James Hilton – Good-bye, Mr Chips – Review

 

Good-Bye, Mr. Chips was James Hilton's most successful novel. Pushing for a deadline, he wrote the novella in long hand in less than four days. Most first drafts are altered for clarity; however, what you read today is essentially the original manuscript. Surprisingly, when the story appeared in the November 1933 issue of the British Weekly, its reception from the English readership was cool at best. It was only after Hilton mustered the courage to send the manuscript to the United States, appearing in the April edition of the Atlantic, that the novella's popularity hit the heights that writers dream about - it has been a classic ever since.

What makes this sentimental story of a schoolteacher so appealing for so many people? Well, I believe, if we're lucky, some of us have had the good fortune in our early school lives to have had Mr. Chips as a teacher. School -teachers can profoundly influence our lives, changing our destinies, instilling a single thought or lesson in our young minds that shaped our perceptions of the world. Mr. Chips was a schoolteacher and nothing else, a modest individual who knew his place in the world and performed his job to the best of his ability for over sixty years. He taught generation after generation of young men, a constant in the lives of many. This, I believe, is one of the secrets of teaching: assuming a stable position, being dependable and a consistent for students, because more often than not, their personal lives are chaotic and forever changing. Mr. Chips also deeply cared about his students and observed their progress through life even after they departed from the school. This is a great teacher.

When the novella was first published, critics back in the thirties called it "the most profoundly moving story that has passed this way in several years." The story has become a classic because it will, for some, never be forgotten. 

It is so easy for sentimentality to slide into mawkishness; however, Good-Bye Mr. Chips is not overly sentimental but touches the heart in just the proper manner, inciting our own experiences of individuals met who had a strong effect on our lives.

There have been many film adaptations of this novella, all outstanding in their own ways, but I suggest if you haven't read the original to do so, as it truly is a timeless classic.