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Review: W. Somerset Maugham - Of Human Bondage (1915)
To be honest, for much of the book, I wasn't really quite sure what I was reading, where the story was going. I knew it was a story centered around the main character, Philip Carey, but for some reason I legitimately thought he would descend into a lifestyle of debauchery or something lol (misinterpretation of the title, I suppose).
I'd say this book was about a boy (later a man) in his pursuit of love and home. To be honest, I didn't find the main character very likable, but he was rich and fortunate enough to have done some interesting things in his life.
Spoilers.
Story
The book had a few major arcs. I would separate them into the following.
School
This part of the book covered his formative years. The main character Philip Carey was orphaned at a young age, sent to live with a devout and strict uncle. His aunt wanted to be a good guardian to him, though she never had any experience taking care of children and this fumbled a bit.
He was later then sent to a boarding school, where he of course was bullied for his club foot.
One of the story lines of this arc that stuck out to me was Philip's friendship with Rose. Rose was Philip's first best friend and of course he was dearly attached to Rose. However, after Philip left school for a short period of time, he came to realize that Rose did not care for him as he did for Rose. They'd promised to meet up at certain times, and Rose did not keep those promises, and when Philip returned to school, he found that Rose had already become good friends with other people. That kind of rejection was something that I think a lot of people could relate to.
Though Philip was often made fun of, he rose in the ranks by doing well in school. However, in his final year, he decided that he didn't want to become a man of religion, even after having talks with his teachers at school.
Heidelberg, Germany
After dropping out from school, Philip went to Germany to learn German. He lived at a boarding house, and in this part of the story, Philip was starting to learn about love.
There was a series of scandalous romantic relationships in the boarding house. In particular, I remember there was a relationship between a lady and an Asian man that was not approved of.
Philip also had a crush on another lady at the house. She acknowledged his feelings, but could not return them. However, she still bore him no ill will, asserting that it wasn't Philip's choice to fall in love with her.
Accountant's office
For a short period of time, Philip took on an apprenticeship at an accountant's office in England. However, he was poor at his job, did not like the work, and generally did not like being around the people that worked there.
Paris, France
Philip then went to France to pursue art as a career. At this point in the story, I was side-eyeing Philip, because if his family did not have money, he would not be able to be this flippant about his life's direction, going to different countries just to learn and not having to do anything to support himself.
In Paris, Philip learned to draw decently, but it was made clear to him that he didn't quite have the talent to become a professional painter.
In his painting classes, Philip also "befriended" a lady by the name of Fanny Price. Fanny Price was kind of poor company, she would give Philip pointers, but she herself was not very good at drawing and the teacher and classmates could do nothing to convince her. Fanny fell in love with Philip, probably because he was the only person who was even polite to her. It was revealed that she was poor, as her brother would not give her money. She committed suicide.
England, Medical school
Following in the footsteps of his father, Philip finally returned to England and went to medical school.
While in medical school, he fell in love with a woman called Mildred, who would basically manipulate and use him in many ways and he would give in anyway. He was dramatic, which Mildred did not like, but when Mildred threatened to leave, he would give in and do whatever she wanted and throughout them knowing each other, he would spend a lot of money on her.
Mildred told Philip that she would marry another man. However, it was revealed that the man was already married, so Mildred returned to Philip, pregnant, because she knew he would support her.
In the time that Mildred was gone, Philip had begun a relationship with Norah, an author, who was far more pleasant to Philip, and actually liked Philip. It was a big contrast to how Mildred treated him. But once Mildred returned, Philip broke it off with Norah.
While Philip was supporting Mildred and her child, Mildred fell in love with Griffiths, a friend of Philip's. Of course, it was very humiliating, but he still did whatever Mildred wanted. Philip went so far as to want to go on vacation with Mildred, but when Mildred showed reluctance, Philip suggested for Mildred to go with Griffiths. However, after the vacation, Mildred never returned to see Philip.
A while later, Philip met Mildred again. She was working as a prostitute and struggling to feed her baby. Philip said he would support Mildred and the baby. Philip found that he was no longer infatuated with Mildred, though he did come to like the baby. Mildred tried to make romantic/sexual advances towards Philip, but became angry when Philip rejected her, and she left with the baby, destroying everything in his home.
