Of Human Bondage

Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by William Somerset Maugham.

Plot summary

In Germany, Philip is the naive young student whose heart and mind swivels between a romantic Englishman and a practical American. It is obvious Maugham's sympathy lies with the practical American, though it is clear his alter ego Philip Carey is more impressed by the romantic English man's roseate view of life.

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When Philip comes back from Germany, he meets a Miss Wilkinson who is a daughter of Philip's Uncle's colleague. Miss Wilkinson is much older than Philip but is very flirtatious. Eventually, they agree to a rendez-vous in which it is implicitly understood something sexually intimate is to take place between them. Maugham leaves it ambiguous as to whether Philip and Miss Wilkinson actually consummated any physical intimacy, for he makes it clear that Philip is repelled by Miss Wilkinson's body. In the course of their interaction, Philip treats Miss Wilkinson with disdain and cruelty. This aspect of Philip's character including his cruelty to Nora, a honorable woman who nursed Philip emotionally after Mildred deserted him for the umpteenth time, makes clear Maugham's own disdain of any notion of a person who is all good or all evil. One can at most try. Philip is ultimately the emotional abuser and the emotional abused.

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