- In this chapter, we start off with Bernard, who seems to be reflecting upon the increasing complexity of life… and of this novel. Never mind, that's just us.
- Every hour, he notes, something new is being "unburied" (3b.1). He's asking that eternal question: "Who am I?" and doesn't seem to be getting very far.
- He thinks about the complexity of his public and private identities, and how those two are not the same. He seems to think that he has to adopt a variety of different poses in order to be "Bernard" (3b.1).
- We feel you, Bernie.
- Bernard reflects upon his capacity for empathy with others, mentioning someone named Symes, who he could tell was trying to make a good impression on a dude named Billy Jackson. To make Symes feel better, Bernard invited him to dinner (3b.1).
- Quoting an imaginary biographer of his life (Oh, Bernard . . . ego much?), Bernard explores his motivations for extending this invitation. He continues in this navel-gazy way for a while, literally talking to himself, comparing himself to other men (who seem to have more equilibrium and simpler pleasures in life than he does) and exploring his own motivations further (3b.1).
- Bernard also notes that he and Neville are similar in that they are too complex to let their minds be "roused by any single activity" (3b.1).
- Bernard then resumes his musings about himself. In particular, he's thinking about a letter that he's started to write several times but hasn't been able to complete. He's thinking of giving it a go again (3b.2).
- Oooh, it's a letter to a girl. He's obsessing a lot about how to present himself; he wants the letter to have the air of being off the cuff while still suggesting intimacy. He contemplates the topics the letter might mention, including a man who drowned (um, perhaps Bernard needs some romance pointers) and someone named Mrs. Moffatt and her "sayings" (3b.3).
- He also compares himself to Lord Byron. He still hasn't started the letter…
- …And apparently he decides not to. He says he can't get up "steam" enough to do it. He seems to feel a disconnect between his "real" self and the self he's trying to present to her, and he fears that she'll think he's a poser. So he resolves to write the letter tomorrow after breakfast (3b.4).
- Sure, you will.
- He then fantasizes about being invited down to some country estate, which appears to be where his young lady friend lives, and imagines how that visit would go (3b.5).
- He then resumes navel-gazing, comparing himself and his own propensity for trying to make art with that of the "real novelist," who is "perfectly simple," can go on imagining indefinitely, and doesn't integrate things as Bernard does. Bernard says he needs the stimulus of other people, ostensibly unlike a real novelist (3b.6).
- Bernard thinks it's been a pretty good day. He thinks about the morning, when he went for a walk. He says he was dramatic at dinner, but we're not sure what that means.
- He then contemplates his own identity (again) asking himself who "comes" when he calls out his own name to himself, seeming to believe that he has several different selves. But he does seem to think that one man in particular "responds" to that address, an ageless "sardonic" man who is now siting in his room poking the fire and talking to himself. Then he says he is going to bed (3b.7).
- Good call, Bernie. Sleep off that introspection binge.
- Now we're with Neville, who reflects that the process of naming things changes them. He seems to be sitting on a riverbank staring at boats. He sees someone who reminds him of Percival and watches him/her, reflective (3b.8).
- Like Bernard, Neville is thinking a lot about his interactions with language and how/when he feels inspired to use words and write. He thinks to himself that he is "surely" a great poet (so, no ego there, we guess). However, like Bernard, he wonders if he has some kind of flaw that prevents him from being a great poet, and he reflects that he doesn't know himself well (3b.8).
- Now, Neville is reflecting upon the effect of friends and friendship on people as another person approaches. It's Bernard. (3b.9).
- Clash of the introverted arteests!
- For some reason, things are weird between these two. Bernard says that he and Neville are looking at the willow tree together (3b.10).
- He feels Neville's disapproval and claims that he becomes an "untidy" and "impulsive" person when he's with him. He says he's anxious to regain Neville's good opinion (3b.11).
- Bernard says that he's just pulled Percival out of bed and describes the process of doing so. Neville laughs at the story, even though he is inwardly preoccupied by some "private sorrow" that's not explained (3b.11).
- Bernard continues babbling on to Neville, all the while inwardly reflecting on the effect his way with words has on others and thinking that he is "delighting" his listener. However, he suddenly realizes that Neville is not listening; in fact, in Bernard's view, Neville is using tiny gestures to "ask" Bernard to stop talking (3b.11). Bernard seems to think that Neville wants to be asked why he's down in the dumps.
- Bernard says that he's going to "create" Neville now. It's possible he means that he's going to create him by describing him, because that's what he proceeds to do: He describes Neville lying on the bank watching those boats and says that Neville wants to be a poet and a lover.
- He also notes that Neville is intelligent and honest, which makes Bernard feel a bit squirmy, as it makes him more aware of his flaws. Finally, he claims that Neville doesn't indulge in mystifications (3b.12).
- Bernard then asks whether he was right and has read Neville's gestures correctly as a signal to stop talking (3b.13). It's not clear whether this is the same kind of internal dialogue we've been getting throughout the main narrative so far or an actual question posed to Neville because Modernism don't play that. In any case, we don't get Neville's answer.
- Bernard wants Neville to let him look at his poems and invites him back to his room. They notice shop girls along the way there (3b.14).
