Volume 10
"Then an extraordinary thing happened. Trapnel was still standing by the edge of the water holding the dripping sheet of foolscap. Now he crushed it into his hand, and threw the ball of paper back into the Canal. He lifted the swordstick behind his head, and, putting all his force into the throw, cast it as far as this would carry, high into the air. The stick turned and descended, death's head first. A mystic arm should certainly have risen from the dark waters of the mere to receive it." Books Do Furnish a Room, 223. |
Books Do Furnish a Room begins at the "University" (Oxford) in 1945. After the War, Jenkins begins researching a book on Robert Burton and The Anatomy of Melancholy. He meets with Short and Sillery, whose attractive secretary, Ada Leintwardine, is preparing his journals for publication. He learns that Erridge has died, and he must return home for the funeral. On the train to London he runs into "Books" Bagshaw, who informs him about the magazine Fission and its publishers, Quiggins and Craggs.
The whole Tolland family including the Jenkinses attend Erridge's funeral. As the service is beginning, Widmerpool, Gypsy Jones Craggs, Craggs, Quiggin, Uncle Alfred Tolland, and Pamela enter. Pamela feels sick and disrupts the service as she leaves. Afterwards, at Erridge's living quarters at Thrubworth, the family and visitors discuss Erridge's affairs. Leaving, Pamela vomits in a large oriental vase. Dicky Umfraville hints that he may be Pamela's father. Jenkins goes to a party at the Flores', where he realizes Jean has money. Rosie Manasch reveals that she has been funding Fission. Widmerpool arrives and hears Jenkins plans to meet X. Trapnel. The next week they do so, with Bagshaw, and and discuss many literary ideas. Jenkins runs into Moreland. Odo Stevens sees Pamela, who looks right through him. Trapnel meets the Widmerpools. He is disinterested in Pamela, but manages to borrow a pound from her husband. At a pub Trapnel confesses to Jenkins his love for Pamela. Jenkins has dinner with Roddy Cutts; they meet Widmerpool and accompany him to his flat, where Short, who lives downstairs, tells them Pamela has left, perhaps with Trapnel. Trapnel, living with Pamela, writes a parody of Widmerpool for Fission. Later, while Nick is visiting Trapnel and Pamela at their squalid flat, Widmerpool appears and confronts them. Jenkins returns to "School" (Eton) to make arrangements for his son to attend school there. Then, a flashback describes the collapse of Fission and the falling out between Pamela and Trapnel. As Bagshaw and Jenkins console Trapnel and take him home from a pub, they find the manuscript ofProfiles in String (flung by Pamela) in the river. Crushed, Trapnel hurls his walking stick into the river. Back at School, Jenkins meets Le Bas, who does not remember him, and then Widmerpool, who is vacationing with Pamela (who has returned to him). The book ends with a description of newly published novels, which includes one of Jenkins's. |
|
These are the major characters in this volume, organized by chapter. Chapter 1 Sillery - an elderly don at the "University" (Oxford) Leonard Short - a university contemporary of Jenkins, now living near Widmerpool Ada Leintwardine - Sillery's secretary, also associated with Quiggin & Craggs publishing "Books (Do Furnish a Room)" Bagshaw- proposed editor for Fission Chapter 2 Tolland family - link to complete list of family members Alfred Tolland - uncle of Tollands Kenneth Widmerpool - now a member of Parliament, involved with Fission Pamela Flitton Widemerpool - his dangerous and awful wife Gypsy Jones - one-time lover of Widmerpool, communist Howard Craggs - publisher, married to Gypsy Quiggin - old acquaintance of Jenkins, now writing for Fission Mona - Peter Templer's ex-wife, went to China with Erridge Dickie Umfraville - Frederica Tolland's husband, refuses to attend funeral Roddy Cutts - Susan Tolland's once-wandering husband, now brought to heel Chapter 3 X. Trapnel (Francis Xavier) - a well-regarded but perennially poor writer Rosie Manasch - a friend from Jenkins's dancing days, supporter of Fission Odo Stevens - acquaintance of Jenkins from War Col. Flores - South American military/governmental figure Jean Templer Duport Flores - his wife, Jenkin's old heart-throb Chapter 4 Roddy Cutts - Jenkins's brother-in-law, a Tory MP Chapter 5 LeBas - Jenkins's old housemaster when he attended "School" |
|