England, Department store
After Mildred left, Philip's investments crashed because of the war, and he was forced to move out. His uncle would not lend him any money, and so he had to drop out of medical school.
Philip had previously befriended a man called Thorpe Athelny, the father of a large household. Philip always enjoyed spending time at the household because it was so familial and full of love. In his hard times, Athelny and his family welcomed Philip into their home so he had somewhere to stay while on tough times.
He started working at a department store. During this time in his life, he kind of kept a low profile, and his drawing skills came in handy in getting him to a higher position.
England, Medical practice
Soon after, Uncle William died, leaving Philip with his inheritance, and thus Philip could return to medical school. He eventually started practising as a doctor, and remained good friends with the Athelny family.
At the end of the story, Philip began striking up a romantic relationship with Sally, the oldest daughter of the Athelny family (yikes). There was a pregnancy scare, which forced Philip to think about whether he'd want to marry Sally. Though Philip had thought he hadn't loved Sally, and even though the pregnancy ended up being false, Philip had still decided to ask Sally to marry him.
I think the note that the story ended on was that his entire life, Philip was just looking for a home, family, somewhere to belong. And he didn't love Sally as passionately and violently as he loved Mildred, but he had always felt safe and comfortable with the Athelnys, and so he'd feel safe with Sally.
Writing
The writing style was easy enough to follow. It followed Philip's mindset as a normal person. It was very honest.
Characters
There were A LOT of characters, so I'm just going to talk about a handful.
Philip Carey
As I mentioned, I didn't think Philip was particularly likable. I felt that he was a bit too...hedonistic. I acknowledge that youth also affected the choices that he made, not wanting to finish school, becoming a painter, etc. They're dreams that young people have, and it was because there was money in the family that he was afforded the opportunity.
I understand that "hedonism" is kind of the point though. By that I mean the point of Philip was that he was learning to give in to his emotions, and doing what he wanted to do.
And I guess that was why he let himself be manipulated so much by Mildred. Honestly, the entire saga with Mildred was so painful to read. Even Philip knew that he was being manipulated and used, but he loved having Mildred with him in one way or another, even if just because she owed him a debt, that he would do it all, including getting himself cucked.
It took time apart for him to cool off from his feelings for Mildred. Though he still felt a friendship with him, and helped her in her tough times, he now found it easier to reject her. Around this time, Philip had begun hanging out with the Athelny family too, so perhaps he had finally found a place that gave him a kind of reciprocal love, that he no longer subjected himself to Mildred's volatile love.
The kinship that Philip found with the Athelnys contrasted with his love for his uncle and aunt. Philip never found a middle ground with Uncle William. Uncle William had never seen him as anything other than a nuisance, and also someone to reform into a good Christian. As for Aunt Louisa, she tried her best to care for Philip, though her knowledge of childrearing was very limited, and her love could not be felt by Philip at a young age. It took until Philip was an adult for him to understand that Aunt Louisa had always been trying, but nonetheless he did not care much for her.
At the end of the story, Philip felt that he wasn't in love with Sally, but I think it took him some thinking to realize that he wasn't in that passionate, all-consuming love with her that he had been with Mildred, and that while he dreamed about the exciting things, like going to Spain, he did also like home and family, and saw happiness in settling down with Sally.
William Carey
Uncle William was Philip's strict uncle. He was a man of God, and his lifestyle consisted of nothing that would interest a child. No playing, strict rules, etc. As mentioned, I think he just found Philip as a nuisance.
While Philip was going through his phase of exploring different careers, Uncle William was never really too supportive. I think he always wanted Philip to follow in his father's footsteps. He definitely did not approve of Philip going to Germany or France. The apprenticeshop at the accountant's office was only slightly acceptable.
In his old age, Philip felt nothing for his uncle, no fondness, no pity. He was just waiting for the man to die. He'd briefly thought about how easy it would be to kill his uncle, but he did not carry that out. But he did not do anything other than do as he was needed by his uncle. He did not comfort him other than just by being there and answering his questions.
