Overall: A solid chapter… who are these philosophers?
Well, at least Vic has some forethought into how he’s going to enact his plans this time around. He’s been hearing about some philosophers up in England who have been doing some writing that might be helpful to him (about what, I wonder) and so he’s going to go visit them. In doing so he gets some new info to potentially go about the whole endeavor a bit more smoothly, and he also gets Adam, who had said he’ll be watching, away from his family.
Papa Frank (considered calling him Alphonse… I like Papa Frank more) wonders about why his son is so melancholy, and begins to think it’s about his betrothal to Elizabeth which.. well news to me? Didn’t she get adopted into their family when she was like, 2? Papa Frank says they’ve been betrothed that whole time. This whole thing is maybe some hard values dissonance, but jeez, Elizabeth isn’t even a factor here. Papa Frank’s concerned that maybe Vic’s come to see Elizabeth more like a sister (RIGHT?) and may not want to marry her as a result. But Vic assures him so quickly that this isn’t the reason that it’s almost sort of unintentionally funny in a craughing kind of way.
Vic convinces his dad to allow him to go to England for up to a year, on the pretense of trying to just get out and see the world some more before coming home and marrying Elizabeth. While Vic’s there though he’s going to try to complete the task Adam’s requested of him. Also! He’s bringing Clerval along!
Oh Clerval. He’s so gung-ho about the whole thing. If there’s one thing this book is good at, it’s commentary on nature. Clerval in particular brings a new perspective. He isn’t dramatic like Vic, nor is he full of this subtle wonderment of Adam. Instead, he’s full of admiration and adventure. The whole thing seems to fill him with so much joy. Hell, Shelley even interjects a poem by William Wordsworth to complement Clerval’s commentary.
It’s kind of a joy to have him back. Sad, though, that at the end of the chapter Vic basically says that Clerval is dead now, and only his spirit lives on. Clerval was indeed too good for this world.
No comments:
Post a Comment