Will Story Usually in a book when a chapter is focused on a funeral that chapter tends to be sad. Chapter two in Powell's Books Do Furnish a Room is set around Erridge's funeral. This doesn't discourage Powell from throwing humor into this chapter. In fact this chapter is one of the most humorist chapters found in The Dance. Powell fills this chapter with humor keeping the reader laughing all the way through Erridge's funeral. Widmerpool's party draws a lot of attention as it enters the church for Erridge's funeral. Powell uses Widmerpool and his group to add humor to what would ordinarily be a sad event. Widmerpool is shown as the leader of this group as they find their seats. He "shot out the hand of a policeman directing traffic, to indicate where each was to sit of the group apparently under his command" (47). The image of Widmerpool acting as a policeman is easy for a reader of Dance to see, especially after his behaviour in the military. If Widmerpool were indeed a policeman, his uniform would no doubt be too small just as his military one was. Pamela tests Widmerpool's power when she doesn't act exactly as he wishes, but he lets it pass. Powell lightens up this chapter with Pamela's sickness. She feels faint during the service and decides to leave the reception afterwards early. While Nick escorts her to her car, she turns green and Nick knows that she is going to vomit. Nick asks her if she wants to go back, "to the bathroom," but it is too late. Pamela looks around the room and sees, "two tall oriental vessels ... standing five foot high.... [then] Pamela came to a decision. Moving rapidly forward... she turned away and leant forward. All was over in a matter of seconds." (82) Pamela vomits in one of the antique oriental vessels. Widmerpool, Alfred Tolland, Quiggin, Craggs, and Gypsy arrive right after Pamela's illness. Widmerpool admires the antique that has just been vomited into. Powell uses this scene for a few reasons. He wants to imply that Pamela might be pregnant and that is why she is vomiting. He makes Widmerpool seem stupid for liking the antique that was just defaced. Finally this scene adds humor to the chapter. Powell describes the process of cleaning the antique vessel in one humorous paragraph. The action is undertaken by Nick, Jeavons, Hugo, "with shrewd advice from Roddy Cutts," (86). The reader is given a description of the four-man team struggling with this large object that was never made to be cleansed anyway. Nick says, "The job took quite a long time. More than once the vase was nearly broken. We returned to the sitting-room with a good deal of relief that the business was at an end," (86, BDFR). Powell uses this scene purely for comedic purposes. The image of Nick, Jeavons, and Hugo juggling this large vessel in a bathroom makes the reader laugh out loud. Chapter Two of BDFR is a great example of the humor that Powell uses throughout Dance. Even though the book is centered on a funeral, it is one of the funniest chapters to be found in the sequence. Its ending puts the lid on the humor with Dickie Umfraville revealing one of the funniest names for an alcoholic cocktail: "Death Comes for the Archbishop" (92). |
|
Doug Presley Throughout Books Do Furnish a Room, X. Trapnel plays a multitude of different roles. He is able to do so successfully, to whatever degree his life can be considered a success, because he is certain of his one true role in life: that of a poor writer. After falling in love with Pamela however, Trapnel loses sight of his place in the world, and where he once had dozens of roles to play he is left with none at all. When we first meet Trapnel, we are most struck by his passion for books and literary discussion. Nick describes how "this business of being a 'writer' -- that is the status, moral and actual, of a writer -- was a matter on which [Trapnel] was inordinately keen" (111). Furthermore, Trapnel is described as having "a passionate interest in writing" and a "taste for discussing it" (114), and he certainly demonstrates his keen interest in literary affairs by his lengthy discussion with Books on the subject of Naturalism (214-217). Trapnel, while sometimes confusing and seemingly incomprehensible, is quite clear on his love of books. Another facet of Trapnel's personality that becomes apparent as Nick comes to know him better is his tendency to always play a role with the utmost persistence. "The essential point was that Trapnel always played a part; not necessarily the same part, but a part of some kind." "Where he differed from the crowd was in so doggedly sticking to the role -- or roles -- he had chosen to assume" (143). Nick goes on to list the many different roles in which Trapnel has portrayed himself: a writer, a dandy, a lover, a comrade, an eccentric, a sage, a virtuoso, a good chap, a man of honour, a hard case, a spendthrift, an opportunist, a raisonneur; to be very rich, to be very poor, to possess a thousand mistresses, to win the heart of one love to whom he was ever faithful, to be on the best of terms with all men, to avenge savagely the lightest affront, to live to a hundred full of years and honour, to die young and unknown but recognized the following day as the most neglected genius of his age - most notably the desire to play a rich man one day and a poor man the next (145). Yet the role of being poor, according to Nick, is "the only aim Trapnel achieved with unqualified mastery" (145). Above all his other roles, Trapnel succeeds at consistently being poor. After Trapnel falls in love, however, his life is completely changed. "One of the consequences of [Pamela's] presence" states Nick, "was to displace Trapnel's tendency to play a part during the first few minutes of any meeting" (192). Later on in the same visit, after Widmerpool arrives, Trapnel is described as having "lost command of his role as actor" (201). Somehow the very presence of Pamela completely destroys his ability to play any