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Q2 2021 Part 3: The Children's book
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Part 3 Questions:1. We follow a huge cast of characters for nearly three decades over the course of the novel; whom did you care about most at the end? Many of the characters are not who they seem; how did your feelings about these characters change as the story developed? Is your favorite character by the end of the book a much different one than who it was in the first third? Why or why not?
The strength of the book is that the reader's relationship with the characters changes. I liked Humphrey in the beginning, found him a horror in the middle and then finally came to see that he did stay true to some idea of himself even if he did not stay true to his wife. One of his son's admitting he was "randy", sung true.
In general, looking over the whole book, I preferred the children rather than their parents. Strangely the children were either by inclination or by forces driven by the times, more in touch with the reality of the world while the parents all seemed to be playing in a make believe world. Even a character I liked very much all the way through the book, Major Prosper Cain, was a soldier who dealt with strange, albeit beautiful objects, not life and death which was what he was trained for.
I generally preferred all the daughters but the author no doubt intended that...but I also found the sons to be largely engaging and different from each other. It is telling that Julian, the scholar of the pastoral would end up fertilizing a field.
2. What secrets are the many families in the novel - the Todefright Wellwoods, the Basil Wellwoods, the Cains, the Fludds, and even Elsie and Philip - hiding from each other and from outsiders? Which of the characters' betrayals did you find most shocking?
Many of the relationships between the characters and even the relationships the characters had with themselves were hidden from their families and others. Dorothy seemed to be as up front as any of them, never quite forgiving her "parents" and yet able to interact with them. Both Dorothy and Philip knew what they wanted and even needed to do, they stated it and went after it, unlike many of the others who seemed to be waylaid by circumstances and their own lack of a core drive. Strangely the largest betrayal for me was Tom. Obviously Fludds' betrayal of his daughters was ugly and unforgivable but with Tom, it felt as if he was forced to betray his nature. He simply did not belong in the world he found himself in. I did not blame Olive for his death, although I could certainly blame her for not being a good mother, although again, she was a good provider, commonly a positive characteristic when said about a man.
3. Several characters embrace the notion of free love, or of sex outside marriage. What is the result? Is it good for any of them? How do these attitudes resemble, or not, any other periods of history associated with ‘free love’?
Well, the 60's tend to be associated with free love. In a funny way, maybe it was good for Violet. It gave her a place in the family that, although she could not publicly claim it, still must have given her a stronger sense of why she stayed to mother Olive's children. It certainly didn't help her children to end up so confused. However, many of the illegitimate children came out just fine if not better off....Dorothy's real father was a good balance to Humphrey, Florence and Elsie's children appeared to be strong characters.
4. The Great War seems to take nearly all of the characters by surprise. Which character is most changed by the war
The structure of the book is interesting this way. Chapters and chapters about puppet shows, pottery galleries and simple personal interactions and then only a couple longish chapters about the war. The reader knows it is coming of course, but the characters really don't seem to understand what exactly it means. The Boer War was a horror but did not really impact them other than to allow Humphrey to write about it.
At the time, many people in the world truly believed that the working class would not fight for the national and capitalist interests. Even though people could see the escalation of arms and the escalation of nationalistic feelings, they really did not believe the common man would sign up. However, they signed up with gusto on all sides.
It is difficult to say who was changed the most as they all were changed. Basil and Katherine, who were not central to the book most of the way through it, turned out to be the foundation of a "new family" at the end. One could say that Julian, Geraint and the Robins were changed the most.
5. Olive writes stories for each of her seven children, which are bound into their own private books. As the novel unfolds, the story written for her oldest and most beloved son, Tom - "Tom Underground" - becomes more and more important. Why does he cling so tightly to this fairy tale? What does the metaphor of shadow signify? Why does he see the play his mother writes as a betrayal?
Tom desperately needed a place in the natural world where he was at one with that world. As the "golden" son, he was never told that he had to be anything else other than the golden one and even if he had been told, it seemed unlikely that he would have been able to change. The story of his underground search for his shadow was to him not really a fairy tale but a real story in which he could find his place. When his story was turned into "make believe", "cardboard" and required him to suspend disbelief and question his sense of his place in the world he became truly lost.
