The Willoughbys

As the children’s lives change, so does the dynamic of their household, and it is clear that the nanny’s firm yet kind guidance provides a welcome change from The Impact of Parental Neglect and Abuse. Nowhere is this shifting dynamic more apparent than in the nanny’s approach to Tim’s behavior at breakfast. As the eldest son, Tim has found himself to be the authority figure after his parents’ absence, and his overbearing nature toward his siblings reflects his desire to provide them with a semblance of the care and attention that they all lack. However, his version of caretaking is necessarily limited by his childish viewpoint, leading to a nonsensical dynamic that ignores The Importance of Logical Rules for creating a healthy, balanced household. By contrast, when the Willoughby children finally have a nanny to look after them, they are no longer controlled by Tim’s whims and instead find themselves under the care of an understanding person who feeds them well, listens to their wants and needs, and encourages them to learn and grow. The nanny shows the children The Importance of Logical Rules and improves their relationship with one another. While Tim continues to patronize Jane for being a girl, she pays less and less attention to it and learns to assert herself. This inward shift foreshadows her increasingly feminist stance and her eventual decision to embrace the career of writing—literally speaking for herself in order to make a living. Meanwhile, however, the children are content with the realization that their nanny will always treat them with dignity and respect.

Despite these serious overtones, the essentially whimsical nature of the story reasserts itself when the children receive a letter stating that the house is for sale and realize that their parents are trying to get rid of them. In the Willoughby house, the children try desperately to prevent the house from being sold, and Lowry indulges in further moments of humor and exaggeration when the nanny dresses as a statue to scare off prospective buyers. While the absurdity of this image is meant to entertain, the scene also serves as a revelation that not only is the nanny on the children’s side, but she is actively rebelling along with them. This knowledge provides the Willoughby children with a great deal of relief, and they embrace the realization that for the first time, they now have an adult advocate who is deeply invested in their well-being.

While the Willoughbys are in the midst of this chaos, Mr. Melanoff’s life is transformed overnight by the baby that they left on his doorstep. As an emblem of child neglect and abandonment, the baby soon becomes the essential connection that will later lead all of the main characters to encounter each other and build a life together. Thus, this character with no family at all will eventually become the impetus that causes others to form a found family. For now, however, Ruth’s presence provides Mr. Melanoff with a vital sense of purpose that he uses to get back into the stride of life. Although he once lived in squalor, he is now compelled to have his home cleaned, eat healthy food, and take care of himself so that he can take care of Ruth as well. Piece by piece, the two families’ lives are improving and coming together, but for the time being, Mr. Melanoff’s story is only briefly revisited, allowing suspense to build as the author deliberately delays revealing how these two families will interact in the future. A further wrinkle in the plot is introduced as the narrative reveals that Mr. Melanoff’s state of grief is based on a misconception; contrary to his belief, his lost family is alive and well in Switzerland, and this seemingly out-of-place detail foreshadows further developments about the current status of his long-lost wife and son.