role at all. Without even any overt attack against Trapnel she has managed to corrode one of his most defining characteristics. The most serious attack on Trapnel's role playing ability, however, comes when Pamela attacks, both verbally and physically, his manuscript. Even just by criticizing and belittling his writing, Pam is able to send Trapnel into "a bit of a state" as Books calls it (213), more accurately described by Nick as "in a bad way," a "man weighed down by sorrow and fear" (217-218). Trapnel's condition upon discovering the objects floating in the water to be the pages of Profiles in String goes from bad to worse. His first action is to "abruptly stop playing the part" he had been playing that night (222). As we slowly come to realize, that will probably be the last role he will ever play. When he explains to Nick and Books about Pamela's sex habits, he even further demonstrates the extent to which he has been deprived of his roles. "Irony, melodrama, narcissism, fantasy, all his accustomed tendency to play a role had been this time completely eliminated" (225). With his works lost and his role as a writer destroyed by Pam, Trapnel will never again play the roles he once did. Before Mrs. Pamela Widmerpool came into his life, Trapnel was secure in his position. He was a writer, a poor one at that, who could stray from the beaten path because he always knew where his own path led. Pam, through her malicious and alluring attractive powers, forces upon Trapnel a new life, completely vanquishing his former self. When she destroys Profiles in String, the last remnant of his previous, happy life, he is left a broken shell of a man, perhaps having "taken a knock from which he [would] never recover" (240). Our final thoughts of Trapnel, of him "just about" hanging on, recall once again the empty shell that he is at the end of the book. Pamela, in casting Profiles into the river, might as well have sent Trapnel -- and his deaths-head sword-stick -- into the same murky waters. |
|
The Past and Future Outlined in Books Do Furnish A Room Luke Spears Books Do Furnish A Room is the first book of the fourth and final movement of the Dance, and as such marks the beginning of the end - Nick's descent into old age. But as the book takes us through another phase of Nick's life, and ever closer to the end of the Dance, it also provides a link, through the novel's literary theme, to the very beginning of the sequence. Ultimately, we are reminded of where Nick started and how far he has come - both in the dance of time and the literary world - and are left with an undeniable feeling of nostalgia as he nears the finish line. Books Do Furnish A Room gives us our first real look into the literary world that Nick has supposedly been a part of for many years. Though emphasis is not (unsurprisingly) placed on Nick's personal involvement with the magazine, Fission highlights the interaction of the literati of the Dance and serves as a focal point for the plot of the novel. Indeed, almost all of the characters of Books Do Furnish A Room are affiliated with the literary scene in some way. The predominance of this literary theme provides hitherto lacking insight into Nick's life, mainly into his profession, and what his personal experience as a writer is like. At the beginning of Books Do Furnish A Room Nick returns to Oxford to conduct research for his book on Burton and enjoys a reunion with his former don, Sillery, and classmate, Short. Later, at the very end of the book, Nick travels to Eton to make arrangements for his son to go to school. At Eton he encounters his old housemaster Le Bas, who does not remember him, in addition to a student (Akworth) asking Le Bas for help. Both of these returns to educational institutions bring back memories of Nick as a student in A Question of Upbringing, and highlight his literary origins. Nick received the education and influences that led him to be a writer at these two schools, and also made his first literary connections, Quiggin and Members, at Oxford. In addition, these returns awaken a deep feeling of nostalgia for the reader and doubtless for Nick too, as we all recall that both Stringham and Templer, his old Eton buddies, are no longer with us. Books Do Furnish A Room highlights the literary themes of the Dance, and gives us a glimpse into the professional world that Nick is a part of. In addition, two returns to places from Nick's past - at the very beginning and end of the book - frame Books Do Furnish A Room both in terms of the literary world and the winding down of the Dance by providing the reader with a reminder of Nick's origins. And yet, even as we see that Nick has come a long way and is beginning the final phase of his life, we are reminded that an older generation (Le Bas and Sillery) still exists, and that a new one (Nick's son and young Akworth) is emerging. |
|