6. Speaking of Tom- what did you think of his fate? What is it in his nature that contributes to it/makes him incompatible with the world he lives in?
Clearly our author intwines nature and nurture in Tom's sense of self. His love of the natural world probably would not have risen if he had been raised in the slums of London. Julian makes it clear that others thought of him as "golden", not just his mother. He was a shining gift to the world but once his home (The Tree House) and his place (The Story Book) were lost to him he simply could not change into just any other person who needed a trade and relationships with others.
7. Why does Hedda try to destroy the Gloucester Candlestick? Is it a coincidence that she chose this item? How does the suffragette movement affect her and the other women in the story?
I found the story of the suffragette movement in England to be told quite well considering it was only a side theme in the book. Hedda needed to be a rebel and needed a cause that she really believed in. It was only natural that she should mirror many of the other suffragettes in making the choice to destroy those "objects" of domestic beauty that would threaten the established patriarchal sense of what was most valuable in the world. Of course, that the candlestick had so influenced Philip would have been largely coincidental. I don't think Hedda wanted to hurt Philip personally or even Prosper Cain. I thought the whole thing around Asquith's wife was not well done. The author needed to compare various women's approaches to the issue but that seemed so superfluous. The other daughters provided a better comparison in their support without direct action.
8. How about the last page of the novel: Is it a happy ending? What emotions are conjured by this reunion, which takes place in a far different setting than that which opens the novel - and around a bowl of soup?
No, it is just an ending. I believe that happiness was something attached to the previous era and not to the one that the ending looks forward to. The fact that most of the principle players in the story were not there was more telling than who was there. The fact that two men came back from the war and the families were making themselves anew by acknowledging and living with a different view of class distinctions was a positive but not necessarily "happy". One simply felt that there was still a chance of living a meaningful life rather than a "happy" one but it was just a chance. Life goes on.
9. Finally: what did you think of the book? Does it deserve its place on the list?
I overall really appreciated the book but did not love it. Although there were characters I did love. I think it is a very large and sprawling book and could have used a very good editorial partner who could have allowed the author to sprawl with a bit less waste. There are so many people, events and themes stuffed into the book that it was only natural that not everything is tied up neatly and in fact, a neat ending would have stood against one of the major themes.
I think it certainly belongs on the list.
Part 3 Questions:
1. We follow a huge cast of characters for nearly three decades over the course of the novel; whom did you care about most at the end? Many of the characters are not who they seem; how did your feelings about these characters change as the story developed? Is your favorite character by the end of the book a much different one than who it was in the first third? Why or why not?
2. What secrets are the many families in the novel - the Todefright Wellwoods, the Basil Wellwoods, the Cains, the Fludds, and even Elsie and Philip - hiding from each other and from outsiders? Which of the characters' betrayals did you find most shocking?
3. Several characters embrace the notion of free love, or of sex outside marriage. What is the result? Is it good for any of them? How do these attitudes resemble, or not, any other periods of history associated with ‘free love’?
4. The Great War seems to take nearly all of the characters by surprise. Which character is most changed by the war?
5. Olive writes stories for each of her seven children, which are bound into their own private books. As the novel unfolds, the story written for her oldest and most beloved son, Tom - "Tom Underground" - becomes more and more important. Why does he cling so tightly to this fairy tale? What does the metaphor of shadow signify? Why does he see the play his mother writes as a betrayal?
6. Speaking of Tom- what did you think of his fate? What is it in his nature that contributes to it/makes him incompatible with the world he lives in?
7. Why does Hedda try to destroy the Gloucester Candlestick? Is it a coincidence that she chose this item? How does the suffragette movement affect her and the other women in the story?
8. How about the last page of the novel: Is it a happy ending? What emotions are conjured by this reunion, which takes place in a far different setting than that which opens the novel - and around a bowl of soup?
9. Finally: what did you think of the book? Does it deserve its place on the list?
Discuss!