He did not see that Kate kicked Tom, and that Tom retaliated with a punch; they were in a different orbit. Nor did Miss Scrimshaw attempt to enforce the discipline she advocated: she was too engrossed, her onyx going click click, shooting down possible doubts; for however much crypto-eagles aspire to soar, and do in fact, through thoughtscape and dream, their human nature cannot but grasp at any circumstantial straw which may indicate an ordered universe. .
Meaning:.
Ellen was "entirely liberated" when the natives stripped her of her clothes; she was freed from the strictures of Victorian society. During her journey she discovered her "secret depths" and evidently expresses her passions and basic desires. However, she later accepts "once more the fate or chains that human beings were imposing on her" and re-enters civilisation, not as a "lost soul" or a "woman" but a "rational being" - "She would always remember what sounded like a sudden cry of pain, as quickly suppressed as it was briefly uttered". Near the conclusion of the novel, Miss Scrimshaw states "How I wish I were an eagle" which the narrator follows on in the concluding sentence of the novel to claim "however much crypto-eagles aspire to soar, and do in fact, through thoughtscape and dream, their human nature cannot but grasp at any circumstantial straw which may indicate an ordered universe". Thus the novel ends with the ultimate truth that in order to "illuminate" our lives, we must free ourselves from our social dependence.
Significance:.
∙ Highlights the fact that the dreary Mr Jevons "of a hardware business in Oxford Street, London", will most likely be Ellen's future husband - "He did not see that Kate kicked Tom- as he was contemplating "the smouldering figure in garnet silk". Such accentuates her surrender to the forces of society; she remains "ineluctably earthbound".
∙ It associates the iterative bird imagery in the novel with "crypto".