Madeleine Fawcett Widmerpool lacks a sense of self-esteem in many of his interactions with people he is attracted to in A Dance to the Music of Time. He is taken advantage of by these people, and his reactions to these unfortunate circumstances seem extremely odd. His behavior is described as "slavish" on more than one occasion. At the beginning of the novel, the reader feels pity for Widmerpool. Gradually, after certain incidents in which he is made to look like a fool and then fails to stand up for himself properly, the reader feels less sympathy for Widmerpool and more agitation at the fact that he cannot defend himself appropriately against people he is attracted to. Widmerpool, however, makes progress with time. He gains strength as a person and, in certain situations regarding his business and military affairs, becomes downright intimidating. Still, he seldom appears confident and remains unsuccessful in his social interactions. Late in the series, at one specific incident, the reader becomes impressed by how Widmerpool stands up for himself in front of the one person whom he is truly attracted to. Beginning with a scene in A Question of Upbringing, Widmerpool's lack of self-esteem is very evident. Stringham describes a time when he and Templer watch an overripe banana SPLAT right in Widmerpool's face. Budd, who is captain of the popular "Eleven," aimed this banana elsewhere, but didn't quite hit his target. Rather than getting angry, or upset, Widmerpool calmly removes his spectacles and begins to clean them off. Budd approaches him to apologize; a gesture that leaves Widmerpool very satisfied. He is "obviously astonished to hear himself addressed by name, and so politely, by no less a person than the captain of the Eleven" (11). This is when the infamous "slavish look" first appears on Widmerpool's face. This scene is interesting because Widmerpool's reaction to having a banana thrown in his face is not exactly a typical one. Most people would be upset or angry, in response to this; masochistically, Widmerpool seems to take pleasure in a seemingly humiliating situation. He does not make a humble exit, but remains where he is and smiles at his encounter with Budd. It is possible that his bewildering reaction is a result of having feelings or an attraction to Budd. Behavior such as this begins to form Widmerpool's character. In A Buyer's Market, the desirable Barbara Goring creates another situation similar to Budd's. After Barbara has refused Widmerpool's pleas to dance with her throughout the evening, he begins to become irritated by her treatment of him. Barbara decides that she is going to take a seat next to Pardoe, where Widmerpool knows she will sit for the rest of the evening, but he tries to take a stand. As she rises to make her way over there, he grabs her wrist, quite forcefully. "Why are you so sour tonight? You need some sweetening," says Barbara (71). Just then, she grabs a sugar castor and empties the entirety of its contents out on Widmerpool's head. The slavish look returns. Nick comments that this "was a hard situation for anyone to carry off with dignity and good temper" (71). Widmerpool stands up, shakes himself off, and once again, begins to wipe his spectacles of the mess, "smiling slightly, almost apologetically, to himself" (72). This situation is similar to Budd's because he displays "almost the identically explicit satisfaction derived from grovelling before someone he admired" (72). The difference between this situation and the one with Budd is that Widmerpool leaves shortly after the incident. Nick remarks that "when Widmerpool pushed his way between the chairs, disappearing a minute later through the doors of the supper-room, he seemed to the world at large, perhaps correctly, to be merely a man in a towering rage" (72). Widmerpool tries to salvage any shred of dignity that he can in this situation by walking away; this response contrasts to his response to the banana incident. Although he is not very successful in maintaining his dignity in the situation with Barbara, Widmerpool demonstrates the progress he has made from his embarrassing moment with Budd. A third situation in which the reader questions Wimderpool's odd reactions to embarrassment occurs in At Lady Molly's. Although we do not see this situation firsthand, General Conyers paints a pretty picture of it. He tells of a time when they are gathered at Dogdene together. The well-traveled Mildred Haycock is to be Widmerpool's wife although she is not acting very nice to him when they arrive there. The weekend of Mildred acting "crisp" to Widmerpool ends in chaos. Conyers comes down for breakfast on Sunday morning and sees Widmerpool, looking very disgruntled, as he is about to depart. He hears the story of what occurred between the two only after Widmerpool leaves. "Widmerpool had been in her room the night before. Things hadn't gone at all well. Made up her mind he wasn't going to be of any use as a husband"(231). Widmerpool is rejected. He leaves before anyone is really awake, possibly in an attempt to avoid being publicly embarrassed by Mildred, who is known for tendency to be outspoken. In this particular scene, Widmerpool is quite clearly embarrassed and does not show signs of enjoying any aspect of Mildred's treatment of him. The ever-so-characteristic slavish look does not appear on his face this time. He takes a stand for himself by leaving. This is definitely a step in the right direction for Widmerpool. In a scene in the