Louisa Carey
Aunt Louisa had never had any children, but she was kind of excited about the opportunity to raise Philip. When she saw that he was bored or upset, she tried to cheer him up with picture books, the only remotely fun thing in the house.
Louisa had little involvement during Philip's period of exploration. However, when going to France, she did give Philip the rest of her money. She didn't think she'd have long to live and she wanted to give Philip something. At that point, Philip did seem to feel bad, but the relationship with his aunt was still kind of awkward, so he accepted the money, knowing that it was her way of showing her love.
Mildred Rodgers
Mildred was a waitress that Philip fell in love with. The first time he met her, he noted that she wasn't really that attractive. And yet he fell deeply and madly in love with her.
The thing was, Mildred always made it clear that she did not care for Philip, and yet Philip was fixated on her. So of course it was troublesome to Mildred. At one point she tried to break things off (they had only been casually dating technically), but Philip folded and said he wouldn't get jealous. So that started Philip's journey of heartbreak and manipulation with Mildred.
Whenever Mildred was with other men, he would not say anything, because he thought that otherwise, Mildred would not even see him anymore. He paid for nice things for her, things that she would not normally be able to afford for herself.
As mentioned, she was tricked by the man she was going to marry, and returned home pregnant. Philip basically played the role of husband, caring for her wellbeing, to the point that the nurses at the hospital thought he was in fact Mildred's husband. Mildred was also very confusing because she would lie about her identity, and say that she was the wife of the man she was supposed to marry. But it kind of hinted towards the fact that Mildred did care about titles and status. Anyway, Mildred said that she hadn't wanted the child, presumably because she would then be tied down by her.
After she gave birth to the baby, Philip paid for the baby to be taken care of by someone else, so Mildred was free to live as she pleased. She kept saying that she would find a job but that never happened.
Griffiths knew that Philip was in love with Mildred, and after meeting her, he fell in love with her too (sort of I guess). When seeing that Philip was so insecure about their relationship, Griffiths assured that there was nothing between him and Mildred, but Mildred showed Philip a love letter from Griffiths that showed the contrary.
Philip had wanted to take Mildred on vacation, but she was reluctant to go because she wanted to be with Griffiths. Philip made a poor suggestion of having Griffiths go with Mildred instead, paying entirely for the vacation, which Mildred of course loved. She said she'd do anything that Philip wanted afterward. And while Philip had offered for Griffiths to go, he by no means was on good terms with Griffiths. After the vacation, Mildred snuck away without seeing Philip.
Mildred showed up later with her baby, not doing so well. Philip offered to take her in, and that she could cook in exchange for staying at his place. At this point, Philip had found that he didn't love her as he did before, but he was attached to the baby. In fact, Mildred noticed that he cared about the baby more than her.
Anyway, Mildred had taken to calling herself Mrs. Carey and was kind of peeved when Philip rejected her. I still don't think Mildred loved Philip, but she liked that Philip was a "gentleman" who took care of her. As I mentioned, I think Mildred cared about status and perhaps she liked the idea of being married to a doctor, or at least a stable man who never went anywhere.
At this point in her life, Mildred was already down on her luck, having to resort to prostitution. And while living at Philip's, though Philip had talked to her about getting a job, nothing ever seemed to materialize. It was likely that she had just wanted to be a housewife, be supported without having to work. She used to be a waitress and she didn't really want to go back to that life again. Philip used to be so easily manipulated by her and him not being this easily manipulated anymore was very surprising to her.
In terms of why Mildred was so angry, I guess it would be a combination of Philip not playing in her fantasy of being the gentleman husband so that she didn't have to work, plus a hint of insecurity that maybe she wasn't so desirable anymore and was losing to even her baby.
After destroying everything in Philip's house, she ran away. She then popped up again one last time, asking Philip for medical advice. She'd contracted syphilis while working as a prostitute. At this time, the baby had died too, probably from Mildred being unable to care for her. Philip advised that Mildred stop prostituting herself, but she refused. That was the last time they saw each other.
Philip thought he saw Mildred in the street at the end of the book, but it ended up being someone else. But at this point, his feelings for Mildred were not anymore passion, but sort of...him feeling pity at the whole situation, sad that it happened that way.
