Bambi, Part III summary

What happens

1. Jarvis interrupts Professor Parkhurst’s gardening to discuss their strained relations, his marriage, and his need for financial support.
2. The Professor agrees to hear a play but makes no promise to support Jarvis.
3. Bambi arranges the evening reading, finds the nervous Jarvis upstairs, and retrieves her distracted father from the garden.
4. Jarvis reads Success, whose ambitious heroine sacrifices her relationships and finally kills herself.
5. Bambi argues that the heroine needs sympathy and believable motives, and Jarvis accepts her help with revision.
6. The Professor retreats from their modern ideas, while Bambi and Jarvis discuss writing and feel the value of their partnership.

In this part

What to notice

Bambi distinguishes an author’s claim about reality from a character’s credibility. This principle guides her criticism and their agreement to revise the play.

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