ENG328Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-4: 18 Months, Bayham
“In The Good Soldier scepticism about knowledge and morality
degenerates into nihilism.” Discuss the validity of this claim.
Ford constructs the disjointed, morally obscure narrative to track the
evolution and variability of morality.
•
Evolution of morality (Nietzsche?)
•
No one is as they appear to be
Distorting perceptions of morality because honesty is no longer in the
picture at all
○
•
Varying moral significance of adultery
Adultery means a hell of a lot more to Edward and Leonora than it does
to Dowell and Florence
○
So there are no hard and fast rules
○
•
Altering perceptions of morality by placing things in justifiable contexts so
that things you would not normally deem to be morally acceptable to be
perfectly so and vice versa
Idolises Edward despite all his flaws and mistakes
○
Loves his wife regardless of what everyone tells him until she dies
○
Everyone loves Nancy no matter what
○
Everyone thinks Leonora is a bitch even though she does nothing wrong
○
•
So it's not so much nihilism as it is different perceptions of morality
Very pessimistic but not in a typical way
○
•
Someone/something dies at the end of each part of the novel
•
"good people" as referring to people with money and therefore good in a
societal sense
•
Dowell ends up falling apart to the point where he needs to get everything
out
He feels "horribly alone" with "nothing to guide" him through the
"subtle morality of all other personal contacts, associations and
activities"
○
He was so profoundly affected by this despite seemingly feeling nothing
throughout
○
•
Plot Summary
"Saddest story I've ever heard" - Dowell•
Chronicles 9 year acquaintance of his and his wife, Florence with another
couple, Edward and Leonora
•
Non-linear
His thoughts as he writes them
○
•
Part I - establishing character
Florence and Edward are 'heart patients'•
Wonders if all morality is folly and mockery
the truth of the matter is that there is no clear cut morality in this
world at all, we are all just left in the dark, wandering through life and
trying to do the right thing
societal norms can never dictate right from wrong
§
○
•
Met at health spa in August 1904 where 'invalids' come to prove their health•
Edward = perfectly honest and upright, someone you can trust with your wife
First impression is that he's hot af
○
He talks about having the best of everything
○
Dowell describes himself as clean and chaste
○
Leonora does not appeal to him at first
She looked at him as if he were the invalid
§
○
•
Leonora realises Edward and Florence are fucking when they go into a town
in Prussia and talk about the MLK protest at the hotel (Dowell is oblivious)
•
Compares friendship to a minuet/"extraordinarily safe castle"•
Then cries about the end of permanence and stability and how their
friendship is over 9 years later cos they're all dead
•
Edward is having so many affairs
At the back of the carriage car (Kilsyte case)
○
Mistress of a Grand Duke in Monte Carlo (Dolciquita)
○
Woman married to Indian army officer (Basil)
○
Woman they brought from India home with them
○
•
After Monte Carlo affair with La Dolciquita, Edward plunged them into debt
and Leonora took financial control
They were in India 8 years to save money
○
•
The day they met the Dowells, Leonora saw Maisie Maidan coming out of
Edward's room and assumes they're having an affair
She hits Maisie and Florence sees so Leonora has to befriend F to cover
this up
○
•
Dowell's function in his marriage was too keep Florence alive by keeping her
away from things that upset her
Starts off loving her here, or at least pitying her, but hates her by the
end
○
They never consummated their marriage
○
Relates to Leonora b/c he sees her having the same rule but realises
there was never anything wrong with Edward's heart, he just used it as
an excuse to escape the army
○
•
Mrs. Maidan dies when she realises that everyone knows that she's E's
mistress - she had a real heart condition
She was always dedicated to her husband
○
Found in a de-romantacising position with her small feet sticking out of
the trunk
○
Edward doesn't think it has anything to do with him but Leonora feels
super guilty
○
•
Part 2
Florence and Dowell's history
August 4th as her DOB, trip around the world, love affair, marriage,
meeting w/ Ashburnhams, death
○
Met in Connecticut and married despite the wishes of her aunts
○
So she feigned a heart condition to trap them in Europe
○
A servant who was entrusted with her heart meds loses them and
Dowell beats him severely, traumatising Florence
○
Her heart gives out and the doctor tells him not to sex her, which he
never does
○
When they lived in Paris, she resumes an affair with a low-class
artist/ex-cabin boy named Jimmy
Dowell didn’t know
§
○
They didn’t have sex for the entire 13 years of marriage
○
•
After a 9-year affair with Edward, she plans to divorce Dowell and marry
Edward
But she sees him with Nancy on August 4th, 1913
○
She kills herself with the poison in her necklace, and Dowell doesn’t
even realise it was a suicide until the funeral, when Leonora tells him
○
•
Part 3
Dowell considers marrying Nancy
Leonora tells Dowell everything about what Florence did during their
marriage and about her suicide
○
He 'felt no sorrow' or 'desire for action' when she died
○
He just knew that he could now marry the girl
○
But Edward is also in love with her
○
Nancy thinks Edward's heroic though and admires him and Leonora
○
•
Dowell pieces together the events preceding Florence's death
Florence followed Nancy and Edward to a dimly-lit park instead of the
casino and watched him say he loves Nancy (who misunderstands)
○
She jealously runs back to the hotel and sees an old acquaintance, Mr.
Bagshaw, telling Dowell about her affair with Jimmy years ago
○
Overwhelmed, she takes the vial of poison
○
Dowell hasn’t thought of her since she died at all and she doesn’t
matter to him at all
○
•
Nancy comes from a violent home life and went to convent school at an early
age
When her father went to serve in India, her mother asked Leonora to
care for her as her best friend
○
•
After Florence's death, they return to England where Leonora has a mental
breakdown when she realises Edward loves Nancy
She always hoped he would love her again and thought this was the
time
○
But after Florence, Leonora's love died
○
She tries to make sure they're never alone together
○
His health fails and he turns to alcoholism and cries
○
•
Leonora's background is shared
She was sheltered and in convent school and her marriage to Edward
was arranged
○
He always admired her but never loved her
○
But she grew to love him intensely
○
Their problems drew from her need for economic stability and his
generosity, driving them apart
Fought about religion as well
§
○
The Kilsyte case actually came as a relief to her as she could stand
behind him publicly, but he was scarred
○
•
Edward's background is explained (dick sucking ensues)
Hard-working, sentimental and efficient professional man
○
Not a lot of passions
○
Kilsyte case lit a fire in him, withdrew from Leonora looking for
someone to love
○
Hence La Dolciquita and her gold-digging ways
○
And then in India, Mrs. Basil, who loved him back while he was
stationed in Burma
○
And then Maisie Maidan when he was stationed away from Basil - but
he was inconstant in his love here as he was still in love with Mrs. Basil
○
Their marriage is in a horrible state - he hates all the good she does and
he can never win her admiration
○
But she knows Maisie will never sleep with him so she brings her home
○
But then Florence enters the picture and Leonora's hope of winning
him back dies
○
•
Part 4
Edward blames Florence more and more for everything
With her vulgarity and pride
○
•
Leonora feels bad and tries to rekindle her intimacy with Edward, but then
gives up when she Florence lays a hand on Edward's wrist
Does not see how she can return to him "after such a vulgar intrigue
with a vulgar woman" - despised her
○
F talked to L about E a lot also
○
Dowell thinks that it was the prospect of being unable to help others
which ultimately caused Edward to commit suicide
○
•
Dowell settles affairs with Florence's uncle who died 4 days before and takes
her money as well as his
But out of necessity puts some money into a centre for heart and lung
patients
○
(but the uncle had a lung problem)
○
•
He intends to propose to Nancy when he gets back but learns she is leaving
for England but Edward tells him what happened while he was away:
•
Leonora realises Nancy is safe from Edward as his miniscule morality will stop
him from fucking her
Nancy learns about divorce from a paper and begins to see E and L's
problems
○
She's super distressed and upset about E
○
Leonora tells her that E's in love with her
○
She realises she's in love with him but wants to care for him spiritually
○
L wants her to fuck him tho
○
L turns Nancy against him still, crushing her by opening her eyes to
reality
○
•
They torture Edward to death basically and he sends her back to India when
she offers to sleep with him to save his life
When she telegrams that she's happy, he kills himself as he wanted her
to love him from afar
○
•
Saddest part of the story, 18 months later:
He is once again the nurse-maid of a beautiful girl who pays no
attention to him
○
No one got what they wanted
○
Edward and Florence are dead
○
The girl is mad
○
•
Leonora remarries Rodney Bayham and has a kid•
Nancy loses her mind and can only say 'shuttlecock'•
Dowell buys Branshaw Manor in England and becomes Nancy's caretaker•
He believes Leonora and Nancy teamed up to destroy Edward
She tainted the girl's mind until she agreed to give him her body but say
she would never love him
○
•
Refrains from judgement on whether E did the right thing•
Notes they never dropped the appearance of a perfectly normal, happy
family
L convinced D to propose to N 6 months from when he got back, after
she had seen the world
○
He finds E in gun room, saying he was dying of love
○
They take N to station for India - he's distraught but L is finally happy
○
When E gets a telegram from Nancy, saying she was having a "rattling
good" time, he takes out a pen-knife, asks D to take the telegram to L,
says bye and that it's time for him to have some rest - cuts throat
○
•
Sympathises with Edward the most, "because he was just myself"
Thinks if he was brave, he would do the same thing
○
Believes he is also a sentimentalist
○
•
Term Paper Notes - The Good Soldier
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
6:30 PM
“In The Good Soldier scepticism about knowledge and morality
degenerates into nihilism.” Discuss the validity of this claim.
Ford constructs the disjointed, morally obscure narrative to track the
evolution and variability of morality.
•
Evolution of morality (Nietzsche?)•
No one is as they appear to be
Distorting perceptions of morality because honesty is no longer in the
picture at all
○
•
Varying moral significance of adultery
Adultery means a hell of a lot more to Edward and Leonora than it does
to Dowell and Florence
○
So there are no hard and fast rules
○
•
Altering perceptions of morality by placing things in justifiable contexts so
that things you would not normally deem to be morally acceptable to be
perfectly so and vice versa
Idolises Edward despite all his flaws and mistakes
○
Loves his wife regardless of what everyone tells him until she dies
○
Everyone loves Nancy no matter what
○
Everyone thinks Leonora is a bitch even though she does nothing wrong
○
•
So it's not so much nihilism as it is different perceptions of morality
Very pessimistic but not in a typical way
○
•
Someone/something dies at the end of each part of the novel•
"good people" as referring to people with money and therefore good in a
societal sense
•
Dowell ends up falling apart to the point where he needs to get everything
out
He feels "horribly alone" with "nothing to guide" him through the
"subtle morality of all other personal contacts, associations and
activities"
○
He was so profoundly affected by this despite seemingly feeling nothing
throughout
○
•
Plot Summary
"Saddest story I've ever heard" - Dowell
•
Chronicles 9 year acquaintance of his and his wife, Florence with another
couple, Edward and Leonora
•
Non-linear
His thoughts as he writes them
○
•
Part I - establishing character
Florence and Edward are 'heart patients'
•
Wonders if all morality is folly and mockery
the truth of the matter is that there is no clear cut morality in this
world at all, we are all just left in the dark, wandering through life and
trying to do the right thing
societal norms can never dictate right from wrong
§
○
•
Met at health spa in August 1904 where 'invalids' come to prove their health
•
Edward = perfectly honest and upright, someone you can trust with your wife
First impression is that he's hot af
○
He talks about having the best of everything
○
Dowell describes himself as clean and chaste
○
Leonora does not appeal to him at first
She looked at him as if he were the invalid
§
○
•
Leonora realises Edward and Florence are fucking when they go into a town
in Prussia and talk about the MLK protest at the hotel (Dowell is oblivious)
•
Compares friendship to a minuet/"extraordinarily safe castle"
•
Then cries about the end of permanence and stability and how their
friendship is over 9 years later cos they're all dead
•
Edward is having so many affairs
At the back of the carriage car (Kilsyte case)
○
Mistress of a Grand Duke in Monte Carlo (Dolciquita)
○
Woman married to Indian army officer (Basil)
○
Woman they brought from India home with them
○
•
After Monte Carlo affair with La Dolciquita, Edward plunged them into debt
and Leonora took financial control
They were in India 8 years to save money
○
•
The day they met the Dowells, Leonora saw Maisie Maidan coming out of
Edward's room and assumes they're having an affair
She hits Maisie and Florence sees so Leonora has to befriend F to cover
this up
○
•
Dowell's function in his marriage was too keep Florence alive by keeping her
away from things that upset her
Starts off loving her here, or at least pitying her, but hates her by the
end
○
They never consummated their marriage
○
Relates to Leonora b/c he sees her having the same rule but realises
there was never anything wrong with Edward's heart, he just used it as
an excuse to escape the army
○
•
Mrs. Maidan dies when she realises that everyone knows that she's E's
mistress - she had a real heart condition
She was always dedicated to her husband
○
Found in a de-romantacising position with her small feet sticking out of
the trunk
○
Edward doesn't think it has anything to do with him but Leonora feels
super guilty
○
•
Part 2
Florence and Dowell's history
August 4th as her DOB, trip around the world, love affair, marriage,
meeting w/ Ashburnhams, death
○
Met in Connecticut and married despite the wishes of her aunts
○
So she feigned a heart condition to trap them in Europe
○
A servant who was entrusted with her heart meds loses them and
Dowell beats him severely, traumatising Florence
○
Her heart gives out and the doctor tells him not to sex her, which he
never does
○
When they lived in Paris, she resumes an affair with a low-class
artist/ex-cabin boy named Jimmy
Dowell didn’t know
§
○
They didn’t have sex for the entire 13 years of marriage
○
•
After a 9-year affair with Edward, she plans to divorce Dowell and marry
Edward
But she sees him with Nancy on August 4th, 1913
○
She kills herself with the poison in her necklace, and Dowell doesn’t
even realise it was a suicide until the funeral, when Leonora tells him
○
•
Part 3
Dowell considers marrying Nancy
Leonora tells Dowell everything about what Florence did during their
marriage and about her suicide
○
He 'felt no sorrow' or 'desire for action' when she died
○
He just knew that he could now marry the girl
○
But Edward is also in love with her
○
Nancy thinks Edward's heroic though and admires him and Leonora
○
•
Dowell pieces together the events preceding Florence's death
Florence followed Nancy and Edward to a dimly-lit park instead of the
casino and watched him say he loves Nancy (who misunderstands)
○
She jealously runs back to the hotel and sees an old acquaintance, Mr.
Bagshaw, telling Dowell about her affair with Jimmy years ago
○
Overwhelmed, she takes the vial of poison
○
Dowell hasn’t thought of her since she died at all and she doesn’t
matter to him at all
○
•
Nancy comes from a violent home life and went to convent school at an early
age
When her father went to serve in India, her mother asked Leonora to
care for her as her best friend
○
•
After Florence's death, they return to England where Leonora has a mental
breakdown when she realises Edward loves Nancy
She always hoped he would love her again and thought this was the
time
○
But after Florence, Leonora's love died
○
She tries to make sure they're never alone together
○
His health fails and he turns to alcoholism and cries
○
•
Leonora's background is shared
She was sheltered and in convent school and her marriage to Edward
was arranged
○
He always admired her but never loved her
○
But she grew to love him intensely
○
Their problems drew from her need for economic stability and his
generosity, driving them apart
Fought about religion as well
§
○
The Kilsyte case actually came as a relief to her as she could stand
behind him publicly, but he was scarred
○
•
Edward's background is explained (dick sucking ensues)
Hard-working, sentimental and efficient professional man
○
Not a lot of passions
○
Kilsyte case lit a fire in him, withdrew from Leonora looking for
someone to love
○
Hence La Dolciquita and her gold-digging ways
○
And then in India, Mrs. Basil, who loved him back while he was
stationed in Burma
○
And then Maisie Maidan when he was stationed away from Basil - but
he was inconstant in his love here as he was still in love with Mrs. Basil
○
Their marriage is in a horrible state - he hates all the good she does and
he can never win her admiration
○
But she knows Maisie will never sleep with him so she brings her home
○
But then Florence enters the picture and Leonora's hope of winning
him back dies
○
•
Part 4
Edward blames Florence more and more for everything
With her vulgarity and pride
○
•
Leonora feels bad and tries to rekindle her intimacy with Edward, but then
gives up when she Florence lays a hand on Edward's wrist
Does not see how she can return to him "after such a vulgar intrigue
with a vulgar woman" - despised her
○
F talked to L about E a lot also
○
Dowell thinks that it was the prospect of being unable to help others
which ultimately caused Edward to commit suicide
○
•
Dowell settles affairs with Florence's uncle who died 4 days before and takes
her money as well as his
But out of necessity puts some money into a centre for heart and lung
patients
○
(but the uncle had a lung problem)
○
•
He intends to propose to Nancy when he gets back but learns she is leaving
for England but Edward tells him what happened while he was away:
•
Leonora realises Nancy is safe from Edward as his miniscule morality will stop
him from fucking her
Nancy learns about divorce from a paper and begins to see E and L's
problems
○
She's super distressed and upset about E
○
Leonora tells her that E's in love with her
○
She realises she's in love with him but wants to care for him spiritually
○
L wants her to fuck him tho
○
L turns Nancy against him still, crushing her by opening her eyes to
reality
○
•
They torture Edward to death basically and he sends her back to India when
she offers to sleep with him to save his life
When she telegrams that she's happy, he kills himself as he wanted her
to love him from afar
○
•
Saddest part of the story, 18 months later:
He is once again the nurse-maid of a beautiful girl who pays no
attention to him
○
No one got what they wanted
○
Edward and Florence are dead
○
The girl is mad
○
•
Leonora remarries Rodney Bayham and has a kid•
Nancy loses her mind and can only say 'shuttlecock'•
Dowell buys Branshaw Manor in England and becomes Nancy's caretaker•
He believes Leonora and Nancy teamed up to destroy Edward
She tainted the girl's mind until she agreed to give him her body but say
she would never love him
○
•
Refrains from judgement on whether E did the right thing•
Notes they never dropped the appearance of a perfectly normal, happy
family
L convinced D to propose to N 6 months from when he got back, after
she had seen the world
○
He finds E in gun room, saying he was dying of love
○
They take N to station for India - he's distraught but L is finally happy
○
When E gets a telegram from Nancy, saying she was having a "rattling
good" time, he takes out a pen-knife, asks D to take the telegram to L,
says bye and that it's time for him to have some rest - cuts throat
○
•
Sympathises with Edward the most, "because he was just myself"
Thinks if he was brave, he would do the same thing
○
Believes he is also a sentimentalist
○
•
Term Paper Notes - The Good Soldier
Wednesday, November 23, 2016 6:30 PM
Document Summary
In the good soldier scepticism about knowledge and morality degenerates into nihilism. discuss the validity of this claim. Ford constructs the disjointed, morally obscure narrative to track the evolution and variability of morality. Distorting perceptions of morality because honesty is no longer in the picture at all. Adultery means a hell of a lot more to edward and leonora than it does to dowell and florence. So there are no hard and fast rules. Altering perceptions of morality by placing things in justifiable contexts so that things you would not normally deem to be morally acceptable to be perfectly so and vice versa. Idolises edward despite all his flaws and mistakes. Loves his wife regardless of what everyone tells him until she dies. Everyone thinks leonora is a bitch even though she does nothing wrong. So it"s not so much nihilism as it is different perceptions of morality. Very pessimistic but not in a typical way.