Norah Nesbit
Norah was a woman that Philip had struck up a relationship with while Mildred had gone away the first time. She was a writer.
And she was very devoted to Philip, always wanting to hang out with him, very considerate of him. After an extended period of time of Mildred being gone, Philip had even come to enjoy his time with her and like her. However, she was still very much overshadowed by Mildred in Philip's heart.
I did feel bad for Norah when Mildred came back, as Philip was lying to Norah and backing out of plans to be with Mildred. When Philip admitted to Norah that Mildred had come back, she acknowledged the situation and broke things off with Philip.
The next time Philip saw Norah, she was engaged to another man, and seemed to be doing pretty well. I wonder if Norah gave Philip an idea of what normal love is supposed to be like. When things didn't work with Philip, Norah backed off and just continued living life until she found someone else.
Thorpe Athelny
Athelny was someone that Philip had befriended. He had a big character, less stuffy than most of the other characters in the book. He had a big hospitable family, and that was probably what drew Philip to their household. Even when he had Mildred and the baby back at home, Philip just liked spending time with them.
And when Philip was hard on his luck, Thorpe and his wife Betty gave him a place to stay in their own house, giving him a loan until he was back on his feet, helping him find work. When Philip tried to pay back the loan, Betty was a bit cagey about it too. The Athelny family was a bit too perfect but they were supposed to represent the kind of love that Philip would have liked. Just genuine love and care.
Eventually, Sally and Philip struck up a romantic and sexual relationship. Though Philip wasn't obsessed with Sally like he was with Mildred, I think Philip considered that this lifestyle was not bad, being surrounded by care and happiness.
Themes
So I did some reading up, and "Of Human Bondage" seems to be generally understood as referencing people being bound by their emotions. We as humans are unable to be free of our emotions, so we might as well follow them.
In Philip's period of discovery, when he was still country-hopping in Europe, he was coming to terms with questioning his religious beliefs, and he ultimately came to understand that he can't help it if he doesn't believe in certain beliefs of the church or of society. Humans can be free of those beliefs, but they cannot be free of their emotions, and that is why Philip is so eager to follow his feelings.
Overall
A long book. I feel like I would appreciate this book more on a second read, since now I would know the general direction and themes of the book.
I'd say this book was about a boy (later a man) in his pursuit of love and home. To be honest, I didn't find the main character very likable, but he was rich and fortunate enough to have done some interesting things in his life.
Spoilers.
Story
The book had a few major arcs. I would separate them into the following.
School
This part of the book covered his formative years. The main character Philip Carey was orphaned at a young age, sent to live with a devout and strict uncle. His aunt wanted to be a good guardian to him, though she never had any experience taking care of children and this fumbled a bit.
He was later then sent to a boarding school, where he of course was bullied for his club foot.
One of the story lines of this arc that stuck out to me was Philip's friendship with Rose. Rose was Philip's first best friend and of course he was dearly attached to Rose. However, after Philip left school for a short period of time, he came to realize that Rose did not care for him as he did for Rose. They'd promised to meet up at certain times, and Rose did not keep those promises, and when Philip returned to school, he found that Rose had already become good friends with other people. That kind of rejection was something that I think a lot of people could relate to.
Though Philip was often made fun of, he rose in the ranks by doing well in school. However, in his final year, he decided that he didn't want to become a man of religion, even after having talks with his teachers at school.
Heidelberg, Germany
After dropping out from school, Philip went to Germany to learn German. He lived at a boarding house, and in this part of the story, Philip was starting to learn about love.
There was a series of scandalous romantic relationships in the boarding house. In particular, I remember there was a relationship between a lady and an Asian man that was not approved of.
Philip also had a crush on another lady at the house. She acknowledged his feelings, but could not return them. However, she still bore him no ill will, asserting that it wasn't Philip's choice to fall in love with her.
Accountant's office
For a short period of time, Philip took on an apprenticeship at an accountant's office in England. However, he was poor at his job, did not like the work, and generally did not like being around the people that worked there.
Paris, France
Philip then went to France to pursue art as a career. At this point in the story, I was side-eyeing Philip, because if his family did not have money, he would not be able to be this flippant about his life's direction, going to different countries just to learn and not having to do anything to support himself.
