UNIT THREE

I remember one evening I spent in Malcolm's home, during our brief engagement, when we sat in the small neat lounge after supper drinking tea, and the conversation turned to immigration - then much in the news, owing to some smallpox scare in the press. One of Malcolm's aunts, with her husband, had been summoned in for the evening to meet me, and we sat there, discussing Asians: Mr Gray and the aunt and uncle took a hostile though overtly sensible line, insisting that the country could not possibly assimilate the numbers of immigrants, and that such scares as the smallpox one could merely aggravate the situation: immigration control could only be for the good of the immigrants, they said, with every appearance of reason. Malcolm and I said nothing: we sat quietly and listened, unwilling to rush in, unwilling to declare our interests. I have a feeling that the line of argument was toned down for our benefit anyway, and would have been more virulent and outspoken had we not been there. But as I have said, we were unwilling to provoke, comforted by the knowledge that our protest was mutual though silent; and the aunt, an irritating and very stupid woman, encouraged by lack of opposition, eventually started to argue that the immigrants were ruining the health of the country, giving true British people not only smallpox and tuberculosis but also other diseases she did not like to name. I could see that Malcolm's father agreed with her in spirit, though he was too finical and logical a man to support her shocking reasoning: but Malcolm's mother was becoming increasingly distressed. She was a strange little woman, Mrs Gray: grey-haired, listless and yet nervous, and horribly restless - like me, she could not sit still, and her every word was accompanied by painfully excessive movements of throat and eyes. She suffered from what she called migraine, and was very sensitive to draughts: she also went to church regularly, despite the mockery of the rest of the family. Somewhere, somehow, inside herself, she kept herself safe: there was identity there and on that evening I remember that I saw it and know that I'd been right to believe in its possibility. She spoke, about the Asians: with much coughing and self disparaging swallowingt, in a voice so watery once could hardly hear it, she finally said, 'I don't suppose they much like having smallpox either, you know.' And as this remark fell into silence, she bravely followed it up. 'All the Eskimos died, you know,' she said,'when the white people got to them. They all died of common colds.' Silence continued. 'The red Indians, too,' she said gently, almost inaudibly. Malcolm's aunt could not make the connection: I saw her eyes goggle and her jaw drop. Poor Mrs Gray: such bird-like frail defence. The human spirit, maintaining its ridiculous liberal faiths. I always liked her, after that evening, but I don't suppose that she knew it.

1. What prompted the discussion on immigration?

2. What was the initial argument put forward by Mr Gray, the aunt and the uncle?

3. Did the writer consider this a sensible or rational argument?

4. Why didn't she intervene in the discussion?

5. What encouraged the aunt to develop her argument?

6. What did she say?

7. What was Mrs Gray's reply?

8. What does it reveal about the aunt's attitude?

9. What did Mrs Gray say next?

10. How did the aunt react?

This passage is taken from The Waterfall, by Margaret Drabble. Attention is focussed first on the quality of the argument developed, and then on the behaviour of the individuals within the social group. In particular, we concentrate on what is going on behind the verbal interchange.

Comprehension

For question 3, draw attention if necessary to the phrases overtly sensible (1.9), and with every appearance of reason (1.13 and 14).

Analysis

First discuss with the class as a whole what we learn about the characters of i) the aunt, ii) Mrs Gray, iii) the writer. Then set the class to work in small groups on the question (written on the board) "why don't the participants in the conversation state their views sincerely and directly?". Among the points that should emerge are that the occasion (meeting a prospective daughter-in-law) is one which demands politeness on both sides, that Malcolm and the writer feel intellectually superior, that the aunt and her allies know that young, educated people like Malcolm and the writer generally disapprove of racial prejudice, and are ashamed to admit to it openly, etc. Some students may find the writer's attitude smug and condescending; she has the 'right' liberal attitudes, but she is happy to sit and feel superior, when she might say what she thinks.

Overall, the major point that should emerge is that brutal honesty would lead to irretrievable breakdown in the relationships being created, so hostility, emotion and violence are suppressed. If you like, get the students to rewrite the dialogue with everyone expressing themselves freely and directly. It might be possible at this point to extend the discussion from Units 1 and 2 on the problems involved in expressing one's feelings with complete honesty.