8th March. 10 o'clock. Brilliant blue skies. The best day of the year so far. A fine day to meet, talk and celebrate International Women's Day. It was certainly apt that one of our main topics was motherhood in Life After Life. Without doubt it is a topic we keep coming back to.
We talked about motherhood in a number of ways; Sylvie's assertion that it was the only thing for a woman to do, the different versions of Sylvie as a mother, having a favourite child, Sylvie versus Izzie as mothers, the presence or lack of maternal instinct.
'Do you think I should apply to university when I finish school?'
'Oh really, dear, what's the point? It won't teach you how to be a wife and a mother.'
What if I don't want to be a wife and a mother?'
Sylvie laughed. 'Now you're just talking nonsense to provoke.'"
For Sylvie there really is no other calling for a woman. Of course she, unlike Mrs Glover, or Bridget, doesn't have to work for a living. She has Hugh to thank for saving her from the perils of becoming an artist's model. So why should her daughters want to do any differently? Possibly, simply to annoy her, just as Izzie does.
Why does Izzie irritate her so? This was another point of discussion. Obviously in February 1910 Izzie is the reason for Hugh's absence when Ursula is born. She has already begun her life of impulse and action, so very different in many ways to Sylvie's own. On a maternal note I think Izzie's ability to forget her son so completely, without an ounce of regret it would seem, rankles Sylvie to the extreme.
She had never forgiven Izzie for the baby. He would be thirteen now, the same age as Ursula. 'A little Fritz or Hans,' she said. 'My own children's blood running through his veins. But, of course the only thing of any interest to Izzie is Izzie.'"
There is an interesting re-quote of this later in the book
On every visit to Fox Corner, Izzie seems to manage to annoy Sylvie with her ideas or schemes.
The cars, the hair and clothes, the writing, the success, the extravagant gifts, her changing choice of favourite all succeed in exasperating Sylvie, who cannot resist any occasion to make known her highly held opinion of her sister-in-law. Each visit provokes hissing and plate-banging, sharp comments thrown in whenever possible:
'Izzie is not a person from whom anyone with any sense would take advice.' ('Excuse me?' Izzie said.)"
...
' And I have the house in Holland Park, and I have money, but of course no husband. Nor do I have a child.'
'Really?' Sylvie said. 'Are you sure?'
Izzie ignored her.'"
Houses in Holland Park
This generally seems to be Izzie's mechanism for coping with whatever unpleasantries come her way, be they unwanted reminders or comments, world events or financial responsibilities. Of course, that's not to say she's unaware, over lunch at Simpson's she summarises succinctly her relationship with Sylvie:
'There's always been a certain, shall we say, froideur between your mother and myself. I, of course, am considered mad, bad and dangerous to know.'"
Simpson's - famous for roast beef and chess
Deep within her heart Sylvie is jealous of Izzie, not that she can ever admit this to herself. I think Izzie represents the luxurious, fantastic life she might have lived, had her father not died and the house of cards fallen. She allowed herself to be 'rescued' by Hugh and embraced motherhood as her raison d'être.
'Motherhood was her responsibility, her destiny. It was, lacking anything else ( and what else could there be?) her life.'"
Izzie, despite the minor interruption of having a baby, is able then to go to finishing school, something else denied to Sylvie by her father's death, and then "curtailed by the relief of marriage." There are fleeting suggestions of Sylvie as a pragmatic eighteen year old who marries Hugh and then perhaps grows to love him. One ponders over her favourite child, Teddy and the fact that he looks nothing like Hugh. We talked about mothers having a favourite, and how siblings react to this. Points of interest are that the "giddy aunt" is constantly changing her mind as to who, out of the three younger Todds, is her favourite whereas Sylvie's is always Teddy. She is an only child herself and so has never had to cope with the reality of what this might mean. The theme of favouritism among siblings is present in many of Atkinson's works.
Having taken up motherhood, Sylvie's freedom is compromised - by her own choice of course. Teddy is born in 1914 and later she is 'envious of Izzie's war, even the awfulness.'
Then there is the ultimate betrayal. Ursula's abortion and her aunt's role in the episode. Here we see a different Sylvie, standing in harsh judgement on her own daughter. This is something we will surely discuss at our next meeting.
Curiously, the only thing Sylvie and Izzie agree over is Izzie and Hugh's mother, the formidable, victorian Adelaide. More comparisons next time.
Adelaide?
'heroically victorian'
'a giant spider'
Our next reading challenge is to reach A long Hard War - September 1940 for 22nd March.
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