In Paris, Philip learned to draw decently, but it was made clear to him that he didn't quite have the talent to become a professional painter.
In his painting classes, Philip also "befriended" a lady by the name of Fanny Price. Fanny Price was kind of poor company, she would give Philip pointers, but she herself was not very good at drawing and the teacher and classmates could do nothing to convince her. Fanny fell in love with Philip, probably because he was the only person who was even polite to her. It was revealed that she was poor, as her brother would not give her money. She committed suicide.
England, Medical school
Following in the footsteps of his father, Philip finally returned to England and went to medical school.
While in medical school, he fell in love with a woman called Mildred, who would basically manipulate and use him in many ways and he would give in anyway. He was dramatic, which Mildred did not like, but when Mildred threatened to leave, he would give in and do whatever she wanted and throughout them knowing each other, he would spend a lot of money on her.
Mildred told Philip that she would marry another man. However, it was revealed that the man was already married, so Mildred returned to Philip, pregnant, because she knew he would support her.
In the time that Mildred was gone, Philip had begun a relationship with Norah, an author, who was far more pleasant to Philip, and actually liked Philip. It was a big contrast to how Mildred treated him. But once Mildred returned, Philip broke it off with Norah.
While Philip was supporting Mildred and her child, Mildred fell in love with Griffiths, a friend of Philip's. Of course, it was very humiliating, but he still did whatever Mildred wanted. Philip went so far as to want to go on vacation with Mildred, but when Mildred showed reluctance, Philip suggested for Mildred to go with Griffiths. However, after the vacation, Mildred never returned to see Philip.
A while later, Philip met Mildred again. She was working as a prostitute and struggling to feed her baby. Philip said he would support Mildred and the baby. Philip found that he was no longer infatuated with Mildred, though he did come to like the baby. Mildred tried to make romantic/sexual advances towards Philip, but became angry when Philip rejected her, and she left with the baby, destroying everything in his home.
England, Department store
After Mildred left, Philip's investments crashed because of the war, and he was forced to move out. His uncle would not lend him any money, and so he had to drop out of medical school.
Philip had previously befriended a man called Thorpe Athelny, the father of a large household. Philip always enjoyed spending time at the household because it was so familial and full of love. In his hard times, Athelny and his family welcomed Philip into their home so he had somewhere to stay while on tough times.
He started working at a department store. During this time in his life, he kind of kept a low profile, and his drawing skills came in handy in getting him to a higher position.
England, Medical practice
Soon after, Uncle William died, leaving Philip with his inheritance, and thus Philip could return to medical school. He eventually started practising as a doctor, and remained good friends with the Athelny family.
At the end of the story, Philip began striking up a romantic relationship with Sally, the oldest daughter of the Athelny family (yikes). There was a pregnancy scare, which forced Philip to think about whether he'd want to marry Sally. Though Philip had thought he hadn't loved Sally, and even though the pregnancy ended up being false, Philip had still decided to ask Sally to marry him.
I think the note that the story ended on was that his entire life, Philip was just looking for a home, family, somewhere to belong. And he didn't love Sally as passionately and violently as he loved Mildred, but he had always felt safe and comfortable with the Athelnys, and so he'd feel safe with Sally.
Writing
The writing style was easy enough to follow. It followed Philip's mindset as a normal person. It was very honest.
Characters
There were A LOT of characters, so I'm just going to talk about a handful.
Philip Carey
As I mentioned, I didn't think Philip was particularly likable. I felt that he was a bit too...hedonistic. I acknowledge that youth also affected the choices that he made, not wanting to finish school, becoming a painter, etc. They're dreams that young people have, and it was because there was money in the family that he was afforded the opportunity.
I understand that "hedonism" is kind of the point though. By that I mean the point of Philip was that he was learning to give in to his emotions, and doing what he wanted to do.
And I guess that was why he let himself be manipulated so much by Mildred. Honestly, the entire saga with Mildred was so painful to read. Even Philip knew that he was being manipulated and used, but he loved having Mildred with him in one way or another, even if just because she owed him a debt, that he would do it all, including getting himself cucked.
