelty.”

This passage describes a key epiphany in Philip’s life, the moment when he decides that life has no meaning or purpose. Philip has this epiphany during a particularly low point, when he is working a miserable and menial job in a shop, unsure if he will ever be able to return to medical training. Philip finds his newfound nihilism (the philosophy that there is no meaning in life) to actually bring him relief and even joy because he is better able to accept the present and not struggle to change it.

“That was the end. He did not see her again.”

This is the last time that Philip interacts with Mildred. After he diagnoses her with syphilis—a contagious disease that can be transmitted through sexual contact—Philip tells Mildred that she has to stop engaging in sex work, but she ignores him. Philip cuts off contact with her; given Mildred’s illness and the fact that she does not seek out Philip again, the implication may be that she dies a short time later. The simple and concise quotation juxtaposes with the dramatic impact that Mildred has had on Philip’s life but also reveals the shallowness of the connection between the two characters.

“Philip felt it was not [pity] which these people needed. They did not pity themselves. They accepted their fate. It was the natural order of things.”

When Philip begins to practice medicine, he often comes into contact with working-class or impoverished families. Philip both respects but also distances himself from the individuals he treats as patients. He does not feel any need to try to make their lives better, and he seems to believe that they do not actually want different lives. The quotation reflects Philip’s economic privilege and also his nihilistic beliefs in accepting everything as it is and not attempting to change anything.

“It was the arm of a Saxon goddess; but no immortal had that exquisite, homely naturalness; and Philip thought of a cottage garden with the dear flowers which bloom in all men’s hearts.”

Philip marvels at Sally’s beauty shortly after he begins a relationship with her. The quotation implicitly contrasts Sally with Mildred: While Mildred was always described as thin and sickly, Sally is described as healthy, sturdy, and luscious. Philip continues to express his Appreciation of Art and Beauty by comparing Sally to a goddess, but he also compares her to a “cottage garden,” foreshadowing how his relationship with her will eventually lead him to realize his longing for a happy and settled domestic life.

“Philip said all this to himself, but he knew he could not do it. He simply could not. He knew himself.”

After Sally tells Philip that she may be pregnant, he contemplates what actions he might take. Philip considers the possibility of abandoning Sally or of simply giving her money and moving away. However, Philip describes himself as incapable of taking these actions. While he doesn’t love Sally and hates the idea of giving up his dreams, he finds himself compelled by his sense of ethical duty. The quotation reveals that Philip never loses his sense of moral responsibility.

“Now he saw also that by reason of it he had acquired that power of introspection which had given him so much delight. Without it he would never have had his keen appreciation of beauty, his passion for art and literature, and his interest in the varied spectacle of life.”

This quotation describes how Philip thinks about his disability (“it”) toward the end of the novel. For most of his life, Philip hates and resents his disability, often blaming it for being the source of many of his problems. When he grows older and more self-aware, Philip recognizes that his disability has actually shaped him into the person he is and credits it with giving him many of the gifts that he appreciates, such as The Appreciation of Art and Beauty.

“He need give up none of his projects, and life was still in his hands for him to do what he liked with. He felt no exhilaration, but only dismay.”

Philip here reacts when Sally tells him that she is not pregnant after all. Philip realizes that he does not need to change his plans, but he has an unexpected emotional reaction: He is not relieved or happy. This reaction will be what brings the plot to its climax, when Philip realizes that, deep down, he wants to be married and have children. Philip being given his freedom back is what ultimately leads him to see that he wants security and love.