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On Beauty and Being Wrong: Chapter 3
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in On Beauty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
The Nature of Beauty
Politics in Academia
Race and Identity
The Value of Family
Summary
Analysis
Carlene is buried in an old Catholic cemetery dating back to Victorian times. The Belseys know few people at the funeral and feel out of place. Out of them, Kiki is the most upset while Zora, Levi, and Jerome are impatient to leave.
Even after her death, Carlene continues to uphold old traditions. Many of Carlene’s actions, like leaving visiting cards, were a relic of the Victorian era, and so it’s fitting that she is buried in a cemetery with so much history.
Themes
Meanwhile, after Howard leaves Harold’s house, he goes to a pub across the street. After a couple drinks, Howard calls Adam from the family that the Belseys are staying with in England to ask about Kiki and his children’s whereabouts. Howard learns that they’re all supposedly at Carlene’s wake. Howard takes a cab, and after struggling to give the cabbie the correct direction, he eventually ends up at the Kipps house.
Howard seems to be having some complicated feelings after his visit with Harold, but rather than examine them, he instead goes to a pub and gets drunk enough that he later struggles to communicate with the cabbie. Howard wants to find his family again, but he sabotages his efforts by drinking, providing a microcosm of how so many of Howard’s other decisions have a self-sabotaging effect on his relationships with his family.
Themes
When Howard makes it to the Kipps house, he doesn’t see his family, just Michael and Monty. He’s wandering around, exploring the house, when he opens a door and sees Victoria’s bare feet on a bed. She is equally surprised that someone is there.
Howard’s clumsy behavior as he wanders around the Kipps house can once again be explained by his drinking earlier. Although he only sees Victoria’s feet through the door, this symbolizes how he is seeing her at an exposed moment when she has her guard down.
Themes
Victoria angrily invites Howard into her room, since he’s already barged in. He tentatively goes in and apologizes. Howard wants to leave immediately, but Victoria says she’s in mourning and that it would be rude for him to go so soon. She locks the door, which makes Howard feel uncomfortable.
Victoria’s mother has just died unexpectedly, and this explains her erratic behavior. Howard tries to justify this potentially inappropriate interaction with Victoria (one of his students) by noting how she locks him into the room, but it is easy to see through Howard’s rationalizations—ultimately, the decision to stay is his own.
Themes
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Howard tells Victoria about how his own mother, Joan, died when he was even younger than Victoria. Victoria tells Howard that his class at Wellington is a “cult classic” because it’s so abstract, even by Wellington. Victoria feels that this means it’s intellectually rigorous. She makes fun of how Monty’s class is going to be all religious.
At first, the conversation between Victoria and Howard seems like a chance for each of them to be vulnerable and admit things they don’t often tell others. Free of her family’s influence, Victoria can admit that she doesn’t buy into their conservative religious ideas, while Howard opens up about the death of his mother.
Themes
Victoria mentions that she thinks Kiki is beautiful, like an African queen. Howard wants to go, but Victoria asks him for more wine, wanting him to bring the glass to her lips. Victoria takes the wine, then she continues to go on about how Kiki must have been special to become friends with Carlene. Howard doesn’t give a straight answer, and Victoria says he’s talking abstractly, just like he does in class.
This passage where Howard gives Victoria wine is a parody of the practice of Communion—a ritual in Catholicism (and other Christian denominations) that involves wine as a symbol of the blood of Christ. First Communion is an initiation ceremony, and so Howard seems to be initiating Victoria into a secular, academic life instead of the Catholic one that Monty has laid out for her.
Themes
Victoria jumps into Howard’s lap where he has a visible erection. Howard thinks of a similar scene in the book Lolita. Victoria starts to kiss Howard, and as soon as he returns the kiss, she starts to make groaning sounds that seem too enthusiastic. Victoria starts to undress Howard, then she undresses herself and asks Howard to penetrate her.
The fact that Howard’s mind jumps immediately to Lolita (a novel about a professor grooming and abusing a 12-year-old girl) suggests that Howard knows immediately that there is something wrong about sex with his student Victoria. Nevertheless, Lolita also helps Howard to shift the goalposts. Whereas before Howard could claim that at least he was having sex with an older woman (Claire), now his defense is that at least he’s having sex with a legal adult and not re-enacting Lolita.
Themes
Howard starts having sex with Victoria, and she keeps urging him to thrust deeper. He finishes quicker than he wants to, but Victoria seems pleased anyway. Victoria offers to give Howard a blowjob, but Howard suddenly remembers that Victoria is his student and has already had sex with Jerome. Victoria pleads for more, but Howard says they both need to get dressed and go down to the wake.
As much as Howard likes having “fans” on campus, he is also disappointed by how easy it is to impress people who already like him. His sex with Victoria revitalizes this insecurity, as he feels she is too inexperienced and therefore too easily pleased. After the sex is over, all of the doubts and guilt that he was repressing come back to the surface.
Themes
