The predicament facing Gordon Comstock in Keep the Aspidistra Flying bears a similarity to the choice defined by Flory: be a pukka sahib or die. “Serve the money-god or go under: there is no other rule.”
1936
Comstock faces an intractable determinism, in which resistance to the ‘money-god’ cannot be fought without undermining ‘decency.’ The choice between a moral commitment and a common sense of ‘decency’ is decided at the expense of commitment. Is Gordon’s decision to return to a routine social life a betrayal of his criticism? Is his rejection of the middle-class society based upon his middle-class viewpoint? Please post your response as a comment before class on Wednesday, September 28.
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