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Book 1, Part 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Trust, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
U.S. Foundational Myths
Gender and Subjugation
Wealth
Power and Morality
Self-Interest vs. the Common Good
Summary
Analysis
The Brevoorts are a prominent Albany family whose fortune has dwindled over the last three generations. Catherine is a gifted conversationalist, which helps the family retain its prominent status. Her husband, Leopold, takes the education of their daughter, Helen, into his own hands. He is amazed and pleased by her precociousness. Helen suffers from insomnia and begins making up her dreams and writing them in a journal, which Leopold reads. The family moves semi-permanently to Europe. As Helen gets older, she understands that Leopold is becoming more and more interested in ideas she considers nonsensical, like alchemy and necromancy.
Harold depicts Helen as close to her father, Leopold. That intimacy seems to verge into potentially problematic territory, as Leopold not only oversees Helen’s education but also reads her journal. Despite that closeness, Helen is still able to discern when her father’s teachings veer into the realm of pseudoscience and is unpersuaded by her father’s more fringe ideas. That suggests that Helen possesses intellectual insight even in emotionally difficult situations. The fact that Helen keeps a journal will also be notable later in the novel.
Themes
Helen spends most of her time alone. To pass that time, she teaches herself languages and reads. She uses books to distract herself from her “abstract terrors” when insomnia takes over. A small but impactful event happens during her childhood. At a family friend’s villa in Italy, Helen announces that she’s leaving. Catherine takes no notice. When Helen walks through the streets of the nearby town, she is elated with her independence and is overtaken by the joy of solitude. She walks into a photo studio and has her photograph taken to commemorate the moment. She knows that from that moment on, she’ll strive to find that feeling.
Harold suggests that from a young age, Helen struggles with some form of mental health issues, represented by her insomnia and the “abstract terrors” that plague her during bouts of insomnia. Notably, when Helen goes to leave, Catherine pays no attention to her, suggesting that Catherine is self-centered and unaware of Helen’s wishes and desires. Helen’s love of solitude then becomes one of the defining characteristics of her life.
Themes
Catherine takes Helen to social engagements, where Helen entertains people with performances designed to show off her intellect. When Leopold learns about the performances, he’s furious. The years of simmering resentment between Catherine and Leopold rise to the surface, and the two fight bitterly. The family is staying with the Betterleys in Switzerland when Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated. Friends advise them to stay put. The war strands other Americans in Europe, leaving them in a state of financial instability resembling that of the Brevoorts. Catherine couldn’t be more relieved.
Catherine’s worldview is defined by status. She seems to exploit the introverted and solitude-loving Helen by making her perform at parties so that Catherine can be, if only momentarily, part of the center of attention. And when World War I strands Americans in Europe and puts them in a financially precarious position similar to the Brevoorts, Catherine doesn’t think much about the war and instead rejoices that her family’s financial struggles will no longer be conspicuous.
Themes
As the war approaches, Catherine tries to arrange for her family to leave Europe, but Leopold falls into “delirium.” Catherine takes him to a sanatorium. Helen is more or less on her own after that, but she enjoys that solitude. One day while she is reading on a bench, another American, Sheldon Lloyd, introduces himself to her. Helen is put off by his questions, but Sheldon walks her back to the Betterleys’ house. The Betterleys invite Sheldon to lunch the next day. At lunch, and at the meals that follow, Sheldon talks almost endlessly of himself. When Catherine returns from the sanatorium, she learns that Sheldon is impressed by the Brevoort lineage and wants to link an old name to his new money. Through her cunning, Catherine also manages to get Sheldon to arrange passage for her and Helen to New York.
While Sheldon’s presence is an imposition to Helen, to Catherine, it’s an opportunity. Again, Catherine seems to exploit Helen. In this case, she recognizes that Sheldon is romantically interested in Helen. Despite Helen’s lack of interest in Sheldon, Catherine manipulates the situation to get what she wants: a return trip to the U.S. Sheldon’s interest in the Brevoort name also points to his own reasons for pursuing Helen, showing that in Sheldon and Catherine’s worldview, relationships are often pursued as means to reach an end rather than as ends in and of themselves.
Themes
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When they return to New York, Sheldon offers Catherine and Helen an apartment where they can stay in the city. Sheldon boasts to Catherine that he’s in charge of arranging Benjamin’s social functions and invites Catherine and Helen to a gala for the Red Cross at Benjamin’s house. Helen understands her mother’s scheme to introduce her to Benjamin and also reluctantly understands that she’ll have to accept him as a suitor. She feels like she owes her mother a respectable marriage, which will save them from the indignity of financially relying on others.
Harold reveals that Catherine’s use of Sheldon is part of a larger scheme, through which she aims to marry off Helen to Benjamin. Again, Helen’s desires are never considered. Helen herself seems to accept her lack of agency in the matter, highlighting Helen’s tendency to pragmatically recognize the reality of situations even if she doesn’t especially like that reality.
Themes
At the Red Cross gala, Catherine and Helen are placed at opposite ends of the table. Catherine sits next to Benjamin, and Helen is next to Sheldon. Sheldon eventually turns his attention to other people nearby, and Helen takes the opportunity to escape. She wanders through an empty room and sees Benjamin, who has also left the party to try and be alone. The two talk, but their conversation proceeds haltingly. Benjamin keeps interrupting himself, afraid he’s not being clear, and Helen only responds with one-word answers. But when Helen looks at Benjamin, she knows that her mother has triumphed. She’s sure that, someday, Benjamin will ask her to be his wife. And she’ll accept, mostly because she sees how alone he is and knows that his penchant for solitude would give her the independence she seeks.
While Catherine is involved in machinations to improve her socioeconomic standing, Helen faces the situation with her characteristic pragmatism. She doesn’t predict any future attraction to Benjamin. Instead, she thinks that Benjamin’s lack of desire to interact with others will help her find the solitude and independence she seeks. Again, Helen’s pragmatism reveals an understanding of the world in which she recognizes she does not often hold power. Instead, in the sexist and misogynistic world in which they live, men like Benjamin and Sheldon hold power, while people like her mother try to influence those men to gain a modicum of power for themselves.
Themes
