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Chapters XXXIII–XXXV 

Summary: CHAPTER XXXIII: In Which Miss Crawley’s Relations Are Very Anxious About Her 

The narrative returns to England, where Miss Crawley has read about Rawdon’s promotion to colonel and bemoans his low marriage. When she receives an entertaining letter from him, even though she knows Becky is the writer, they begin a correspondence. Miss Crawley also tells Mrs. Bute not to return.

Sir Pitt Crawley, in the eyes of his family, debases himself by drinking with common folk and spending time with the butler’s daughter. The horrified Pitt Crawley often goes to Brighton to visit his fiancée, Lady Jane Sheepshank, who lives with her widowed mother, Lady Southdown. Pitt, hoping to earn his aunt’s favor and fortune, suggests that the women form a closer relationship with his aunt. They go to Miss Crawley’s and leave their cards.

Summary: CHAPTER XXXIV: James Crawley’s Pipe Is Put Out

Pitt brings Lady Jane and Lady Southdown to visit his aunt. Miss Crawley takes to Lady Jane, who soon becomes a regular visitor. Mrs. Bute, fearful that Miss Crawley will leave Pitt her estate, sends her son, James, an Oxford student, to pay respects. Miss Crawley likes James’s shy demeanor, and she invites him to stay at her house. Pitt gets James drunk, hoping to embarrass him. Over the next few days, several things happen that show James in a poor light and put him out of favor. The final straw is when he sneaks a pipe into the house even though Miss Crawley detests the smell of smoke. She tells James to stay at the hotel next time.

Meanwhile, Becky and Rawdon are having a great time in Paris after Becky used Miss Crawley’s name to gain an entry into society. When Miss Crawley finds out, she writes a letter distancing herself and warning her friends about Becky. The next spring, Miss Crawley reads in the paper that Becky and Rawdon have had a son and heir. She demands that Pitt and Lady Jane marry immediately. In return, she will give them money every year and make them her beneficiaries. After the wedding, Pitt and Lady Jane move in with Miss Crawley. She soon dies.

Summary: CHAPTER XXXV: Widow and Mother 

George’s family learns of his death. While his sisters mourn, his father remains stoic, even after receiving the conciliatory letter that George wrote the morning he marched to war. Mr. Osborne won’t forgive his son, but he does purchase a memorial in George’s honor for the church. He journeys to Belgium to see the places where George lived, fought, died, and was buried. One evening his carriage passes another carriage transporting Amelia. She is accompanied by Dobbin, now a major, on horseback. Recognizing Mr. Osborne, Dobbin doubles back to catch up with him. Amelia is pregnant, and Dobbin asks Mr. Osborne to help support the mother and child. Mr. Osborne refuses. Amelia has a baby boy, and Dobbin brings them to her parents in England. Amelia dotes on the baby. Dobbin, as godfather, visits often. Then one day he announces he is going on a long trip but asks Amelia to write.

Analysis: Chapters XXXIII–XXXV

In the chapters that focus on the aftermath of the war and the Crawley and Osborne families in England, readers see that all the main characters remain essentially the same. The experiences of loss brought on by personal events or the war make no difference in how they treat their families or in how they engage with the world.

For one of the few times in his life, George did the right thing—and he died saving his fellow soldiers and serving his country. However, despite his bravery and gallantry, his father still refuses to forgive him for marrying Amelia. Even as Mr. Osborne reads George’s final words to him, he can’t bring himself to view his son any differently than the last time they spoke. George remains loved but not forgiven, which offers little comfort to his devastated sisters and no financial support to his widow and baby boy. Instead of dealing with the people who are impacted by George’s death and perhaps helping quell their grief, Mr. Osborne supplants his emotions with a meaningless memorial to George and a trip to Belgium. While Mr. Osborne goes out of his way to speak to soldiers about George’s death, he deliberately avoids meeting Amelia, who could provide him with far more information about George’s final days.

Dobbin, as before, casts himself as the do-gooder who will solve all of Amelia’s problems. Previously Dobbin reunited Amelia and George, and while he is unable to do so with her and her father-in-law, he takes on all responsibility for her care. Dobbin looks after Amelia, tries to get her financial help, and ultimately takes her back to England, tasks that Jos failed to do. George also failed Amelia by allowing someone as emotionally weak as Amelia to come to Belgium in the first place. Dobbin truly takes on the role that typically a father, brother, or husband would play. Amelia, as always, not only fails to note that Dobbin is hopelessly in love with her, but she doesn’t even accord him the respect that he deserves for his constant caretaking of her. Amelia treats Dobbin with less regard than readers have seen her treat her family’s servants.

All the Crawleys continue to act as they did before Rawdon and Becky’s departure. Miss Crawley never backs down on her vow to cut Rawdon off, though she continues to string him along by corresponding with him. Her single-minded hatred of Becky has continued unabated, perhaps even strengthened by Becky’s use of her name for social climbing in Paris. This hatred successfully destroys any love Miss Crawley held for Rawdon and eclipses any concern for the well-being of Rawdon’s child. Miss Crawley is so frightened when he has a son who could be a possible heir that she demands that Pitt marry his fiancée immediately. Miss Crawley will do anything in her power to prevent Becky from getting any of her money.

A few characters show even worse sides of themselves in these chapters. Sir Pitt Crawley descends even lower than he was when he proposed to Becky. She was the daughter of an art teacher, but he still was prepared to marry her. Now, Sir Pitt’s relationship with the butler’s daughter hints that he has obtained a mistress. He, like his nephew James, drinks low-class liquor and socializes with low-class people. Pitt Crawley has turned into a fortune seeker, just like Rawdon and Mrs. Bute, and employed his pretty fiancée to enhance his flattery and trickery. Pitt’s effort is successful, but only because his fiancée is a lady in title. Miss Crawley dies as she lived, an utter snob.

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