The Heat of the Day

Robert is Stella’s lover and an important secondary character in the novel. He has an injured knee as a result of a war injury, and works in the War Office during the action of the novel. Before the war, he worked abroad in his father’s business. His knee injury is his main defining physical characteristic. It is also important to the plot, as he eventually dies as a result of a fall from Stella’s roof: It is unclear whether he died by suicide or fell, perhaps because of being unsteady. Stella observes that the varying quality of his limp “had like that in a stammer a psychic cause—it was a matter of whether he did or did not, that day, feel like a wounded man” (97).

Robert is accused by Harrison of espionage, and eventually admits to being a Nazi spy. Throughout most of the novel, both Stella and the reader are unsure whether or not this claim is true. Bowen portrays Robert as mysterious throughout the novel. For example, no detail is provided about where he lives in London; he only appears in the novel when he visits Stella or his family’s country home, Holme Dene.

His affection for Stella functions as a redeeming quality in spite of his actions. Even though he expects to be arrested, he says he cannot imagine not seeing Stella again, and goes to her apartment in spite of the danger of being found there. Robert functions as a foil to Harrison. Whereas Robert is a Nazi spy, Harrison is a counterspy for England.

Like Robert, Harrison is a mysterious character who has no clear place of residence, going only by the last name Harrison, and has no identifying details other than what Stella observes. His first introduction in the novel is as the unnamed man Louie meets at the outdoor concert, described as being around 38 or 39. From Louie’s perspective, “[h]is unconsciousness, which had been what had mainly drawn her, was now, like the frown with which he had sat through the music, gone; it was succeeded by a sort of narrow, somewhat routine alertness she did not like” (9).

His primary physical feature is uneven eyes, which both Louie and Stella notice at various points in the novel. Louie perceives that “one of his eyes either was or behaved as being just perceptibly higher than the other [which] gave her the feeling of being looked at twice” (9). From early in the novel, Bowen connects Harrison’s physical features with his espionage profession. Harrison is described by Stella as punctual, “wheeling in on the quiver of the appointed hour as though attached to the very works of the clock” (21). He describes himself as having no vanity and not caring what others think of him.

Harrison appears at the family funeral for Cousin Francis, though no one knows who he is. He is a counterspy for England, and tells Stella about Robert’s actions. He exhibits characteristics of an intelligence operative, speaking very obliquely to Stella. All his claims tend to be made through insinuation rather than direct language. He is a foil to Robert in two main ways. First, that he is working with the Allied forces rather than Nazi Germany. Second, Stella initially abhors him, whereas she loves Robert. As her suspicion grows, this balance does begin to shift: After Robert’s death, she finds that whereas she used to dread Harrison’s visits, she now wishes that he would visit her again.

While Harrison appears more upstanding than Robert in the sense that he is working against Nazi Germany, he is morally ambiguous as well. Since he is attracted to Stella, he suggests that he can ensure that Robert is not caught if she will begin a relationship with him instead. Again, he speaks vaguely throughout, but Stella understands toward the end of the novel that if she had decided to have sex with Harrison, he may have been able to prevent Robert from being caught.

Roderick is Stella’s 20-year-old son, who is serving in the army. He is waiting for his commission, which he receives toward the end of the novel, so is in training rather than seeing action during the events of the novel. He has a very close friendship with Frank, another soldier who does not appear in the novel. He has recently inherited Mount Morris, the Irish country estate of a relative. He takes a great interest in that location, first via his mother, then by visiting later in the novel. He begins to think of Mount Morris as a symbol for the hope of life after war.

His process of imagining improvements to the estate is intertwined with his progress toward adulthood and his potential future identity as a responsible landlord. The inheritance establishes for Roderick “an historic future” (52). Roderick seems in many ways very young, in part because he is often described from Stella’s perspective. She observes, “how exposed, naïve and comically childishly slender his neck looked rearing out of the bulky battle dress collar” (53). Throughout the novel, Roderick is portrayed as being between childhood and adulthood.

Stella is concerned that Roderick tends not to form strong attachments. Throughout the novel, his only close relationships are with Stella and Frank. However, Roderick is kind and interested. For example, he worries about Cousin Nettie, who is housed in a mental health facility. He insists on going to visit her, and offering her the opportunity to return to Mount Morris if she wishes. He worries about his mother and expresses sympathy and love for her after Robert’s death, in spite of what she tells him about Robert being a traitor. Roderick often doubts himself, and his thought process often involves questioning whether he is taking the right course of action and thinking about how other characters feel.