- We begin this chapter back with Bernard, who is thinking about time passing. He says that he started thinking about this topic while shaving the week before, prompted by the habitual nature of this action.
- He seems to have fallen into a bit of depression upon having those thoughts, thinking to himself, "I have lost my youth" (7b.1).
- Indeed, Bernard asserts that he lies around for days in bed after he has realizations like these, as they allow him to see "bare bottom," giving him access to "what habit covers" (7b.2). It's not entirely clear, but it's implied that these moments have occurred for him more than once.
- Apparently, his most recent musings about time passing and the true nature of things inspired him to go buy a ticket to go to Rome. Now he's sitting outside in a Roman garden, returning to (surprise, surprise) his favorite topic: "What Makes Bernard Distinctive."
- Bernard notes that he's in one of those states of detachment that sometimes overtake him, which he despises.
- Bernard then reiterates how much he needs other people, and he thinks about how his life has developed (e.g., things lost and gained as time has passed). He thinks about the things he will never get a chance to do (e.g., go to Tahiti) and reflects upon what he has spent his years doing (i.e., raising a family). He notes that, in this process, the "truth has come nearer"; the "veil" that "familiar ritual" held in front of his eyes has fallen away (7b.4). He then proceeds to ruminate upon the progression of his life, and if/where it has led or is leading. In particular, he reflects upon the attempt to get at true or pure meaning in language.
- While all this is going on internally, he seems to see an old school friend. Who is it?
- He seems to start feeling more like himself, and phrases start to "bubble" up again (7b.7). Suddenly, he feels like maybe he could go to Tahiti.
- He goes to get lunch, resolving to resume observing people in his usual fashion. Also, he realizes the name of the school friend he's just seen is Larpent.
- Now we appear to be back in England with Susan, who reflects on the way her own life has progressed. From her description of her daily activities, it seems that her life has revolved around childrearing and gardening/farming.
- Susan reveals she is standing outside with gardening shears, saying she is now tired of "natural happiness" and "the unscrupulous ways of the mother who protects" (7b.13). That domestic bliss was short-lived.
- She then thinks about the past and events that occurred when they were children, reflecting upon how her life then contrasts with her life now. She thinks of her friends, specifically Rhoda and Percival.
- Now we're with Jinny, who, like the others, is reflecting on her advancing age. Though she asserts she is in "the heart of life," she's not super jazzed about having aged and wondering if the men will still coming calling if she raises her arm (7b.17).
- However, she then collects herself, arranging herself while she looks in the mirror and declaring, "I will not be afraid" (7b.19). She resolves to go home and prepare herself for a visitor, whether it is one of her old friends (e.g., Bernard, Neville, or Louis) or someone new.
- Now we're with Neville. Apparently he, too, is feeling his age, noting that he is no longer young. He passes Jinny's house and sees a young man fixing his tie nervously on her doorstep.
- As Neville passes along, he thinks about how things have changed. He reflects on his own processes of discerning meaning in people and his physical surroundings.
- He then claims to enter "some room," where there are people talking and a child is dancing. Neville takes a book and reads (7b.24).
- What happens next is quite ambiguous. He says that Rhoda or Louis (or some other "anguished spirit") passes through the room, and Neville says, "They want a plot, do they? They want a reason? It is not enough for them, this ordinary scene" (7b.25). He then thinks about how Rhoda and Louis are different from him, wanting violence and pursuing access to some kind of perfect truth.
- He then resumes talking about what he's doing in this mysterious room he's entered, where he's reading and listening to the people there. He reflects upon the effort necessary to read the poem while he sits in this room with other people talking.
- Now Neville claims the others have left the room, and he is alone. Having listened to the conversations that took place in that room, he now listens to the sounds of London and, soon enough, the sound of someone approaching his door. He beckons the unnamed person to come in.
- Now we're with Louis, who describes returning home from the office. Apparently, he's quite the big-shot now; he notes, "I am immensely respectable" (7b.28). He lists some staples of material wealth that he will soon obtain, including a house in Surrey.
- However, despite his success, he notes that he still returns to his attic room and sits down to read poetry. He intersperses his reading of lines from a poem with his own reflections regarding how his life has progressed and about his friends. Along the way, he mentions having an unnamed mistress.
- He then thinks of Percival and Rhoda, noting that the latter has left him. Hence the mistress, we guess?
- Meanwhile, Rhoda claims to be climbing a mountain from which she will see Africa. She talks about how much she has hated life and human beings, and how she just kind of gave in to the things she despised rather than fighting. Sad.
- She thinks of the past and her friends, including Louis, Jinny, and Susan. She also thinks of the day Percival died.
- She now notes that the hill she's climbing is Spanish, and she's actually riding a mule. She decides she'll pretend that the mule's back is a bed, and that she's dying. Umm…
- She then says that they "launch out now over the precipice," and she describes what lies below (e.g., ships and water). She imagines reaching the water and having the waves overtake her. Rhoda, nooooo.
- Whew! What happens next seems to imply that at least some of the preceding was a fantasy, as the chapter ends with Rhoda knocking on the door of a Spanish inn. We're glad Rhoda appears to be okay, but what actually did just happen?