It took time apart for him to cool off from his feelings for Mildred. Though he still felt a friendship with him, and helped her in her tough times, he now found it easier to reject her. Around this time, Philip had begun hanging out with the Athelny family too, so perhaps he had finally found a place that gave him a kind of reciprocal love, that he no longer subjected himself to Mildred's volatile love.
The kinship that Philip found with the Athelnys contrasted with his love for his uncle and aunt. Philip never found a middle ground with Uncle William. Uncle William had never seen him as anything other than a nuisance, and also someone to reform into a good Christian. As for Aunt Louisa, she tried her best to care for Philip, though her knowledge of childrearing was very limited, and her love could not be felt by Philip at a young age. It took until Philip was an adult for him to understand that Aunt Louisa had always been trying, but nonetheless he did not care much for her.
At the end of the story, Philip felt that he wasn't in love with Sally, but I think it took him some thinking to realize that he wasn't in that passionate, all-consuming love with her that he had been with Mildred, and that while he dreamed about the exciting things, like going to Spain, he did also like home and family, and saw happiness in settling down with Sally.
William Carey
Uncle William was Philip's strict uncle. He was a man of God, and his lifestyle consisted of nothing that would interest a child. No playing, strict rules, etc. As mentioned, I think he just found Philip as a nuisance.
While Philip was going through his phase of exploring different careers, Uncle William was never really too supportive. I think he always wanted Philip to follow in his father's footsteps. He definitely did not approve of Philip going to Germany or France. The apprenticeshop at the accountant's office was only slightly acceptable.
In his old age, Philip felt nothing for his uncle, no fondness, no pity. He was just waiting for the man to die. He'd briefly thought about how easy it would be to kill his uncle, but he did not carry that out. But he did not do anything other than do as he was needed by his uncle. He did not comfort him other than just by being there and answering his questions.
Louisa Carey
Aunt Louisa had never had any children, but she was kind of excited about the opportunity to raise Philip. When she saw that he was bored or upset, she tried to cheer him up with picture books, the only remotely fun thing in the house.
Louisa had little involvement during Philip's period of exploration. However, when going to France, she did give Philip the rest of her money. She didn't think she'd have long to live and she wanted to give Philip something. At that point, Philip did seem to feel bad, but the relationship with his aunt was still kind of awkward, so he accepted the money, knowing that it was her way of showing her love.
Mildred Rodgers
Mildred was a waitress that Philip fell in love with. The first time he met her, he noted that she wasn't really that attractive. And yet he fell deeply and madly in love with her.
The thing was, Mildred always made it clear that she did not care for Philip, and yet Philip was fixated on her. So of course it was troublesome to Mildred. At one point she tried to break things off (they had only been casually dating technically), but Philip folded and said he wouldn't get jealous. So that started Philip's journey of heartbreak and manipulation with Mildred.
Whenever Mildred was with other men, he would not say anything, because he thought that otherwise, Mildred would not even see him anymore. He paid for nice things for her, things that she would not normally be able to afford for herself.
As mentioned, she was tricked by the man she was going to marry, and returned home pregnant. Philip basically played the role of husband, caring for her wellbeing, to the point that the nurses at the hospital thought he was in fact Mildred's husband. Mildred was also very confusing because she would lie about her identity, and say that she was the wife of the man she was supposed to marry. But it kind of hinted towards the fact that Mildred did care about titles and status. Anyway, Mildred said that she hadn't wanted the child, presumably because she would then be tied down by her.
After she gave birth to the baby, Philip paid for the baby to be taken care of by someone else, so Mildred was free to live as she pleased. She kept saying that she would find a job but that never happened.
Griffiths knew that Philip was in love with Mildred, and after meeting her, he fell in love with her too (sort of I guess). When seeing that Philip was so insecure about their relationship, Griffiths assured that there was nothing between him and Mildred, but Mildred showed Philip a love letter from Griffiths that showed the contrary.
