Being There

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1970

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Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-7

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

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Character Analysis

Chance, “Chauncey Gardiner”

Chance is the story’s protagonist. He is a young man, approximately 20 years old. He is handsome, well-built, and dresses impeccably. He lives in the Old Man’s house, where he works as a gardener. Chance has a mild, childlike personality, which endears him to those around him. He lacks the ability to connect socially and emotionally, but he is a master at mimicking social interactions, all of which he has learned from TV.

Chance cannot read or write. His mother, who had intellectual disabilities, died in childbirth, and he does not know his biological father. Chance is not a blood relation of the Old Man in whose house he lives. When Chance was young, the Old Man threatened to send him to an institution if he strayed from his room or the garden. A maid brought Chance’s meals to his room so that he did not need to enter any other part of the house. Aside from gardening, Chance watches TV; it is the window through which he experiences the world.

Chance identifies as a gardener. When he enters society, his experience gardening is the only authentic information he can offer. The rest of his remarks are empty phrases he has learned from watching television. Except through the act of viewing, he does not know how to experience intimacy.

Chance is a symbolic or archetypical character; his situation is unrealistic. His name “Chance” implies an accident, and that is exactly how events unfold for him. The satirical world of Being There supports Chance because he embodies everything that society values: the appearance of wealth, stock phrases from popular culture, and the lack of a troubled past.

The Old Man

The Old Man is the mysterious benefactor in whose home Chance lives. The reader does not learn how Chance came to live with the Old Man; his mother was not the Old Man’s blood relative, and the Old Man did not officially adopt Chance. The Old Man was abusive; he led Chance to believe that he could not function outside the walls of the house. The Old Man restricted Chance’s movements within the house as well, threatening Chance with institutionalization if he disobeyed.

The Old Man is a character one might find in a fairytale. The story is a satire but also a fable; the characters are archetypal. Therefore, the specific details of the Old Man’s identity do not matter. He established the rules of Chance’s world and his death removes those rules, setting Chance off on his journey.

Benjamin Rand

Benjamin Rand is the wealthy financier who introduces Chance to the President. He is EE’s husband and the chairman of the American Financial Corporation. Rand is almost as old as the Old Man and in poor health, close to death. He likes Chance because he thinks Chance is shrewd and straightforward.

Rand is a mentor figure. Like the Old Man, he takes Chance into his home, but unlike the Old Man, he encourages Chance to live his own life. Rand’s assumptions about Chance’s abilities are based on ignorance of Chance’s background. Rand comes to see Chance as a companion and potentially a mate for EE when Rand passes away. Rand welcomes Chance’s perspective because he is tired of the empty rhetoric of businessmen, politicians, economists, and other pundits. Ironically, Chance becomes just such a pundit, whose words are repeated until they become meaningless. Rand genuinely cares about Chance, even if his misapprehension of him is comical.

Elizabeth Eve “EE” Rand

EE Rand is a socialite and the wife of Benjamin Rand. She holds various positions, such as the chairwoman of the United Nations Hospitality Committee. She is much younger than Rand and finds Chance attractive.

It is EE who gives Chance the name “Chauncey Gardiner.” The name is a result of her mishearing him introduce himself as “Chance, the gardener.” Her renaming of him is symbolic because it gives him an identity that seems appropriate for the elite society in which he finds himself. EE falls in love with Chauncey Gardiner, whom she imagines is sensitive, thoughtful, and understanding. He is a projection of her desires.

EE is a mother and lover figure. Throughout Chance’s life, he was only cared for by maids. EE is a new influence in his life—a woman who cares about him maternally and sexually. These emotions are lost on Chance, but they are real to EE. For her, Chauncey is the “blank page” for her romantic frustrations. She loves Benjamin, but he is dying. Her affairs are not a secret. EE is a tragic character in that her love for Chance will never be reciprocated.