The Battle of Life, Part the First

[Zulfiya]

I am posting ahead for those who have already read the first part. It was a relatively easy read, but there were some surprises in this story. The main one is a non-Christmas setting. The events of the first part mainly take place in summer/late spring where everything is blooming, the sky is blue, and the days are tantalizing.

On the other hand, here in Arkansas, it is the day of the first snow, and some people started posting pictures of Christmas trees on Facebook, so at least, the reading setting for the novelette was Christmassy :-)

The other surprise is the nearly fantasy-like beginning of this tale. To be honest, it actually reminded me of LOTR, or any other beginning for many epic fantasy stories.

The description of dancing sisters was also very sensual and beautiful, and the description of certain characters are classic Dickens. Clemency's description was particularly memorable.

She was about thirty years old; and had a sufficiently plump and cheerful face, though it was twisted up into an odd expression of tightness that made it comical. But the extraordinary homeliness of her gait and manner, would have superseded any face in the world. To say that she had two left legs, and somebody else’s arms; and that all four limbs seemed to be out of joint, and to start from perfectly wrong places when they were set in motion; is to offer the mildest outline of the reality. To say that she was perfectly content and satisfied with these arrangements, and regarded them as being no business of hers, and took her arms and legs as they came, and allowed them to dispose of themselves just as it happened, is to render faint justice to her equanimity. Her dress was a prodigious pair of self-willed shoes, that never wanted to go where her feet went; blue stockings; a printed gown of many colours, and the most hideous pattern procurable for money; and a white apron. She always wore short sleeves, and always had, by[21] some accident, grazed elbows, in which she took so lively an interest that she was continually trying to turn them round and get impossible views of them. In general, a little cap perched somewhere on her head; though it was rarely to be met with in the place usually occupied in other subjects, by that article of dress; but from head to foot she was scrupulously clean, and maintained a kind of dislocated tidiness. Indeed her laudable anxiety to be tidy and compact in her own conscience as well as in the public eye, gave rise to one of her most startling evolutions, which was to grasp herself sometimes by a sort of wooden handle (part of her clothing, and familiarly called a busk), and wrestle as it were with her garments, until they fell into a symmetrical arrangement.

Despite the relatively happy setting, I can definitely feel the tension is brewing here, and love is at the heart of it.

[Lynnm]

I'm going to start it tomorrow. I keep forgetting to print it out at work; I don't like reading on the internet.

[Zulfiya]

No rush. It looks like it is going to be a very easy read!

[Frances, Moderator]

Once again we have the classic Victorian set-up of the kind, good, maternal, generous and less attractive sister (Grace) who is going to selflessly take care of the beautiful and presumably less generous younger sister (Marion) for the hero, the handsome ward. And while everyone assumes that Marion loves Alfred, it isn't clear to me that this is the case (although perhaps she is simply behaving like a properly chaste young woman).

I agree, Zulfiya, I wasn't sure what to make of the battlefield at the beginning and it isn't clear how/if it will tie in with the rest of the story.

[Zulfiya]

Frances wrote: "Once again we have the classic Victorian set-up of the kind, good, maternal, generous and less attractive sister (Grace) who is going to selflessly take care of the beautiful and presumably less ge..."

You are absolutely right, Frnaces. The set-up is very Victorian, but let us see whether the events will follow the the same path - sacrifice and familial bliss as the final outcome.

[Linda]

I just printed out the entire story, I was waiting until we got our double-sided printer fixed. I'll catch up with you guys this weekend. :)

[Linda]

Zulfiya wrote: "Clemency's description was particularly memorable."

Clemency is definitely my favorite character in the few pages I have read so far. Love all her rough elbows. And her excitement at being deemed worthy enough to be a witness to the transfer of titles to Alfred. :)

Francis wrote: "And while everyone assumes that Marion loves Alfred, it isn't clear to me that this is the case."

Yes, I had a sense that maybe she was not as in love with Alfred as we are led to believe.

I'm also wondering where the very descriptive battlefield fits into these people's lives and the overall story.

[Zulfiya]

Linda wrote: "Love all her rough elbows. And her excitement at being deemed worthy enough to be a witness to the transfer of titles to Alfred"

She is one of those numerous characters dickens created that are usually cameo characters, but quite memorable. He basically uses her elbows and her extremities to characterize her. I mean we often use facial descriptions and especially eyes, but Dickens was quite original and described her using her elbows, and it worked:-)

[Lynnm]

It did have a fantasy like feel to it, which surprised me.

