Maugham creates a loveable protagonist in the orphaned Philip, whose journey from childhood to manhood includes various manifestations of the bondage that the novel’s title refers to. Growing up with a clubbed foot, Philip suffers from feelings of inferiority. As a young man, he is brought to destitution by his inability to relinquish his unrequited love for a Parisian waitress. Maugham’s saga of personal development is at times tragic, at others triumphant.