Parade's End

In Chapter 1, Edith Ethel, tells Valentine that Christopher has returned. Two important topics emerge from Valentine’s thoughts. The first is her comparison of herself to Penelope, the wife of Odysseus from Homer’s Odyssey. Valentine has always dreamed of reading Greek literature by the Mediterranean Sea, but now she adds the motif of the woman watching for the return of her warrior love. The next topic is her sentiments regarding the announcement of the end of the war. Aside from feelings of relief and hope for the future, she also worries about that future, and her pre-war feelings of anger against the status quo, which will return. On Page 508, Valentine imagines the festivities of Armistice Day being reminiscent of saturnalia. Saturnalia was a Roman holiday in December, celebrating the god Saturn. One key aspect of the celebration was the reversal of societal roles. For example, on that day, a master would serve dinner to his enslaved person. In essence, she hopes for a social revolution but knows that authority will do what it must to preserve itself. Valentine decidedly breaks with the dictates of society and moves closer to accepting Christopher and a life with him out of wedlock.

However, as Valentine’s train of thought shows in Chapter 2, that transition would not come easily to her. For one, she still cannot fully comprehend Christopher’s character and refers to him as a “grey ball of mist” (519). Second, she is unsure what to make of the phone call; she does not know whether Edith Ethel was trying to pawn Christopher off on her, or whether Christopher wanted her the way she wanted him. Much of her thoughts swirl around she and Christopher’s last night together and why they did not have sex. Page 525 focuses on crux of her worries: They hadn’t slept together because Christopher was very good, or he was indifferent. The first one makes sense to her and speaks to her perception of Christopher, for she too sees him as saintly. On Page 527 she compares him to John Peel, a character in a folk song embodying the traits of the English gentleman. However, all those good qualities she lists are contradicted by his behavior: He had not written to her at all, and this is the root of her greatest concern that he no longer cares for her.