tenth book, Books Do Furnish a Room, Widmerpool makes the ultimate progression from his adolescent masochism. His decision to go to X. Trapnel's apartment and personally address his wandering but beautiful wife Pamela and Trapnel is questionable, at first. The reader, who does not want to see Widmerpool humiliated once again, is apprehensive about this. Fortunately, he is not. It is a relief to see Widmerpool defend himself. He arrives at Trapnel's apartment, and is greeted by Nick. He strides into the sordid room, and makes his point very clear; Trapnel has crossed Widmerpool in three significant ways, and he is not going to stand for embarrassment this time, no matter how much he loves Pamela. Widmerpool takes his stand, but as he is doing so, Trapnel raises his sword. Widmerpool, to his credit, remains calm and says, "No dramatics, please" (203). This is a truly great moment for Widmerpool. He simply refuses to be humiliated. Widmerpool's self-esteem has matured since the beginning of the sequence. He has progressed from being someone who accepts being taken advantage of by people who he is, in any way, attracted to with a smile, to a person who is able to remain dignified in a most horrifying situation. It is refreshing to see Widmerpool acting more self-confident than he has in previous times. He has made significant progress from the beginning chapters of A Dance to the Music of Time, and although Widmerpool is not always the most favorable character in the novel, the reader feels glad that he has made progress in his social interactions. |
|
Gauri Kirloskar In Books Do Furnish A Room Pamela Widmerpool's character reveals itself to be a much more dangerous one that before. In The Military Philosophers she shocks us with the way she treats men: she physically toys with them, destroys their self-esteem, and then throws them away. Now she moves up to a whole new level. In this book, X Trapnel is her victim and she decides not to play with his sexuality, but his career. She somehow manages to pick on that one aspect of the men's lives that is most important to them. X Trapnel does not care for sex at all; rather, he is obsessed with his writing. Her earlier sexual conquests, however - Peter Templer, Odo Stevens and Bob Duport - were all sexually confident, and she succeeded in destroying the confidence of every one of them. Duport says on page 190 (TMP), "I only stuffed her once, against a shed in the back parts of Cairo airport, but even then I could see she might drive you round the bend". Sex is all Pamela got involved in; she was not emotionally attached to any of the men she had these escapades with. Bob Duport had obviously been a one time thing, but in the case of Peter Templer, she had managed to "drive him around the bend" by convincing him of his sexual incompetence. She mistreats Odo Stevens too. First she slaps him in front of Jenkins and Mrs. Erdleigh, and as if this isn't enough to embarrass him, goes on to say "You don't think I'm going to take orders from a heel like you, do you? … You're pathetic as a lover. No good at all. You ought to see a doctor" (135, TMP). Stevens is angry and calls her "a little bitch". Nevertheless, Pamela once again gets away with her nastiness. Her experiences with these three men show her to be a mildless witch, with probably little intellectual sensibility, or rather, none at all. Unfortunately, she is worse. In Books Do Furnish A Room we become aware that she does have knowledge through which she wields power over X. Trapnel. First, he falls so madly in love with her that he cannot even mention her name to Jenkins: he has to write it on a slip of paper.The next thing we hear, she has moved in with him, in spite of being married to Widmerpool. When Jenkins visits them in their shabby apartment we hear "the first aesthetic judgement [Jenkins] has ever heard her make" (196) - "I'm not satisfied with X.'s book." But that in itself is a mild statement coming from Pamela. We are not disappointed however. She reverts to her predictable awfulness: "I'd rather you burnt it than publish it as it stands. In fact, you're not going to" (135). Trapnel's reaction shows that he is under her control, and his career goes downhill from there. "At the same time, he could easily have moved onto stronger stuff. Pamela might have encouraged that course; living with her almost necessitated it" (203). This statement by Jenkins convinces us of her dreadfulness because he is rarely explicit in his description of people. Pamela proves him right when she throws all of X. Trapnel's manuscript into the canal; he has no copies. In destroying Profiles in String, she destroys his career, and him, too. "As the gas flared up again, its hiss for some inexplicable reason suggested an explanation of why Pamela had married Widmerpool. She had done it, so to speak, in order to run away with Trapnel" (192). She returns to Widmerpool though, and it remains a mystery as to why she married him in the first place. Her intentions cannot be good, and this is obvious from her behavior. "Giving men hell is what Miss Flitton likes,"says Duport (74, TMP). "I know the sort. Met plenty of them." Will Widmerpool be spared? |