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Chapter 38
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
One of the servants, Simcox, asks Maurice if, in Mr. Durham’s absence, he will captain their cricket team in the Park v. Village match. Maurice asks who the best batter is, and when Simcox responds that it is Scudder, Maurice says they should make him the captain then. The game proceeds languidly. When Clive returns, as the squire of the house, he takes an at-bat. As Maurice returns to the house, most of the servants stand and cheer for him, though he notices that Scudder does not, and he isn’t sure how to interpret this.
The novel highlights the class difference between Maurice and Alec in this passage, as Maurice identifies Alec as one of the estate’s servants. Maurice also notices that Alec is not cheering for him but doesn’t know what to make of that, signaling the kind of analysis—and over-analysis—that the two men will resort to in the days and weeks after first sleeping together.
Themes
