Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh - July BOTM

[Diane]

Review thread: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

[Diane]

Evelyn Waugh, Decline and Fall
Study Questions by U Mass Boston

1. Various critics have commented that the opening scene of the novel in Scone College encapsulates the interplay of conflicting forces that results in the chaos of the novel. Do you agree? If so, what are these forces. In what senses can the actions of the first chapter be seen as symbolic of Waugh's concerns in the novel as a whole?

2. Waugh dismisses Paul Pennyfeather as a decent but inconsequential character who is important only because of the events he witnesses. An alternative reading sees Decline and Fall as a novel of development in which the changes in Paul's character and understanding carry the major significance of the novel. What are the arguments for seeing Paul as a faceless witness and for seeing him as a developing hero? Can these approaches be reconciled?

3. Grimes, Philbrick, and Prendergast, Paul's fellow employees at Llanabba Castle, keep recurring in the novel in surprising and significant ways. But what does each of them signify? Do they represent large issues, ideas, or even (as Paul says of Grimes) forces, and if so, what? How do their personalities relate to the issues they represent? What do they imply about Waugh's approach to characterization? (They are also relevant to the questions on contrasts and circular structures.)

4. Silenus, the representative of Bauhaus and Le Corbusier (he even looks like Le Corbusier),is clearly the most intelligent person in the novel, but he too is an object of the novel's satire. Is he a successful figure in the world of the novel? Does he articulate the essential problems that the novel addresses, and does he represent an answer to those problems?

5. Margot is attractive, sexy, energetic in her business, and apparently in control of the events of the novel. Is she a heroine or a villain or is she somehow outside of ordinary moral judgment? Why is it important that she is a white slaver? Why does it seem impossible for her to go to prison? Is her marriage to Paul significant or impossible? Does she continue to be successful throughout the novel?

6. Her son Peter Pastmaster seems preternaturally mature in the early stages of the novel, but by the end he seems almost a tragic figure. Do we, as we do for tragic figures, feel pity for him? Has he really replaced Alastair, or is he merely, like Alastair, the host of a wild college party? Since Alastair is the lover of his mother, is there a suggestion of incest about Peter's character? What is the significance of his name?

7. The novel seems to have a tripartite structure that is divided by broad movements between places-beginning and ending at Scone College but going on to Llanabba Castle, to King's Thursday, and to prison. What are the broad significances that Waugh attaches to these places, and what is the significance of the movement from one place to the next?

8. These places are in turn associated with particular architectural features and architectural histories. What values, aesthetic or otherwise, are associated with the architecture of the various buildings? How does architecture and its history characterize the nature of the modern in the novel? Why, aside from the character of Silenus, is architecture an important device in the novel?

9. In an important passage, Silenus describes to Paul the wheel at Luna Park, and he places various characters in relation to that wheel. Other than providing the distinction between participants and observers, what are the metaphorical functions of this wheel image? In what ways does it suggest or elaborate the circular structures of the novel? What is its relation to the wheel of Fortune (repeatedly described as a much-maligned lady)? What is the relation of the circular structures of the novel to the linear movement of time?

10. Decline and Fall, like other satires, makes strong use of contrasts, apparent in contrasting characters and contrasting incidents, and reinforced by the novel's circular structures. What is the significance of these major contrasts? Are they solid or unstable (that is, does Waugh propose them only to undercut them)?

11. Does Decline and Fall present a world that is simply out of control, or is their some force, good or evil, that drives the events of the novel? Is Maltravers, for example, the secret lynchpin of the whole machine? Is it important that we know what makes society run as badly as it obviously does?

12. Decline and Fall is an extremely funny novel, but this riotous humor hardly covers its very grim view of the human condition. What is the relation of comedy to despair in the novel, and how is that combination related to satire? Some critics, for example, have argued that the novel is not a satire because its despair allows no useful solution. Others have argued that the lack of a solution within the limits of the novel is precisely what makes it satiric, like other satires in which the proper values are implied by their absence. The issue here is not only how one defines satire but also how one interprets the novel. What do you think?

13. Is the Decline and Fall a religious novel? Shortly after it was published, Waugh converted to Roman Catholicism, and some critics have argued that the novel is filled with religious, specifically Catholic, values. But religious figures, from Prendergast at one extreme, to the convict who kills him at the other, are hardly treated with much sympathy. Prendergast's major doubt (why did God create the world at all?) seems particularly forceful, given the valueless world of the novel. On the other hand the theme of death and resurrection is inescapable in the novel. Is Decline and Fall a religious novel or an anti-religious one (or both)?

14. The style and tone of Decline and Fall are regarded as major accomplishments. What is their function as literary techniques, especially as ways of getting readers to look at characters and themes? Do they function as signifiers as well? If the style and tone were less spare, minimalist, even cold and unsympathetic, would the novel have the same meaning?

[Pip]

1. The scene involves members of the Bollinger Club, probably Oxford’ s Bullingdon Club, behaving outrageously. They symbolise the forces of disruption and chaos as opposed to the tradition and pomp of the fictional Scone College. The decline and fall of traditional values both of individuals and of society is the novel’s theme, although I don’t think Waugh was comparing the decline of the British Empire with that of Rome. Or maybe he was!
2. Paul is a passive character to whom things happen, such as the divestment of his trousers in the opening scene. As a hapless character I see him more as a vehicle through which Waugh can satirise society rather than someone who develops significantly as a result of the absurd things that happen to him.

[Pip]

3. Grimes is a survivor. He is unprincipled, resourceful and charming, and his ability to wriggle out of impossible situations makes him a symbol of those people who find a way to thrive in chaos. Philbrick is always changing his story, he is manipulative and dishonest. Waugh uses him to show the ways that identity and truth can be massaged for personal gain. Prendergast is a former clergyman who is disillusioned by his former faith and now overcome by doubt. Through him Waugh satirises the loss of traditional values. Interestingly, Waugh wrote this book just before he converted to Catholicism.

[Pip]

4. Silenus is an architect who sponsors the principles of modernism and the ideas of Courbusier, but Waugh satirises him as being too mechanistic and impractical and remote from real human needs.
5. Margot is certainly not a traditional heroine! As a woman involved in white slavery, which is described almost casually, she symbolises moral decay in society.

[Pip]

6, Peter seems too mature for his age early in the novel, which creates a sense of unease in the reader, but he evolves into a tragic figure, which invoked my pity because of his exposure to the moral ambiguity of his mother. He is a contrast to Alistair in that Peter's innocent exposure to adult decadence is deplorable, while Alistair is a willing participant. The boundary between childhood and the adult world is porous, adding to the feeling of unease in the reader. Pastmaster evokes feelings of mastery, which is a cynical play on his actual position.
7. Each setting represents different elements of British society as Paul moves between them. Scone College represents the supposedly stable, traditional establishment which is exposed by his expulsion to be a hypocritical and superficial place, Llanabba Castle is a mismanaged school which reveals the incompetence of the educational system. The teachers are absurd caricatures, emphasising that institutions which should be exemplars for good are often severely flawed. Margot's estate, Kings Thursday, is opulent to excess. Her abode represents the superficiality and corruption underneath the apparently successful high society. It reminds me of Guy Ritchie's recent movie "The Gentlemen". Paul's imprisonment symbolises the arbitrary and unfair nature of the justice system. Prison is depicted as another absurd non-functioning part of society. Waugh emphasises the general moral decay of important institutions.

[Pip]

8. Scone College is a parody of Oxbridge, with medieval and gothic architecture, suggesting tradition and excellence, but in the novel it fails to live up to its reputation because it fails Paul. Llanabba Castle is a delapidated Victorian pile in a faux medieval style, which should have evoked chivalry and romance, but its disrepair instead reflects the incompetency of the school's administration. King's Thursday is a supposedly avant-garde modernist renovation. The clash between the architectural styles mirrors the way the rich embrace modernity without an appreciation for the past. The prison is a utilatarian representation of the reality of the justice system. It has a dehumanising design.

[Gail]

1. Certainly the opening scene of the Bollinger Club antics shows us how passive Paul is, and likely will continue to be. It also showcases the particular breakdown of society's rules and values as everyone supports the total chaos of the evening and the punishment of the wrong people rather than attempting to bring order to the proceedings.

2. The only way in which one could view Paul as a hero is that at one point he privately opts out of society and enjoys his time in prison. I suspect it might be heroic to turn one's back on a society that is "falling". However, I did not read the novel in this way. I read Paul as being only a passive flat person who gives some compass to the plot but doesn't actually evolve much. Even if you read his turning his back as heroic, he ultimately goes right back to where he came from showing that he hasn't really changed.

3. Pip answers this question perfectly. The only thing that I can add is that the Prendergast loses his life, Philbrick loses his freedom but continues to thrive and Grimes lives on as an immortal, at least metaphorically.

4. Silenus ultimately can not thrive in the chaos of the society he lives in. His buildings reflect nothing that human beings need and his power of reasoning does not reflect any intimate knowledge of how humans act. He is intelligent in a narrow way and I am sure Waugh did not mean for him to be a success.

5. Margot is successful at maintaining her mastery of many of the situations she finds herself in. She marries for stability, she sells her business, she has a young and devoted lover. No one in the book or reading the book could really imagine her being anything other than this master and prison would not allow this, therefore she could not go to prison. However, Waugh implies that she liked Paul but did not love him, used him badly, felt some guilt and fed him well, and that some members of her society realize much about her and begin to "cut her" as in cut her out of that society. Also, Margot is not successful as a mother. Her son had half a chance if she married Paul and less chance under the marital situation Margot ultimately selected.

6. The question rather answers itself in that Peter is learning a certain mastery in the beginning of the novel as he judges people by his own rules and on their unique merits rather than by societal assumptions. He is "past" this though by the end of the novel where Waugh presumably wanted to show that even the best of that generation were being betrayed by their institutions and set up to fall.

[Gail]

9. The novel has a number of circles within the larger arch of the book. Grimes' behavior circles around his getting into trouble and falling "into the soup". He also disappears and reappears a number of times. Philbrick also repeats his primary behaviors by telling his story in different ways to different people and living out various lives as well he can pull it off. The Wheel of Fortune describes people huddled up to the center point in an attempt to ride out life and maybe even have some fun (Grimes), while others, are tossed about and thrown off (Prendergast) as fate is in command. Paul, is largely just a person who watches what happens to others in this metaphor but the larger arch of the book has him being tossed about and thrown and eventually to return to where he started.

10. Waugh is rather masterful at presenting his world with just the right amount of humor and bitterness. He does not digress into sentiment very often although we do come to feel badly about poor Peter Pastmaster.

11. I believe that Waugh would have us believe that in a society with so few parameters of strong values and common decency, that life will continue to be out of control and that fate is the only controlling force. He leaves us believing that one's actions or inactions reflect only the wheel of fortune going round without her even getting the credit due her.

12. I am not knowledgeable about the definitions of satire but I do believe that Waugh gave his reader's no solution outside of "riding it out" and attempting to do one's best to hold on and enjoy it.

14. I believe that the "meaning" of any book arrives from what any individual reader brings to it but Waugh's themes, and the style and tone in which he draws them, set up this reader at least, to think that a crisp cold more contemporary style would not have been as much fun and would therefore have missed one of the best aspects of the book. In other words, I believe that Waugh's balance of bite and laughter was an excellent way to present his themes of societal degradation and the chaotic nature of fate.

[Jane]

1. Various critics have commented that the opening scene of the novel in Scone College encapsulates the interplay of conflicting forces that results in the chaos of the novel. Do you agree? If so, what are these forces. In what senses can the actions of the first chapter be seen as symbolic of Waugh’s concerns in the novel as a whole?
In the opening scene, the rich, titled, elite Bollinger club members are allowed to run riot and destroy the college career of the middle class, untitled, unconnected Paul Pennyfeather. This happens repeatedly, as Paul’s fate is determined by people and forces who hold sway in society, while he holds none.

2. Waugh dismisses Paul Pennyfeather as a decent but inconsequential character who is important only because of the events he witnesses. An alternative reading sees Decline and Fall as a novel of development in which the changes in Paul’s character and understanding carry the major significance of the novel. What are the arguments for seeing Paul as a faceless witness and for seeing him as a developing hero? Can these approaches be reconciled?
In Part II, chapter 2, Waugh notes that Paul would have never made a hero; this means his journey is not a hero’s journey. He develops a bit, but the changes in his character and/or understanding are not all that significant. He is at the mercy of larger forces. That is the one thing he comes to understand and accept by the end of the book. There’s little he can do to control his destiny, other than keep his head down and avoid anyone whose whims might alter his fate again.

3. Grimes, Philbrick, and Prendergast, Paul’s fellow employees at Llanabba Castle, keep recurring in the novel in surprising and significant ways. But what does each of them signify? Do they represent large issues, ideas, or even (as Paul says of Grimes) forces, and if so, what? How do their personalities relate to the issues they represent? What do they imply about Waugh’s approach to characterization? (They are also relevant to the questions on contrasts and circular structures.)
Grimes went to public school, and even though he didn’t graduate, it gave him connections that get him out of trouble (“out of the soup”) no matter what he does. Philbrick is a conman acting as the school’s butler. Prendergast is a former clergyman who left the church because he suffered from “doubts” (“I couldn’t understand why God had made the world at all.”). All of them resurface in prison, Philbrick and Grimes as fellow inmates, and Prendergast as chaplain. Prendergast is killed by a lunatic (who was given dangerous weapons by the Governor in the misguided belief that the convict needed to fulfill his creative urges as a carpenter). Grimes escapes by faking his suicide for maybe the third time. Philbrick turns up in a Rolls Royce, during Paul’s first year back at Oxford.

I’m not sure what larger ideas or issues they symbolize, but Prendergast is a tragic victim of social forces (unlike Paul, who avoids a tragic end). Grimes is a survivor and Philbrick does more than just survive, he flourishes. The fact that he is a conman at best and insane at worst speaks volumes about society.

4. Silenus, the representative of Bauhaus and Le Corbusier (he even looks like Le Corbusier), is clearly the most intelligent person in the novel, but he too is an object of the novel’s satire. Is he a successful figure in the world of the novel? Does he articulate the essential problems that the novel addresses, and does he represent an answer to those problems?
As the question states, Silenus is satirized as much as any other character in the novel. He is an architect who hates his own buildings almost as much as other people hate them, so he doesn’t strike me as particularly successful. He does articulate the metaphor of the wheel (below), and that is insightful.

5. Margot is attractive, sexy, energetic in her business, and apparently in control of the events of the novel. Is she a heroine or a villain or is she somehow outside of ordinary moral judgment? Why is it important that she is a white slaver? Why does it seem impossible for her to go to prison? Is her marriage to Paul significant or impossible? Does she continue to be successful throughout the novel?
Waugh doesn't judge her but makes fun of her, as it makes fun of everybody. As Peter states in the final chapter, Margot gets exactly what she wants in the end – a titled and wealthy husband and a young lover.

6. Her son Peter Pastmaster seems preternaturally mature in the early stages of the novel, but by the end he seems almost a tragic figure. Do we, as we do for tragic figures, feel pity for him? Has he really replaced Alastair, or is he merely, like Alastair, the host of a wild college party? Since Alastair is the lover of his mother, is there a suggestion of incest about Peter’s character? What is the significance of his name?
Pastmaster seems to be a reference to the long history of his father’s family, who were illustrious and respected but broke. They are forced to sell their family estate to Margot (a wealthy American sister-in-law) and she destroys it. As a drunken member of the Bollinger club by the end, he is probably the book’s most tragic character (next to poor Prendergast).

7. The novel seems to have a tripartite structure that is divided by broad movements between places-beginning and ending at Scone College but going on to Llanabba Castle, to King’s Thursday, and to prison. What are the broad significances that Waugh attaches to these places, and what is the significance of the movement from one place to the next?
They are all made to seem ridiculous and subject to the whims of the titled and wealthy, even prison.

8. These places are in turn associated with particular architectural features and architectural histories. What values, aesthetic or otherwise, are associated with the architecture of the various buildings? How does architecture and its history characterize the nature of the modern in the novel? Why, aside from the character of Silenus, is architecture an important device in the novel?
Except for the character of Silenus and the remodeled King’s Thursday (which is torn down again by the end of the book), I didn’t really notice architecture as an important subject.

9. In an important passage, Silenus describes to Paul the wheel at Luna Park, and he places various characters in relation to that wheel. Other than providing the distinction between participants and observers, what are the metaphorical functions of this wheel image? In what ways does it suggest or elaborate the circular structures of the novel? What is its relation to the wheel of Fortune (repeatedly described as a much-maligned lady)? What is the relation of the circular structures of the novel to the linear movement of time?
The nearer you can get to the center of the wheel, the easier it is to hang on. If you’re close to the center, you can dance. And if you’re in the very center, you don’t have to do anything but sit there. Some people like Margot enjoy clinging on for dear life and trying to get closer to the center. Some people, like Paul, should stay where they are. Paul begins and ends the novel as a student in Scone college. He seems content to pick up where he left off, so Silenus might be right about him.

10. Decline and Fall, like other satires, makes strong use of contrasts, apparent in contrasting characters and contrasting incidents, and reinforced by the novel’s circular structures. What is the significance of these major contrasts? Are they solid or unstable (that is, does Waugh propose them only to undercut them)?
See above – the contrast between those who ride the wheel without difficult and those who struggle to stay on or are simply thrown off. The purpose of the book seems to expose this contrast and undercut it by satirizing it.

11. Does Decline and Fall present a world that is simply out of control, or is there some force, good or evil, that drives the events of the novel? Is Maltravers, for example, the secret lynchpin of the whole machine? Is it important that we know what makes society run as badly as it obviously does?
People with money and power are the forces that determine Paul’s fate and therefore drive the events of the novel.

12. Decline and Fall is an extremely funny novel, but this riotous humor hardly covers its very grim view of the human condition. What is the relation of comedy to despair in the novel, and how is that combination related to satire? Some critics, for example, have argued that the novel is not a satire because its despair allows no useful solution. Others have argued that the lack of a solution within the limits of the novel is precisely what makes it satiric, like other satires in which the proper values are implied by their absence. The issue here is not only how one defines satire but also how one interprets the novel. What do you think?
I think the issue is how one defines satire. I don’t associate satire with providing solutions for problems, but for exaggerating and mocking elements of society in order to prove how ridiculous they are. I think Waugh accomplishes that in Decline and Fall.

13. Is the Decline and Fall a religious novel? Shortly after it was published, Waugh converted to Roman Catholicism, and some critics have argued that the novel is filled with religious, specifically Catholic, values. But religious figures, from Prendergast at one extreme, to the convict who kills him at the other, are hardly treated with much sympathy. Prendergast's major doubt (why did God create the world at all?) seems particularly forceful, given the valueless world of the novel. On the other hand the theme of death and resurrection is inescapable in the novel. Is Decline and Fall a religious novel or an anti-religious one (or both)?
I didn’t take it as particularly religious. Other than Prendergast and his killer, I don’t recall organized religion being mentioned. I guess Paul is studying to be a clergyman, but that seems more a scholarly pursuit than a faith-based calling.

14. The style and tone of Decline and Fall are regarded as major accomplishments. What is their function as literary techniques, especially as ways of getting readers to look at characters and themes? Do they function as signifiers as well? If the style and tone were less spare, minimalist, even cold and unsympathetic, would the novel have the same meaning?
It is a light, comic novel that satirizes the British class system, so tone is probably the most important consideration.