The House as a Character

[KxBurns]

How do you see Riverton as a character in the events that unfold there?

It seems like some characters in this book are drawn to the manor at Riverton, while others long to escape it. Which characters have strong feelings either way, and how does that influence their actions?

Note:
Please observe spoiler alert etiquette when you venture beyond chapters of the book we've already discussed. Thanks!

Karen

[vivico1]

I don't think this goes to the particular questions you pose about the characters, but as to the house as a character, I think their is something brooding about this house as a whole, just as the household as a whole. I also see some rooms as having some characteristics or feelings similar to some of the characters within it. In some ways, each room reflects something about one of each of the characters.

[bookhunter]

I think any time you have an old house, or old location, you have the "ghosts" of those that have gone before. What is that HGTV show, "If Walls Could Talk?"

But so many of the descriptions of the Riverton house are rundown, out of use, musty...like it has not been kept up with the times. This seems to me to be reflective of the family itself. Change is in the air and they do not seem to be ready for it.

I would LOVE to see the Icarus fountain, though...it sounds so cool!

Ann, bookhunter

[dhaupt]

I definitely see the house as a character and it becomes much clearer to me as the book progresses. Sometimes we see it through Grace's eyes when she's remembering when it's at it's best and then when it becomes run down when Frederick holds the title. And as far as who wants to stay and who wants to leave I find that Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Townsend are the two characters who don't want to leave and don't (as you find out later in the book). The owners of the house have less proprietary feelings toward the house and I don't know if it's because they have other homes or why, but more of the servants are the ones who want to stay.

[kiakar]

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dhaupt wrote:
I definitely see the house as a character and it becomes much clearer to me as the book progresses. Sometimes we see it through Grace's eyes when she's remembering when it's at it's best and then when it becomes run down when Frederick holds the title. And as far as who wants to stay and who wants to leave I find that Mr. Hamilton and Mrs. Townsend are the two characters who don't want to leave and don't (as you find out later in the book). The owners of the house have less proprietary feelings toward the house and I don't know if it's because they have other homes or why, but more of the servants are the ones who want to stay.

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I think of the house as a main character. It is always there thru all the characters emotions. It has its ghosts of those who left a mark on its foundation. Many secrets are left here to seep into the concrete,cement or wood and some will be known but others maybe never known. Only the skeleton of the house will know the whole truth. So a word will never utter on some truths acted out here in this house.

[Jeneral]

That's funny, because I didn't get the impression at all that the house is a character. I wanted to think that, and I sort of felt like I SHOULD think that way, but I didn't. Oh, well, to each his own!

[MalindaC]

I hadn't really thought of the house as a character, until reading this thread. However, now that I think about it, it's very important to the book. When Grace first starts, the house had stood virtually unchanged for many years. Lady Violet had continued traditions begun many generations before. As the characters and times change, so does the house. At the end of Grace's life, the house is a museum. No one seems to live in it but ghosts.

[rkreilly]

The house is a character- and it sets the moods and models the behavior of so many characters. The servants feel very dedicated and very loyal to the house. They proclaim their loyalty to the family, but with so many generations being served, in a way they are also as dedicated to the house, and continue to stay, no matter who the master. We can see this with Grace, as an old woman, yet Riverton has such an impact on her life that she remembers this part of her life in such vivid detail. Events that happened there, yes, but the house also obviously had it's part in shaping who she became and what is important to her in her life.

Also, with the descriptions of the rooms and the activities that happen there, the atmosphere or feeling of the rooms pushes itself onto the people who live there. Why did the children always escape to the nursery when hiding? And the room was described as dark and ominous, so it must have seen as a place of escape for the children! The gardens, the dining room, the library, all have attitudes! Besides, the setting of the book just leads so much to the story- the setting, being the house, and the sense of tradition it demands of the family.

[rstjm4]

I'm still in part 1, but as I catch up I am definately seeing the house as a character. The way the rooms are described brings the house to life and I think it will play an important part in the story line. It seems like it has been in the family forever and until the present has always been lived in. I am anxious to see what happens that the home is no longer occupied by family.

[TRJ]

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KxBurns wrote:
How do you see Riverton as a character in the events that unfold there?

It seems like some characters in this book are drawn to the manor at Riverton, while others long to escape it. Which characters have strong feelings either way, and how does that influence their actions?

Note:
Please observe spoiler alert etiquette when you venture beyond chapters of the book we've already discussed. Thanks!

Karen

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Hi Everybody...Just getting my feet wet here and thought this was as good a place as any to jump in. :-)

To me Riverton is the central hub of activity more than an actual character. I might have felt differently except for one thing I noted in what I've read thus far. I get a distinct feel that there is somewhat of a lack of description for the house itself. Kate brings the characters to life in vivid full living color but Riverton itself seems to lack something for me. It's very easy to imagine the characters in their settings but the settings are disjointed. We get a very good description of certain rooms, such as the attic bedroom and the library but how the house flows together remains a mystery. Being a fan of historical buildings and architecture, I would have loved more detail and a descriptive idea of how the house was laid out.

[vivico1]

We know this house so well now inside and out we could play a live game of CLUE in it! LOL, It was Lord Asbury in the library with a riding crop! LOL. I sure hope we end up knowing as much about the characters as we do this house!

[bookhunter]

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TRJ wrote:
br>
To me Riverton is the central hub of activity more than an actual character. I might have felt differently except for one thing I noted in what I've read thus far. I get a distinct feel that there is somewhat of a lack of description for the house itself. Kate brings the characters to life in vivid full living color but Riverton itself seems to lack something for me. It's very easy to imagine the characters in their settings but the settings are disjointed. We get a very good description of certain rooms, such as the attic bedroom and the library but how the house flows together remains a mystery. Being a fan of historical buildings and architecture, I would have loved more detail and a descriptive idea of how the house was laid out.

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TRJ, you are right that there is not much description of the physical house/grounds in terms of architecture. The author seems to describe more how the rooms "feel" rather than how they look. We don't have descriptions of the layout much, but we have words that convey how old and decaying everything is.

For example, on p 248 is a bridge over a stream. We don't know how large it is or if wooden or stone (I'm thinking of the bridge in _World Without End_, now!) but we know it is "rickety," "grown over with moss" and in disuse. The bridge is part of the overall theme of the passing away of the old order, the way things USED to be in this society. Everything has changed with new, modern ways--just as a new bridge has been built that can accomodate automobiles.

Ann, bookhunter

[Iulievich]

I don't see the house as being so much a character as it is a physical representation of the Edwardian reality (social, cultural, economic, political), which is the world in which the main characters have spent their formative years. The fate of the house rather closely mirrors the fate of that order of things over the time of the story as it progresses from a dominant reality to the status it has come to have by the time of Grace's final visit toward the end of the book.

The author, as she so often does with this book, has picked up on a fundamental reality of the human condition. We build structures to accommodate the way we live. As circumstances force us -- willingly or otherwise -- to give up the human structures by which we order our lives, so do the physical structures that we have built become altered to reflect the larger changes. Some elements of them persist, some are changed, and some are ultimately abandoned.

People being what we are, there is very often a tragic, sad quality to this process.

The use of structures in this microcosmic manner is hardly something new, but Ms. Morton has made excellent use of it.

I would love to expand on this, but I am afraid the discussion would include too many spoilers.

[ezraSid]

TRJ,
I agree with you, we don't have much of a sense of the house as a whole, just bits and pieces. We get an idea of the kitchens, the nursery, drawing room and dining rooms (i believe there are two?) but we don't get much of the flow of it all. I don't know much about the whole upstairs/downstairs (wasn't that a show on PBS?) but trying to imagine a floorplan in my head is giving me a headache. I understand there is an east and west wing as the west wing has for the most part been closed and the family resides in the east wing. I would love to see the house, from the outside, walking into the foyer and then a basic tour. What rooms are off the foyer? Is there a great room? Is there a stair? Is it central or perhaps one on each side? Is there an upstairs gallery? I just don't get how all the rooms fit together yet. I don't think of the house much as a character as I do as a setting. The house sets the scene, the people take their tone from it. When the house was bright and in good repair so were the people, but as the house falls into disrepair or shuts down, so too, do the players within.

[Cyndell]

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MalindaC wrote:
I hadn't really thought of the house as a character, until reading this thread. However, now that I think about it, it's very important to the book. When Grace first starts, the house had stood virtually unchanged for many years. Lady Violet had continued traditions begun many generations before. As the characters and times change, so does the house. At the end of Grace's life, the house is a museum. No one seems to live in it but ghosts.

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I also hadn't thought of the house as a character until reading this thread. That's why it's so interesting reading everyone's posts. I did however stop and think about having a library like the one at Riverton. Can you imagine? So many books, so little time.

Cindy

[Kourt]

I did not realize that the house is a character in the novel until just now. It is Ike a grandparent seeing many generations grow up. I realized this after talking to my mom about my grandmother who is seeing her children's children have children's. My kids are very lucky to have a young great grandmother to watch them grow. So, I guess I can see the house as such.

[maude40]

Riverton is thought of as a character as on page 168, Ms. Morton gives it life as,"A hugh black beetle on the hill, hunkering down against the heat and it's own sorrow."
Yvonne

[bentley]

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KxBurns wrote:
How do you see Riverton as a character in the events that unfold there?

It seems like some characters in this book are drawn to the manor at Riverton, while others long to escape it. Which characters have strong feelings either way, and how does that influence their actions?

Note:
Please observe spoiler alert etiquette when you venture beyond chapters of the book we've already discussed. Thanks!

Karen

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Karen,

I do not see the house as a character; but I do think of it as a motif.

"Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes. The motif can be an idea, an object, a place, or a statement."

- Wikepedia and Merriams

[GMorrison]

Yes--my thoughts exactly! (Only phrased much more precisely than I could have managed.)

I think the house is also a meta-symbol for the family itself, for the very reasons you mentioned below. This very much became clear to me when Frederick began closing off rooms in the west wing--the house was essentially experiencing the same decline as the family's fortunes, and the partitioning up of the rooms also mirrors the break-up of this once tight extended family of blood relatives and employees.

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MalindaC wrote:
I hadn't really thought of the house as a character, until reading this thread. However, now that I think about it, it's very important to the book. When Grace first starts, the house had stood virtually unchanged for many years. Lady Violet had continued traditions begun many generations before. As the characters and times change, so does the house. At the end of Grace's life, the house is a museum. No one seems to live in it but ghosts.

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[coavalanche12]

I also am behind in my reading! Busy schedule and all, I try to get in as much as can. I agree that the house does represent a character to some degree. It is the main thing that draws them together, staff included.