Philip had wanted to take Mildred on vacation, but she was reluctant to go because she wanted to be with Griffiths. Philip made a poor suggestion of having Griffiths go with Mildred instead, paying entirely for the vacation, which Mildred of course loved. She said she'd do anything that Philip wanted afterward. And while Philip had offered for Griffiths to go, he by no means was on good terms with Griffiths. After the vacation, Mildred snuck away without seeing Philip.
Mildred showed up later with her baby, not doing so well. Philip offered to take her in, and that she could cook in exchange for staying at his place. At this point, Philip had found that he didn't love her as he did before, but he was attached to the baby. In fact, Mildred noticed that he cared about the baby more than her.
Anyway, Mildred had taken to calling herself Mrs. Carey and was kind of peeved when Philip rejected her. I still don't think Mildred loved Philip, but she liked that Philip was a "gentleman" who took care of her. As I mentioned, I think Mildred cared about status and perhaps she liked the idea of being married to a doctor, or at least a stable man who never went anywhere.
At this point in her life, Mildred was already down on her luck, having to resort to prostitution. And while living at Philip's, though Philip had talked to her about getting a job, nothing ever seemed to materialize. It was likely that she had just wanted to be a housewife, be supported without having to work. She used to be a waitress and she didn't really want to go back to that life again. Philip used to be so easily manipulated by her and him not being this easily manipulated anymore was very surprising to her.
In terms of why Mildred was so angry, I guess it would be a combination of Philip not playing in her fantasy of being the gentleman husband so that she didn't have to work, plus a hint of insecurity that maybe she wasn't so desirable anymore and was losing to even her baby.
After destroying everything in Philip's house, she ran away. She then popped up again one last time, asking Philip for medical advice. She'd contracted syphilis while working as a prostitute. At this time, the baby had died too, probably from Mildred being unable to care for her. Philip advised that Mildred stop prostituting herself, but she refused. That was the last time they saw each other.
Philip thought he saw Mildred in the street at the end of the book, but it ended up being someone else. But at this point, his feelings for Mildred were not anymore passion, but sort of...him feeling pity at the whole situation, sad that it happened that way.
Norah Nesbit
Norah was a woman that Philip had struck up a relationship with while Mildred had gone away the first time. She was a writer.
And she was very devoted to Philip, always wanting to hang out with him, very considerate of him. After an extended period of time of Mildred being gone, Philip had even come to enjoy his time with her and like her. However, she was still very much overshadowed by Mildred in Philip's heart.
I did feel bad for Norah when Mildred came back, as Philip was lying to Norah and backing out of plans to be with Mildred. When Philip admitted to Norah that Mildred had come back, she acknowledged the situation and broke things off with Philip.
The next time Philip saw Norah, she was engaged to another man, and seemed to be doing pretty well. I wonder if Norah gave Philip an idea of what normal love is supposed to be like. When things didn't work with Philip, Norah backed off and just continued living life until she found someone else.
Thorpe Athelny
Athelny was someone that Philip had befriended. He had a big character, less stuffy than most of the other characters in the book. He had a big hospitable family, and that was probably what drew Philip to their household. Even when he had Mildred and the baby back at home, Philip just liked spending time with them.
And when Philip was hard on his luck, Thorpe and his wife Betty gave him a place to stay in their own house, giving him a loan until he was back on his feet, helping him find work. When Philip tried to pay back the loan, Betty was a bit cagey about it too. The Athelny family was a bit too perfect but they were supposed to represent the kind of love that Philip would have liked. Just genuine love and care.
Eventually, Sally and Philip struck up a romantic and sexual relationship. Though Philip wasn't obsessed with Sally like he was with Mildred, I think Philip considered that this lifestyle was not bad, being surrounded by care and happiness.
Themes
So I did some reading up, and "Of Human Bondage" seems to be generally understood as referencing people being bound by their emotions. We as humans are unable to be free of our emotions, so we might as well follow them.
In Philip's period of discovery, when he was still country-hopping in Europe, he was coming to terms with questioning his religious beliefs, and he ultimately came to understand that he can't help it if he doesn't believe in certain beliefs of the church or of society. Humans can be free of those beliefs, but they cannot be free of their emotions, and that is why Philip is so eager to follow his feelings.
Overall
A long book. I feel like I would appreciate this book more on a second read, since now I would know the general direction and themes of the book.