Editing Goodbye, Mr. Chips (section)

== Plot summary ==

{{original research section|date=July 2021}}

The novella tells the story of a beloved school teacher, Mr Chipping, and his long tenure at Brookfield School, a fictional minor British boys' [[boarding school|public boarding school]] located in the fictional village of Brookfield in [[the Fenlands]]. Mr Chips, as the boys call him, is conventional in his beliefs and exercises firm discipline in the classroom. His views broaden, and his pedagogical manner loosens after he marries Katherine, a young woman whom he meets on holiday in the [[Lake District]]. Katherine charms the Brookfield teachers and headmaster and quickly wins the favour of Brookfield's pupils. Their marriage is brief. She dies in childbirth and he never remarries or has another romantic interest.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Educator |first={{!}} Certified |title=Good-bye, Mr. Chips Summary - eNotes.com |url=https://www.enotes.com/topics/good-bye-mr-chips |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=eNotes |language=en}}</ref>

One of the themes of the book is that Chipping so outlasts all of his peers that his brief marriage fades into myth and few people know him as anything other than a confirmed and lonely bachelor. Despite Chipping's mediocre credentials and his view that [[classical languages|classic Greek and Latin]] (his academic subjects) are dead languages, he is an effective teacher who becomes highly regarded by pupils and the school's governors—he has become a well-worn institution. In his later years, he develops an arch sense of humour that pleases everyone.  However, he also becomes somewhat of an anachronism, with an antiquated pronunciation{{which|date=January 2025}}, and is pitied for his isolation. On his deathbed, he talks of the fulfillment he felt as a teacher of boys.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />