To Serve Them All My Days - Week 10

[Hugh]

This is the final part of the discussion, and covers part IX (and any comments about the book as a whole).

[Brian E]

TO SERVE THEM ALL MY DAYS – 10th Week - PART IV, Chapters 1-3

I will put the summary in spoilers. (view spoiler)[
PART IV – RE-RUN
CHAPTER 1
SubCh.1 – Hitler is advancing in Europe and David talks with Chris about how things are turning out as she predicted. Chris was confident about the Allies’ ultimate chances; David not so much, but his students mostly shared Chris’ view. David takes over Carter’s Corps and he ‘taught them well.’ David hires a slightly crippled 32-year-old Cornishman named Heathcott to be Howarth’s replacement.
SubCh.2 – A new term starts with the addition of 50 from Carter’s school. One newcomer is Charles Sprockman, Julia Darbyshire’s boy, who quickly becomes so popular he is nicknamed ‘Clark’ as in Clark Gable. Sax Hoskins returns to ask David’s blessing on his marrying 19-year-old Grace before Christmas. David is surprised Grace chose Sax and not Winterbourne but Grace just preferred the more cheeky one. The wedding is to be soon due to Sax’s RAF commitments. Grace comes in and tells David how much she loves him and would have even married sooner but for the war. David agrees to the date of the 17th and correctly surmises that they ran how to ‘play’ him by Chris beforehand to get pointers. Later in bed, Chris says she always thought it would be Sax not Winterbourne as Sax needed Grace more and Grace needed someone to spoil. David reflects on Chris’ savvy and then all the wedding talk, as Chris points out, makes David randy.
SubCh.3 – Former student Graves-Jones dies when his ship is torpedoed and David adds his name to his book of war casualties. Grace and Sax’ wedding his held at Bamfylde at Stone Cross. Sax is in RAF uniform and Algy Herries performs the service. David’s happy he gets Grace for a last brief bit before she joins Sax wherever he gets posted. Boyer tells David he is enlisting and David convinces him to wait for now.
CHAPTER 2
SubCh.1 – Its April 1940 and Demark and Norway have fallen. British citizens, including Bamfylde staff and students, feel desolate but the evacuation at Dunkirk lifts them. David’s list of student war casualties grows as he starts adding students’ war accomplishments to the list. Briarley and Skidmore become Dunkirk casualties, Briarley after being one of those in Calais as a Dunkirk diversion. Bradshawe took his boat and helped nine out of the water at Dunkirk.
SubCh.2 - Due to its relatively safe location, Bamfylde gets a full lot of students, including 60 of Carter’s crew referred to as Minimals, for the summer term. Schoolmaster Molyneux joins the French resistance as an interpreter. Boyer feels compelled to volunteer too and David is unsuccessful at talking the 35-year-old out of it. Mrs. Hislop calls to inform David that Hislop had been shot down after being an ace pilot with at least 5 ‘certainties.’ David reflects on the loss of so many students and their role in the necessary task of battling evil that is facing them all.
CHAPTER 3
SubCh.1 – Its August of 1940 and the war is blazing, including the Battle of Britain. Four more Bamfeldians are among the many RAF losses during are killed. Towers is killed and Crispin is terribly burned, reminding David that once Crispin shoplifted in a vain attempt to get Towers’ attention. Grace departs Bamfylde to join Sax at his post in Yorkshire. David says goodbye to Boyer who departs leaving Alison with his son, newborn daughter and a newly hired Scots girl for company. Churchill, the first of the Cradlers, and Keithley, the first boy he met as headmaster, are added to the casualty list causing David to wistfully recollect. Chris announces she is pregnant again.
SubCh.2 – It’s Christmas break and David reads Spats’ letter asking for Sax address to send a belated wedding present. David can feel how hard the loss of Grace hit Spats. He reads a Julia Sprockman’s letter informing him that she is dying of cancer and he should tell her son Charles Sprockman of this fact and take care of him in the future as he is David’s son, a fact her late husband and Charles were unaware of. David decides to bow to her request not to tell Charles of his true parentage and, though Julia didn’t demand it, decides not to tell Chris either, to save her the dilemma of having to parcel out some of her affection on David’s son rather than on their son Ian. David walks toward Algy’s Thinking Post, passing the Big Hall where a concert was on and hears his 13-year-old son, responding to calls of “Get Clark and his banjo,” playing “Oh Susannah.” At the Thinking Post, it’s 90 minutes before the end of 1940 and David reflects about the status of the current war in view of its place in Britain’s history of conflicts from which, no matter the losses, “something gainful had emerged from it.” He and Chris make some tea, cuddle and await the new year, which they also let the students do, at least the awaiting part.
SubCh.3 – On New Year’s Day, David absentmindedly forgets about his interview with Earnshaw, an applicant for a schoolmaster position, and comes to it late. Earnshaw was advertised as ex-service and interested in games so David, expecting an extrovert like Irvine, is surprised to find him emaciated, haggard, grim and with a scar on his face. After talking with him, David sees himself in Earnshaw, coming to Bamfylde just out of soldiering, damaged and needing a home and purpose. David tries hard and successfully puts Earnshaw at ease by being relaxed yet effusive in his hospitality. He invites Earnshaw to stay for lunch, dinner and overnight in the Old Boys’ Presidents’ room, and sees Earnshaw someday thanking his stars for coming to Bamfylde as David had done and forgotten to do lately.
David stops at the landing to the President’s room and looks out over Bamfylde and surroundings reminiscing on all the many events, people and experiences of his 22 years at Bamfylde. David experiences “peace, of a kind that eluded him for the sixteen dismal months…easing the wounds caused by the sacrifice of boys like Briarley, Skidmore, Christopherson, Graves-Jones, Hislop, Churchill and little Keithley… He drank it all in thankfully…”
(hide spoiler)]

[Brian E]

I liked the ending of the story with David bringing in Earnshaw so that he can experience what David experienced. It is an reminder of the cyclical nature of life, something that David's recollections of Britain bouncing back from previous internal bloody conflicts also relects. David comes to finally feel that somehow, even with much loss, everything comes out alright in the end.

[Brian E]

I thought it interesting that Julia and David agree it is best not to tell their son Charles "Clark" of his true parentage. My guess is that if this happened at 21th Century Bamfylde they would NOT choose to keep it a secret. Contemporary mores favor such disclosure, at least when the child is old enough. Another contemporary factor favoring disclosure is the easier access to information via technology. Non-disclosure tends to cause more problems due to the child's own discovery than early disclosure would have.

[Nidhi]

I too liked the way Delderfield brought the story to a complete full circle by introducing Earnshaw and ending the story on an optimistic note. I dreaded the outcomes of WW II in the story.

[Cat]

We made it! Thank you so much for bringing To Serve Them All My Days into my life and to both of you for such insights!

[Brian E]

Cat wrote: "Brian E wrote: "[...] as I think she might have led him astray if he had let her." I'm puzzling over this - Please would you help me to understand this angle?"

I'm addressing this question from Week 8 in this Week 10 discussion so I don't have to use spoilers for some of it. I hope this helps you understand what I was trying to say.

My personal opinion and feeling was that second wife Chris was more self-focused in her advice to David than the first wife Beth was. I thought Beth helped guide David in making better decisions, one that would best effectuate HIS values and goals. Chris had so many of her own strong personal opinions on things, I think her advice would have tried to guide David into decisions that reflected HER values and goals rather than helped David effectuate his own. I say this knowing that Chris did know and bow to David's Bamfylde-first attitude. But that's on the "big picture level" On the "small picture" individual situation level, Chris had opinions on the correct result and pronounced them even knowing it might conflict with David's.
Two examples:
1. When former student Christopherson came to announce he was going to help the Republicans in Spain, Chris jumped in with 'good for you' encouraging him rather than letting David handle the counseling. He was David's student not hers.
2. Rather than merely coaching Sax and Beth into how to approach David to get his blessing on their early marriage, Chris actively encouraged them in the early marriage.

Thus, the short answer is that I thought Chris might lead David into decisions reflecting Chris's values and goals. By using the term "Astray" I meant in a direction than did not meet David's own goals and values.
David knew that about Chris and accepted them and that's why things between them worked. It was David's long-time sage Howarth that gave him the wise advise to give Chris her own arena, the Cradle, where she could be kept busy effectuating her own values and goals in her arena and be too busy to get involved in David's business.

[Cat]

Ooh, yes! This is most interesting! Thanks heartily for the assist!

[Hugh]

Thanks for all the hard work you have done on the summaries Brian, and thanks to you, Nidhi and Cat for keeping the discussions going. Sorry I never got hold of the book.

[Brian E]

Hugh wrote: "Thanks for all the hard work you have done on the summaries Brian"

I'm glad to assist the Moderator as long as I don't have to be the Moderator. I had recently led a discussion of a Trollope novel in the Reading the 20th Century group and found that doing the review necessary for writing summaries helped me better understand what I had read. Due to this, I was willing to do them here.
However, doing the summaries does mean you devote about double the usual time toward a book. I felt that, even if you did get hold of a copy of the book, it would have been really tough for you to devote single time let alone double time to reading the book. As I had nominated it and wanted to read it, I was both willing to and somewhat obligated to summarize here. I felt that writing the summaries was valuable as an aid to me regardless of whether anyone else read them. So not a waste of time at all.

Hugh, you could further thank me by telling what you thought of the Booker winner and a few of your favorites from the shortlist.
EDIT: Hugh, I've read your review of Prophet Song and will likely read it sometime next year.

[Brian E]

This is my review of To Serve Them All My Days: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...