Victorians! discussion

Please use this thread to discuss the story, "Not If I Know It" by Anthony Trollope.

A blurb from my copy....
This short story was published in 1882 in the Christmas number of Life and it is Trollope’s last printed piece of fiction in his lifetime.

Just finished. Syrupy sweet story of a disagreement between brother-in-laws. But I always love the way Trollope teases out the thought processes of the "injured" parties.

My favorite quote...
"Men are curs because other men think them so; women are angels sometimes, just because some loving husband like you tells them that they are. How can a woman not have something good about her when everything she does is taken to be good?"

Yeah. It's that kind of story.

I've read three of the stories in the collection so far, and I'm loving the way Trollope is exploring, not just romantic relationships, but the dynamic between "first" family relations and "married" (or soon to be) relations. And how they play out against each other. How many of us have struggled with the which-parents-get-us-for-the-holidays conundrum? Or what-if-my-siblings-and-love-don't-get-along?

Renee wrote: "I've read three of the stories in the collection so far, and I'm loving the way Trollope is exploring, not just romantic relationships, but the dynamic between "first" family relations and "married..."

He certainly excels at that. I love the ending which I found humorous but so true. There are some people who just don't know how to let go of something, and this is such a good example of that. It also reminds us that word scan be more powerful to the listener than the speaker had intended.