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ornamental line

Some Kind of Cocoon

"'How is that in this country that ought to be full of such violent realness
there seems nothing for me but clothes and what people say?'" (66).
Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September (1929)

 

Points for Reflection

The Last September (1929), Part One / pp.3-97

  1. does the “big house” of the novel—the estate of Danielstown—supply either intimacy or refuge to its inhabitants and visitors?
  2. what does Lois truly want from life? (Set aside the question of romance, for the moment.)
  3. does Lois’s desire for certain (non-romantic) experiences and sensations trump her recurring fear?
  4. does Lois’s self-consciousness overweigh her awareness of her attractiveness?
  5. does the Oxford-educated Laurence allow himself emotional intimacy with anyone?
  6. why does Lois appreciate Laurence’s company?
  7. does Lois’s interest in Gerald outweigh her ambivalence about some of his characteristics?
  8. is Hugo’s estimation (34) of Lois’s readiness for marriage (34) accurate?
  9. what lies beneath Lady Naylor’s conclusion that Lois’s and Gerald’s relationship could never be more than a friendship?
  10. what does Viola, who has never met Gerald, think of Lois’s relationship with Gerald?
  11. the narrator tells us Hugo Montmorency’s “refuge [is] manly talk” (58).  Is Hugo stereotypically masculine?
  12. what do Lois and Francie think of one another?
  13. does Francie say what she’s thinking?
  14. are Francie’s health issues more an obstacle than an inducement to marital closeness?
  15. does Francie’s and Hugo’s marriage seem a mutually happy one?
  16. do Lois’s feelings for Mr. Hugo Montmorency resemble Gerald’s feelings for herself in any way?
  17. do Hugo’s recollections of the deceased Laura’s characteristics map onto Lois’s own traits?
  18. during their drive together, do Lois and Hugo connect, or do they miss each other?
  19. do the characters’ differing views of marriage dovetail at any point?
  20. Elizabeth Bowen publishes this novel, set around 1920, in 1929.  Despite the era’s proximity, her narrator employs phases like “in those days” (3). Does the novel appear to look back on this earlier period with more of a nostalgic or a critical eye—particularly as concerns the position/experience of women?
  21. does the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) give the novel an incidental, or pivotal, backdrop?s


an abstract painting of many lines and shapes with bright colors of reds, oranges, and yellows in the middle and shifting to darker colors of blues and greens around the edges
Abstract Comoposition (1935)
Mainie Jellett


Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu