The Haywards: Appearance and Reality

               At the beginning of the story, as described in previous posts, Stephen idealises the Haywards. In his distorted view, the Haywards are the perfect family and Stephen wishes his own family were like them. Little by little, we realise how unreliable Stephen's point of  view is and we start perceiving the conflicts and the dark truth behind the Haywards´ immaculate white walls. Stephen also realises his initial conception of Keith´s family was inadequate, but his understanding of their problems is still not complete. We- readers-. are sometimes a step ahead him in interpreting the clues provided by his close observation of this family. A good example of this difference is provided by  chapters 8 and 9.

Uncle Peter

Uncle Peter was Auntie Dee's husband, and as it happens with all the other members of Keith´s family, Stephen describes him in a way that shows admiration and idealization.

Uncle Peter is an absent character in the story because he was away in the war. He was a bomber pilot in the RAF. The narrator shows the admiration the young Stephen felt for him by saying : "No one had an absent relative who could compare with Uncle Peter” The fact he was a bomber pilot flying over Germany made him a hero in Stephen´s eyes. He was more prestigious than other neighbours who were also fighting (Mr. Berrill or the McAffees´son) probably because he was bombarding the Germans and in this way, taking revenge for the Blitz.

Paradoxically, even though Uncle Peter was away, his existence could yet be strongly felt inside Auntie Dee's house. (“His very absence was a kind of presence.”) There was a portrait of him  in his RAF officer's cap, in a silver frame on the mantelpiece. Around it were some trophies he had won at sports and some of his belongings.  The mantelpiece resembled a kind of altar, and the words selected to introduce him  and his wife suggest that for Stephen, they shared the sacredness of religious figures:“Auntie Dee and even the untidiness itself glowed with a sacred light like a saint and his attributes in a religious painting, because they reflected the glory of Uncle Peter”. As this quotation suggests, Uncle Peter´s presence could be felt not only on the mantelpiece of the house, but also in the untidiness and neglect of the house (because of the absence of a male figure to tend it), and in his wife, who “reflected” his glory.

The fact that Auntie Dee was bringing up Little Milly on her own with what Stephen describes as “cheerfulness” is for Stephen a consequence of the pride she felt for having such a venerable husband. The narrator expresses this idea with a pun:  “You felt his cheerful bravery in Auntie Dee´s own brave cheerfulness” This quotation shows the way in which Stephen idealised  both Uncle Peter´s attitude towards his role in the war, and Auntie Dee´s mood, and saw them as mirror images of their conjunct effort to contribute with the war.

Last but not least, Uncle Peter´s presence, and his wife´s love and pride for him, could also be felt in the brooch of the RAF Auntie Dee used to wear. The narrator uses another word with religious connotations to express this idea:”manifest” ”He was manifest in the little brooch that Auntie Dee had always pinned to her breast, that showed the three famous initials on a blue enamel background, with the famous wings outspread among them, and the famous crown above.” Here, the repetition of the word “famous” emphasises the prestige of Uncle Peter´s position, and the admiration Stephen felt for him.

In conclusion, Auntie Dee and Uncle Peter , as part of Keith´s family, are described in an extremely positive way. This shows how much the young Stephen idealised them.

Auntie Dee

Auntie Dee was Keith's mother´s sister. She was formally known as Mrs. Tracey. Only Keith's family called her Auntie Dee .She was married to Uncle Peter, who was away because of the war. They had a daughter called Milly.  Her house was very untidy, most probably because of the absence of Uncle Peter: "The grass on the untended lawn was as high as the rusting croquet hoops left over from earlier summers". Even though Keith disapproved of the neglect of her house, Stephen considered it had an almost sacred quality as it  “reflected the glory of Uncle Peter”

Her family lived three houses down Keith's so Mrs Hayward would often sent his son with food for Auntie Dee. Although Keith's mother and Auntie Dee were sisters, they were different both in appearance and personality: "Keith's mother was tall, Auntie Dee was short. Keith's mother was unhurried and calmly smiling; Auntie Dee was always in a rush and smiling, not calmly at all but with a reckless display of white teeth and cheerfulness"

Stephen seemed to like Auntie Dee for many reasons. First of all,  Auntie Dee addressed Stephen as well as Keith: "She'd speak, not just to Keith, but quite directly to both of us, as if I existed as much as Keith did"  Secondly, she was Uncle Peter´s wife, and Stephen clearly admired him. Last but not least, she was his friend´s aunt, and anything that belonged to Keith was admirable for Stephen, specially because it was different from what he had: “ “Would even Uncle Peter have been quite such a perfect uncle if Stephen himself hadn´t had to make do with a handful of obscure aunts in flowered dresses?”