An Anxious Glance at the Possible

"The unbelievable future became fixed as the past (243).
Elizabeth Bowen's The Last September (1929)

Points for Reflection

The Last September (1929), Part Three / pp.207-303

1. does the dance in the barrack hut provide an opportunity for fun and relaxation?
2. is Mr. Daventry truly shell-shocked, or does some other trait better explain his odd behavior?
3. does the dance party successfully meld Lois and Gerald even closer together?
4. do the contents of Gerald’s letter successfully charm Lois?
5. does being committed to Gerald grant Lois a pleasurable sense of security?
6. what do Lois’s comments about Marda and Hugo inadvertently reveal, to Gerald, about herself?
7. does Francie encourage Lois to take a particular course of action with Gerald (273-76)?
8. what does Francie unwittingly reveal, to Lois, about her own marriage?
9. what does Gerald seek in Lois that he does not find, leading him to leave her kissless (278-82)?
10. does the Irish civil war affect everyone, or only soldiers and the lower classes?
11. is Lois’s fantasizing (251) as problematic as Hugo’s (259-60)?
12. does Laurence understand Lois better than any other male characters?
13. in her efforts to break up Lois and Gerard, does Lady Naylor rely more on truth than lies?
14. is Lady Naylor right to repeatedly claim that Lois has “no conception of love” (246-47)?
15. recall the advice Marda gives Lois in Part Two—to “be interested in what happens to you for its own sake” and to not “expect to be touched or changed—or to be in anything that you do”—to just watch.  Marda tells herself this advice must be, for her friend, “meaningless and without value” (144).  Is this accurate, or does Lois appear to have actually remembered and applied this concept throughout Part Three?

The Land of Éire (1940)
Mainie Jellett

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu