Bondage
The novel’s title derives from the author’s persistent use of the concept of being kept in bondage as imagery serving as a symbol for the human condition. While bondage has taken on the contemporary connotation of sexual perversion to a degree which did not exist at the time of the writing, the images of bondage presented in the novel reveal the full breadth of its definition (though, admittedly, the relationship between Philip and Mildred can realistically be described as nothing less than a form of sado-masochistic sexuality). Many characters are situated as victims of bondage that may not appear as such. Philip is held in bondage to the emotional scarring caused by his club-foot. Fanny Price commits suicide as a result of being trapped economic bondage. This psychological imagery is enhanced by more physical manifestations such as Philip trapped in a cycle of bullying resulting from the state of bondage with which he views his school. And even that circumstances is directly related to the enforced sense of bondage he feels toward his relatives and his relatives feel toward him; Philip’s whole life can be a claim to the sense of societal bondage that results from being orphaned at a tender age.
Sado-Masochism
A distinct pattern of sado-masochism can detected in the character of Philip Carey that serves to create imagery in the form of repetition. Philip invests the weight of the world’s negative reaction to every aspect of his personality in the small physical deformity of his club-foot, yet on a number of occasions is the very person who announces that he suffers from this disability. In his relations with Mildred, he suffers at the cruelty she shows toward him, yet not only keeps crawling back but also prolongs and extends his misery by taunting her with his own feelings of superiority. Perhaps the iconic example of the way that Philip creates miser for himself by acting sadistically in a way that seems to seek masochistic pleasure is when he loans money to Griffiths so that he can be with Mildred over the weekend. On its surface, this would seem an act of mere self-hatred when it is actually much more complex in psychology since Philip is acting out a pursuit of immediate sadistic gratification by using the loan to prove the inferiority of the couple.
Rejection of Free Will
One of the overriding themes of the novel is the debate over the philosophical soul of Philip between Cronshaw and Hayward. Hayward is the symbol of idealism while Cronshaw tries to instill in Philip an acceptance of his own brand of realism. Considering that particular school embraces a rejection of the concept of free will, it is little wonder that the masochistic Philip winds up rejecting Hayward’s influence to fully embrace that of Cronshaw. This embrace creates a series of events that eventually coalesce to serve as imagery which reveals the deeper aspects of Phillip’s character as mere façade for embracing determinism. So fully does Philip exceed even Cronshaw’s rejection of free will that he refuses even to live according to its existence as mere illusion. Philip’s self-hatred and loathing so fully engulfs him that almost joyously accepts living by the premise that since fate cannot be controlled, one need not take any responsibility. By refusing to take responsibility for what fate accords him, he creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of recurring disappointment. This is not deterministic realism, this is deterministic nihilism and an unwitting rejection of Cronshaw as well as Hayward.
Defect of Body or Mind
At the novel’s conclusion, re-considers the impact on his life of his club-foot and finally comes to the realization that it was every bit as responsible for the positive thing about his development as any negative consequences. This epiphany leads outward to a broader consideration in which he muses that:
“Everyone had some defect, of body or of mind: he thought of all the people he had known (the whole world was like a sick-house, and there was no rhyme or reason in it), he saw a long procession, deformed in body and warped in mind, some with illness of the flesh, weak hearts or weak lungs, and some with illness of the spirit, languor of will, or a craving for liquor.”
In essence, the story ends with its own analysis of one of its most pervasive and subtle examples of imagery. Philip’s parents were bad at managing money, Cronshaw is an alcoholic, Griffiths is a womanizer, Fanny Price has a disagreeable personality, Dr. South is antiquated toward medical discoveries, Macalister is a slave to reason who is lacking in passion. And so it goes with person after person who enters into the orbit of Philip Carey, ultimately revealing some specific characteristic which might be termed a defect of body or mind.
