Edith's Reviews > Of Human Bondage

This classic which is autobiographical in nature was a full meal of a book. It is the coming of age story of Philip Carey, a 10-year-old orphan suffering with a clubfoot who lives with his vicar uncle, attends a British boarding school that he hates, casts about for meaning in life by spending a year in Heidelberg, clerking in London, and studying art in Paris, then lastly tackles medical school. He is looking for a philosophy of life...for freedom..... and there were some passages which seemed rather long and a bit tedious to me but on the whole, the story kept moving along just as life does. Kind, sensitive Philip is constantly buffeted by his experiences.

The part which puzzled me no end was his pained romance with a cruel girl, Mildred, who did not care for him and treated him horribly. I simply could not fathom why he kept chasing and putting himself out for her....it was an obsession, a bondage if you will, that even he could not understand. I find it puzzling that an intelligent gentleman of his station would tolerate such mistreatment. (I had a long discussion with my husband in trying to understand this significant part of the story.)

The bondage in the title? I read that Maugham got the title from 'Ethics', a book written by philosopher Spinoza who argued that the inability to control's one's emotions resulted in a painful bondage. It is certainly true that many people are in bondage to the fluctuations of their personalities and their drives. Philip desires to throw off the bondage of the establishment Christian ideas that he has been raised with and I think he is beset with the painful bondage of desiring a woman who cares nothing for him, i.e. in bondage to his emotions. In real life, Maugham was a homosexual who tried desperately to partner with women which relationships turned out badly. I think there was a definite bondage he experienced there as well in his homosexuality although homosexuality didn't figure into the story in this book.