The way I read the battlefield beginning was that it tied to the Doctor's idea that life is a farce. All those people died, and yet, no one remembers them, why and what they fought for. Much like life. We toil and strive, and for what in the end? Does anyone ever remember? All sound and fury, and often times, meaning nothing (a paraphrase from a film I'm watching right now in my classes).

I was also interest in the character Britain, or Little Britain. There's one line that says when he is trying to figure out what the Doctor and lawyers are talking about that he was bewildered, "as much as ever his great namesake has done with theories and schools." Yet again, I think Dickens is saying that these meaningless at well.

And, of course, the law is also being poked at by Dickens as a farce.

It doesn't appear that Marion loves Alfred as much as he loves her or as much as her sister thinks (or hopes) that Marion loves Alfred.

[Zulfiya]

Lynnm wrote: " There's one line that says when he is trying to figure out what the Doctor and lawyers are talking about that he was bewildered, "as much as ever his great namesake has done with theories and schools." Yet again, I think Dickens is saying that these meaningless at well."

I finished the whole story today, and you are right, there is a lot of poking at when it comes to law and attorneys. It is nothing major, like in OCS or BH, but more like an unpleasant, but masqueraded, masked good old poke.

[Linda]

Lynnm wrote: "The way I read the battlefield beginning was that it tied to the Doctor's idea that life is a farce. All those people died, and yet, no one remembers them, why and what they fought for. Much like life. We toil and strive, and for what in the end? Does anyone ever remember?"

Hmmmm....yes that does make sense. It actually goes along with thoughts that pop into my head from time to time along the same lines....mostly when I'm feeling stressed about not having time to get everything done. "Is getting this one thing completed or not really going to matter when I'm dead?". Sad, but it seems to have happened more the older I have become, with kids, and the house and everything else in a constant disarray with uncompleted projects sitting all over the place. And a loss of so many lives on a battlefield is even worse, what was it all for if nobody can even remember what these people died for?

[Renee]

I wasn't able to read this at a leisurely pace. I had other things I needed to finish first. So I've read it over the last three days.. Which means I'm just catching up with your conversation.

I love the perspective this thread has given me on the battlefield. It was a literal battlefield at one time but the figurative implications make so much more sense in connection to what might occur in the story.

I agree that it was hard to read Marion until Alfred took his leave. She showed little of the emotion/attachment which I might have expected. And I get a little vibe from Grace. She almost seemed to be pushing Marion at Alfred but I got the impression she liked him, too. I wonder what's underneath. Is this a triangle created out of misinterpreted affections. Are the sisters choosing to like or not like the young man based on what thebtrial the other wants. As in Maron accepts Alfred's affection because she thinks her beloved older sister thinks it's a good match... While Grace withholds affection from Alfred because she believes her tender younger sister is in love with him. And what about Alfred? Is he just a boy toy? He certainly seems less well-developed.

I completely agree that Clemency is stealing the show! She's my favorite, too. :)

[Zulfiya]

It is first and foremost a novelette driven by females, mostly Clemency, but even Marion and Grace through their actions are much more on the front-line than Warden, Grace and Marion's father or Alfred.

[Renee]

I agree, Z. But I hadn't really solidified that thought yet. Funny that such a female driven story should open with all the battleground description.

[Pip]

I've just started listening to this on YouTube. I'm not a huge fan of audiobooks, especially for Novels like this where it's difficult to follow long, multi-clause sentences. However, the reader manages this very well indeed and I've not had too much trouble keeping up as I knit ;-)

I loved the beginning with the description of the battlefield, how over the years even the berries that grew there and the stains they produced on the picker's hands were avoided, how gradually the memory and signs of the battlefield faded until the scene proper opens with jolly apple picking and some kind of flamenco routine in progress.

I've been introduced to "the philosopher" and his two daughters, but have got no further yet, so I'll wait to comment.

How different this is from A Christmas Carol and The (Flipping) Chimes!

[Pip]

Oooops, sorry - the YouTube link is here, if anyone's interested: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WC4-9dh...

[Linda]

Pip wrote: " However, the reader manages this very well indeed and I've not had too much trouble keeping up as I knit ;-)"

Ooh...a fellow knitter! Yet another reason I need to try and get into listening to audiobooks. My knitting has suffered during the past year as my reading has somehow taken over all my free time...

[Lynnm]

I used to love to knit and listen to audiobooks. For some reason, I got out of the habit.

Must look into it again.

[Pip]

There's potential here for a whole new section: readers who knit / knitters who read. We could call it Chez Madame Defarge ;-)