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Chapter 12
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Maurice, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Sacrifice
Sexual Orientation, Homophobia, and Self-Acceptance
Masculinity and Patriarchy
Religion
Class
Summary
Analysis
Maurice has missed two lectures already, but he plans to miss a third to drive his motorcycle with Clive in the sidecar. On the motorcycle, the air is pure, the wind like drawn-out applause. The Dean sees them and yells at them to stop, but they ignore him. They care “for no one.” They are “outside humanity.” After narrowly avoiding an accident, they stop to eat on a grassy embankment. The bike won’t start, so they decide to walk, eventually coming to a farm, where the farmer’s wife is inhospitable. It doesn’t matter, though. Nothing can dampen their spirits. When they part, neither has a mind to say anything significant. The whole day is ordinary, but neither has had one like it before—and it will never be repeated.
For one brief instant, Maurice and Clive experience a day of love together, perfect in its ordinariness. Because their love is so strong, even when something goes wrong, it doesn’t affect their happiness. The novel makes it clear, though, that because they cannot be openly gay, these kinds of ordinary days together are rare—and even dangerous—for them.
Themes
