Book Three: Night and Day

"Night and Day" was interesting because it showed a very different world than the one shown in "The Golden Bowl". In "The Golden Bowl", a very traditional idea of marriage and equality was portrayed, (the women were very submissive to their husbands and marriage was for money and a title, not love). Instead, "Night and Day" showed a very different approach, not only on romantic relationships, but on the females' role in society.

In "Night and Day" there are four main characters: Katharine Hilbery, Ralph Denham, Mary Datchet and William Rodney. Katharine is an upper class woman who is initially engaged to William, but calls off her engagement because he seems more interested in her cousin than her. At the time, for someone, especially a woman, to call off their engagement because of love. While there were definitely people who married for love, most marriages revolved around money or "gaining" something, so this was a refreshing change of pace.

Mary Datchet is a truly interesting character because of her rather unsuccessful love life and colorful personal life. It was typically believed at the time, (not to generalize) that an unmarried woman was a little... off, for lack of better words. What makes her even more interesting is the fact that worked for an organization for the enactment of women's suffrage, (giving women the right to vote etc). Mary was a very strong, out-spoken female, a rarity at the time.

"Night and Day" was a true story about the advancement in women's rights, something that was so frowned upon at the time. It demonstrated the changing of social norms and that love and marriage can, (and should) go together. I found it to be a pleasant change of pace from "The Golden Bowl" which showed what really was "normal" back in early 20th century London. I think that this book proves that with a combined effort, social norms can be changed for the better, and that all it takes is a joint effort.

Maps of London: 1900-1910

Famous British authors:

• Virginia Woolf

1. Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals, 1897–1909

• T. S. Eliot (American-born)

1. Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917

• Joseph Conrad (Polish-born)

1. Lord Jim (1900)
2. The Inheritors (1901)
3. Typhoon (1902, begun 1899)
4. Heart of Darkness (1902)
5. Romance (1903)
6. Nostromo (1904)
7. The Secret Agent (1907)

• Bernard Shaw (Irish-born)

1. The Admirable Bashville (1901)
2. Man and Superman (1902–03)
3. John Bull's Other Island (1904)
4. How He Lied to Her Husband (1904)
5. Major Barbara (1905)
6. The Doctor's Dilemma (1906)
7. Getting Married (1908)
8. The Glimpse of Reality (1909)
9. The Fascinating Foundling (1909)
10. Press Cuttings (1909)
11. Misalliance (1910)

London 1900-1910:

• Starting point of WWI
• Englad had the largest empire in history
• Industrial Revolution
• First ever motor bus system was introduced to London in the early 1900s
• London started to get completely wired for advanced electricity

Book Two: The Golden Bowl

This book really studied the social norms of early 20th century London. It followed the lives of Maggie Verver, her father Adam Verver, her husband Prince Amerigo and his mistress, (her father's wife) Charlotte Stant.

This book really demonstrates the difference in norms from the 1900's to today. When Maggie discovered that Amerigo was having an affair with her father's new wife, rather than divorcing him and telling her father that his wife was being unfaithful to him, she felt that she had to save her marriage or else fear being publicly ridiculed for being divorced. Also, instead of just confronting her husband, which granted would be hard to do even now, she had to resort to quite and secretive meddling, (resulting in her father and Charlotte moving to America whilst the Prince and she stayed in England).

Beyond that, this book also demonstrated the true lack of respect for women that many men, (not to be stereotypical) had at the time. Amerigo, who did seem to care about Maggie a bit, mainly married her for her money, at least this was my impression. Maggie came from a very wealthy family, (her father, Adam, was a successful art collector and financier) whereas Amerigo, despite being a prince, was completely impoverished. He [Amerigo] fell into an adulterous relationship easily, (he and Charlotte had been together before he even met Maggie) despite being married and well knowing that his mistress was married.

Amerigo felt that he was fully entitled in having an affair because his wife enjoyed spending time with her father, which would leave him feeling moderately lonely and more than anything, bored. With these few excuses and his overall feeling of superiority, he successfully entered into an affair.

Overall, I think that this book was a very clear view of the modern English relationship. It showed the lack of care for marriage that many men seemed to have at the time, (those that carried on with mistresses that is) as well as the free-wheeling of the "upper class". What I mean by this is that since the families in question were of a higher income, it gave them the ability to not really care about consequences the way that someone without a financial backing would. In closing, this book gave me a thorough look at the social norms of early 20th century London, something my last book, The Hounds of Baskervilles, didn't quite cover for me.

Timeline

Famous British authors:

• Virginia Woolf

1. Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals, 1897–1909

• T. S. Eliot (American-born)

1. Inventions of the March Hare: Poems 1909-1917

• Joseph Conrad (Polish-born)

1. Lord Jim (1900)
2. The Inheritors (1901)
3. Typhoon (1902, begun 1899)
4. Heart of Darkness (1902)
5. Romance (1903)
6. Nostromo (1904)
7. The Secret Agent (1907)

• Bernard Shaw (Irish-born)

1. The Admirable Bashville (1901)
2. Man and Superman (1902–03)
3. John Bull's Other Island (1904)
4. How He Lied to Her Husband (1904)
5. Major Barbara (1905)
6. The Doctor's Dilemma (1906)
7. Getting Married (1908)
8. The Glimpse of Reality (1909)
9. The Fascinating Foundling (1909)
10. Press Cuttings (1909)
11. Misalliance (1910)

London 1900-1910:

• Starting point of WWI
• Englad had the largest empire in history
• Industrial Revolution
• First ever motor bus system was introduced to London in the early 1900s
• London started to get completely wired for advanced electricity