Of Human Bondage is one of the most famous and intimate novels of Somerset Maugham, and tells us about the main character’s path of life filled with difficult trials. Early in childhood having become an orphan, he was deprived of parents’ care and kindness. His dream to become a painter never came true and love for a narrow-minded and wanton woman brought only sufferings and disappointments. But Philip endured everything that fate had in store for him with fortitude, and managed to find his own place in life.
Maugham brings a lot of issues in his novel concerning every single aspect of human lives. Among these are the dangerous games people are playing, the place of cruelty and compassion, and how people create their own bondages in and their tries to become free. In this novel Maugham shows himself more than a writer; we see how deeply he reaches the psychological and philosophical aspects of human nature.
The main character of the novel, Philip Carey, is partially based on the life of the author, there are many autobiographic facts. Philip at the age of nine lost his parents and lived with his uncle and aunt, who had no children of their own, and had no idea what to do and how to treat a child. Philip was a cripple, he had a clubfoot, and this deformity made him feel uncomfortable and in some way even undesirable during his life, but it did became an obstacle for him to become an intelligent young man with a broad mental outlook.
Philip was brought up as a gentleman, and he was expected to become involved in religion and at some point to go into the Church, as his uncle was a vicar, and he grew up under the rules of church in his uncle’s house. But Philip preferred his own way, and rejected religion for art studies, even though excelled academically, and later rejected it for accounting, and finally he found himself in medicine. Philip had even some doubts about these studies, but he never got out of this path.
Trying to fill in the blanks his search for the meaning of life passed through acquaintances with different people, who later he was keeping up friendly relationships with; through familiarity with different philosophies, which one after another he was rejecting. For Philip it was very difficult to believe in the religion he was studying, as his experience of repression in his uncle’s vicarage and in school he was attending, where he often was treated with cruelty, came into contradictions with the concepts and ideals of religion. And as the result he lost his faith.
The author describes in detail every failure and disappointment that Philip endured, and what impact these struggles by trials and mistakes had on establishing of his own philosophy, which fitted his own nature and helped him to become free from others’ opinions and ambitions. What Philip came to through his experience in accounting and in attempts to become a painter, was that a person should get rid of prejudices, and thus there is nothing what a man can do wrong.
It was a long way before Philip came up with such a conclusion, and the experience of a love for a selfish and vulgar woman, called Mildred, was the last point of his attempts to become free. His obsession with this girl can be viewed as desperate and unconscious attempt for happiness. Philip by his nature was very sensitive, but he always tried not to show his vulnerability. Mildred had no moral values and her primary interest was money and prosperity, she took advantage of Philip’s soft heart and generosity. Mildred even let herself use and hurt Philip, but he continued making efforts to win her favor and her heart. This love affair was not destined to have a happy end, but a miserable one. What he realized from this relationship was that happiness cannot be measurement of freedom, or rather the pursuit of happiness. Philip finally found peace when he stopped to look for it, and let things go their way.
What is really significant in Of Human Bondage is that it touches almost all the complexities of human life: these are upbringing and education issues, place of religion and morality, difficulties in finding an occupation, and the obstacles which are faced when having some inability. One of the last is Philip’s clubfoot, which prevented him to become a military man or a sportsman. Finally, especially prominent is the theme of love, which usually is the reason of all the troubles. The meaning of life always has been a question of all the times, and it might never be answered, but it must not become a reason not to try.
