The Getting of Wisdom · Chapter
Gut und böse und Lust und Leid und Ich und Du explained
Laura's obsessive friendship with Evelyn Souttar reaches a crisis as Evelyn prepares to leave school.
What happens
Laura's obsessive friendship with Evelyn Souttar reaches a crisis as Evelyn prepares to leave school. Laura's jealousy, possessiveness, and inability to focus on her studies lead to her failing the midwinter test examinations. The chapter explores Laura's emotional turmoil, her fear of losing Evelyn, and her growing awareness of the fleeting nature of happiness.
Free preview opens on this chapter — companions, themes, and character notes appear beside the text.
Narrative arc
Story tension across the book — this chapter sits in Climax.
- Setup
- Escalation
- Breaking point
- Aftermath
- Closing
Laura reaches an emotional and psychological peak of isolation and humiliation as she is publicly mocked, aban…
Full beat labels and climax notes unlock in the reader.
Follow the arc while readingThemes in this chapter
- Friendship and the Desire for Belonging
Laura's intense, possessive friendship with Evelyn highlights her desperate need for belonging and her fear of abandonment.
- Female Adolescence and Sexuality
Laura's jealousy of Evelyn's interest in men and her own vehement rejection of romance reflect adolescent struggles with emerging sexuality and social expectations.
- Education and the Nature of Wisdom
Laura's academic failure due to emotional distraction underscores the tension between formal education and personal wisdom.
Characters to notice
- Laura Rambotham
Laura is consumed by jealousy and possessiveness over Evelyn, neglecting her studies and failing her exams. She struggles with the impending separation and her own lack of self-control.
- Evelyn Souttar
Evelyn is patient but increasingly weary of Laura's clinginess. She tries to reassure Laura while looking forward to her own future beyond school.
- Mary Pidwall
Mary (M. P.) taunts Laura, calling her a 'cipher,' and predicts Laura will fail her tests.
- Cupid
Cupid joins Mary in mocking Laura, calling her a 'moon-calf' and a 'billy-ass.'
- Lolo
Lolo, a birdlike girl, calls Evelyn away for a secret conversation, provoking Laura's jealousy.
- Miss Snodgrass
Miss Snodgrass observes Laura's sulking and comments on her foolish behavior.
Key passages
““Laura, you’re a cipher!” “I’m nothing of the sort!” threw back Laura indignantly. “You’re one yourself.””
Mary Pidwall calls Laura a nonentity, and Laura angrily retorts that Mary is one too.
This exchange establishes Laura's sensitivity to ridicule and her defensive pride.
““Look here, Poppet,” said Evelyn at last, and was so much in earnest that she laid her hairbrush down, and took Laura by both her bony little shoulders. “Look here, you surely don’t expect me to be an old maid, do you?— me ?””
Evelyn confronts Laura about her unrealistic expectation that Evelyn never marry, emphasizing her own youth, beauty, and desire for a full life.
This moment reveals the fundamental difference in their perspectives on love and the future.
“The consequence was, M. P.’s prediction came true: in the test-examinations which took place at midwinter, Laura, together with the few dunces of her class, was ignominiously plucked.”
As Mary Pidwall had predicted, Laura failed her midwinter tests, placing her among the weakest students.
Laura's academic failure is a direct result of her emotional turmoil and obsession with Evelyn.