- They get back to Bernard's room and talk over a fire and some tea. Neville notes that Bernard has been reading Byron and makes a point of saying that Bernard is not like Byron (okay, relax, Neville—we know Bernard's ego is huge, but no need to be rude).
- Neville contrasts himself with Bernard and his penchant for imitation, saying that he just likes to be himself, unlike our man B. Oh ouch. This is getting brutal.
- Apparently now Bernard is babbling and not listening again. This gets Neville agitated, because he is apparently trying to expose a "secret" that no one has ever heard (okay, now we want Bernard to be quiet, too—what's this secret?!).
- Also, he wants Bernard to tell him if he (meaning Neville) is always going to be so repulsive to other people. Yikes. While all this is happening, Neville becomes nervous that Bernard is going to muck up a copy of Don Juan he sees laying around, so he hides it on a shelf (3b.18).
- Finally, Neville appears to get fed up, throwing his poem at Bernard and running out of the room.
- Left alone, Bernard thinks a lot about their interaction and his own identity. He imagines what Neville is doing right now, and—ooooh—notes that Neville is in love. He imagines Neville at home poking his own fire… Wait, what? Why do we feel like that's a metaphor for something else?
- Bernard then makes a strange statement: he says that Percival, Tony, Archie, or some other boy will go to India and that they won't meet again. He goes into some detail imagining what Neville is doing, and it's not entirely clear if this is what Neville is doing, pure imagination, or something in between.
- Modernism, guys. Deal with it.
- Whoa, there's a party outside. Bernard hears a bunch of rowdy boys smashing china and jumping around in the street in the October wind. These rowdy dudes almost knock over a woman carrying home a bag. This moment prompts more reflections from Bernard about how he's different from Neville. He speculates that Neville's reaction to this (and ability to "see" this woman) would be way different from his own.
- Now Bernard is thinking of Louis. Specifically, he wonders what Louis would make of this whole scene with the party boys outside. He notes that Louis is now working in an office, even though he was the best scholar back in their school days.
- Meanwhile, Louis, who identifies himself as an average office clerk, is having a meal in a restaurant, reading a poetry book, and people-watching through the window. He claims to feel like he is pretending to be a normal Englishmen (3b.25-26). Nonetheless, he still feels like an outsider, asserting that he wants to be loved but feels "alien" (3b.25-26).
- Louis compares himself to others as he watches the people around him. He thinks the scene is kind of aimless and wants to somehow make it more orderly (3b.28).
- He reflects some more on his own qualities and the past, including Bernard, Neville, and Susan. Then, after watching a waitress come by, he stands up, slips a tip that he describes as too large under the plate, and peaces out, not wanting the waitress to see it while he's still there. For some reason, he thinks she'll scorn him.
- Now we're back with Susan, who's inside her house chilling and listening to a bird sing early in the morning. She reflects upon being sent to school in Switzerland to finish her education.
- Now she's outside, leaning on a gate and watching her dog, thinking about her identity and what is unique about her.
- She says that her lover is going to come midday. Ooh, la la. At that time, she says, she will give him what "has formed in her," and they will have children (3b.32).
- She thinks about what her future life will be like, starting with the rest of the day. She thinks of serving her father tea later.
- She goes back to her house, gets out sultanas, and starts making bread. She paints a very domestic scene, giving us more details about her daily life and the natural landscape (which is in full bloom) around her house.
- She thinks of her friends Jinny and Rhoda and what their lives in London must be like. She also thinks about the fact that Jinny kissed Louis back in the day—wow, hold a grudge much?
- Now we're back in Jinny's mind. She's traveling through the city streets, noting that windows are dark and the day is over. She's looking sharp: wearing silk, a necklace with stones, and shoes that pinch her feet—sounds like she's on her way to a party.
- She gets out of the car and enters a building. She checks herself out in the mirror to make sure she looks okay. She then enters, reflecting on her appearance, and her name is announced.
- She checks out the scene around her (including the other attendees), saying she is "native" there (3b.39). She also reflects upon herself.
- Now there's some guy checking her out. She beckons him over to her. They dance and talk, connecting rather intensely for a little while.
- However, she then says that "slackness and indifference" suddenly take over for them (3b.42), and she thinks to herself that she also likes blonde-haired, blue-eyed men (maybe this guy is a brunette?). So, it appears she's moving on…
- Now she continues people watching, including some observations about other women there. She soon has another interested suitor on his way over to her.
- Apparently, Rhoda is at this party as well, and now we're in her mind. She is not comfortable, but she feels she needs to be there and play the social game a little bit.
- Unlike Jinny, who claims to be super in her element at this shindig, Rhoda feels clumsy and out of sorts. Jinny is cued in to of all kinds of male interest and Rhoda feels only indifference from the dude she's talking to.
- Rhoda makes other observations about the scene and her internal state. She fantasizes about rocking her basin as a child, picturing herself as mistress of a fleet of ships. Also, she watches Jinny dance, thinking about how self-assured Jinny and Susan are.
- Rhoda goes out on a balcony and looks around the streets from there, offering her observations about the scene. She continues to think about how she fits into this world she observes. She predicts that she is to be "derided" all her life (3b.46). She also reveals that she's not even twenty one (so maybe things will get better?). She doesn't think life is looking too sunny, apparently, contrasting herself to others and framing herself as an outsider.