Reading these chapters gave me a much greater understanding of Charles. In the beginning of the book I thought that Charles was an OK guy, but I never really understood him. The Victorian setting of the novel made him feel sort of distant and alien to me. These chapters changed that.
First, I realized that Charles’ problems with Ernestina and Sarah are caused simply by his state of sexual repression. For a while I had thought that Charles truly loved both Ernestina and Sarah. This sounds to me like both a rough and unrealistic situation to be in. Since it’s not something I’ve experienced, and frankly not something I can imagine happening, I couldn’t really sympathize with his troubles.
These chapters made it clear to me that Charles doesn’t love Sarah—he only lusts for her physically. The narrator tells us that Victorians treated the topic of sex with “suppression, repression and silence” and that this “method gave them a bonus of surplus energy.” (35) I first began to realize that Charles did not love, but only lusted for Sarah when he looked into her eyes and “what lay behind them did not matter” to him. (31) This suggested to me that Charles’ attraction to Sarah was purely sexual and that the root of his problems with women were caused by sexual repression, not torn love. These suspicions were confirmed when Charles “saw what all his troubles were caused by: he needed a woman, he needed intercourse.” (39)
The realization that Charles’ wasn’t torn between true love for two women was a relief and made him seem much more human. I’m not sure that true love for such different people at once is possible, and when I learned that Charles’ was not experiencing such emotions, I began to like him much more.
I really started to like Charles when he went to visit Ernestina’s father. Charles’ personal philosophy, that “the pursuit of money [is] an insufficient purpose in life,” is something that I too try to remind myself everyday. (38) The way that Charles feels about Mr. Freeman’s store -- “If I ever set foot in the place I am done for” – is the same way that I feel about corporate America. (38) I can sympathize with how Charles feels looking into that store, because I’ve driven past office buildings and been utterly horrified while looking through the windows into the seas of cubicles.
This reading made me much more sympathetic with Charles. I’ve learned that he shares my beliefs regarding materialism and my fears of being stuck in such a materialistic world. I’m also no longer turned off by the seeming impossibility of his emotions. I’m now much more invested in his character and eager to finish the book.