Chapter 7: Tea and Toast

[AnnieS]

Is the chapter title Tea and Toast or Breakfast?  I have breakfast.  just wonder'n

[no4daughter]

Like some of the others, I too found it interesting that Ginny, who seemed to be so looking forward to Vivien's arrival, now says that she is "somewhere deep within the bowels of the house, infecting it." 

When Ginny was standing on the landing listening to Vivien's footsteps above her, I really chuckled when I read, "Forty-five seconds later I hear her in the attic library. . . ".  Now I really think she is EXTREMELY obsessed by time.  I wonder if she used her digital or dial watch (or both) to keep track of Vivien's movements.     

[noannie]

I feel Vivi was exploring the house and remembering things as she went. She hadn't been home in fifty years so she was re-acquainting herself with the house. Ginny, living alone and being paranoid thought she was searching for something. I felt bad for vivi when she discovered all the furniture was sold, but on the other hand, she chose to distance herself from her sister and the family home. Vivi, in my opinion was jealous of the relationship that Clive and Ginny had together, sharing their love for moths and butterflies.

noannie

[psujulie]

I think this chapter again showed us that Ginny isn't quite right. She felt she had to sneak around and spy on Vivien as Vivien was looking around the house. She even poured the glass of milk (which she never drinks) so she had an excuse! Most "normal" people would have just asked Vivien what she was doing. I think this behavior by Ginny further demonstrates her inability to communicate with people.

[KxBurns]

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AnnieS wrote:

Is the chapter title Tea and Toast or Breakfast?  I have breakfast.  just wonder'n

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You're correct, AnnieS, the chapter is titled "Breakfast." In my slightly earlier version of the ARC it was "Tea and Toast" but I'm working exclusively off the newer ARC now. I just made the change in my subject header.

Message Edited by KxBurns on 03-05-2008 06:43 PM

[runnybabbit620]

Here we get another glimpse into the past and realize that Vivi wants to leave the nest as Ginny notes how unhappy she is at Bulburrow Court.  She tells Ginny how life here is, basically boiled down to studying moths and that's not something she wants to do.  Ginny, sharing Clive's passion for lepidoptery, seems to be in favor this time around (as opposed to when Vivi fell of the bell tower and Ginny wasn't in favor due ?to her reaction?).  We read on to see that Ginny has to bring up the idea of what Vivi wants to do and where she wants to go (while Vivi hides above to "eavesdrop")--London for a secretarial course.  Why can't Vivi ask Clive and Maud her darned self???  What is up with this family and the children alternately falling out of favor for the craziest things?

Ginny remarks that Clive was a passive person and quiet, that he was unnoticeable most of the time, never had a strong opinion on anything outside of work, and, if so, Ginny didn't notice.  Ginny doesn't see how Clive could have been offensive to anyone, but Vivi's words and actions seem to imply another way of seeing things.  Is this because Clive behaved differently with Vivi or is it that Vivi held lepidoptery/the family business in such disdain and the fact that Clive was head over heels into the study may have irritated Vivi?

[CAG]

I think the past is so dangerous because there is something hidden down deep in Ginny-something she does not want to deal with.

I think Vivi is looking for something she could sell (of value) or something that will prove something.

I don't understand Vivi's bitterness towards her father unless she felt he favored Ginny to a great extent.

[ELee]

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noannie wrote:

I feel Vivi was exploring the house and remembering things as she went. She hadn't been home in fifty years so she was re-acquainting herself with the house. Ginny, living alone and being paranoid thought she was searching for something. I felt bad for vivi when she discovered all the furniture was sold, but on the other hand, she chose to distance herself from her sister and the family home. Vivi, in my opinion was jealous of the relationship that Clive and Ginny had together, sharing their love for moths and butterflies.

noannie

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noannie,

I totally agree.  I think that Vivi was in such disbelief that the whole house had been emptied of furniture that she just had to see for herself.  When she found that all that was left was Clive's "stuff", she probably looked quickly through that to see if she could discover something of Maud's to keep.  I really believe her only motive was to find something of her mother's to remember her by.

[DSaff]

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Everyman wrote:
My belief that Vivi is actually looking for something, not just exploring the house, is supported, at least a bit, by the comments on page 81 that "something scrapes along the floor," which isn't her footsteps which Ginny also hears separately, but apparently is something Vivi moved, by the thud of a book landing on the floor (how does Ginny know it's a book???), but more scrapes. It appears, if Ginny is an accurate recorder, that Vivi is indeed moving things around, lifting books, which implies she is indeed looking for something, not just exploring.

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I also believe that Vivi is searching for something. Evidently she thinks it could still be hidden someplace because the lack of furniture, etc. doesn't stop the hunting. It seems odd that she is coming home for good and starts looking, not really spending a lot of quality time with her sister. I think Ginny has a right to be suspicious - but not paranoid.

[ELee]

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psujulie wrote:

I think this chapter again showed us that Ginny isn't quite right. She felt she had to sneak around and spy on Vivien as Vivien was looking around the house. She even poured the glass of milk (which she never drinks) so she had an excuse! Most "normal" people would have just asked Vivien what she was doing. I think this behavior by Ginny further demonstrates her inability to communicate with people.

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Right on!  Not only does she not drink milk, she positively does not like milk!  And to think that this would constitute "a prop" that would allow her to be discovered anywhere in the house "drinking it", shows just how "far out" she is.  If you poured yourself a glass of milk in the kitchen, would you adjourn to the hall, or the stair, or the landing, to drink it?  In trying to cover her oddness, she is emphasizing it!

[DSaff]

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Everyman wrote:
Ginny has closed up the other rooms and not entered them for forty years. They must be inches deep in dust and filth, spiders and other insects, almost certainly mice or rats. But Vivian hops into them, has her apparently new furniture delivered, and goes apparently happily to bed without any indication that she had had to a scrap of cleaning up. Would any other 70 year old woman who was obviously used to the better things of life (chauffeured limousine, always carefully made up, etc.) endure going into rooms that had been closed and emptied (and presumably unheated and uncleaned) for forty years?

Doesn't ring true for me.

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Whatever she is looking for must be awfully important to her. Not only going into these closed up rooms, but also being in another wing from her sister.

[gosox]

Message Edited by gosox on 03-05-2008 08:15 PM

[Mselet]

Ginny's "creeping" to spy on Vivi is reminiscient of the protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper."  As the character descends into madness, she begins to "creep" around her room.  Ginny's creeping in hallways and on landings, to spy in Vivi, shows us just how peculiar she is, but also hints at a shadow of madness.  Ginny even mentions in her flashback that her room was painted yellow.  I wonder if it was a direct nod from Poppy to Gilman.

[Lildove3]

Basicly from what i gather from this chapter is Ginny is wondering why Vivi is so curious about what happend to along the husehold stuff and why is it so very important that she has something that had once

belonged to Maud...is there a underlined reason? Yes, Ginny does go back in time once again..it's as if she's

starting to thrive on the past as if it's her life line to relive her past with Vivi..otherwise I think Ginny wouldn't be able to live.

[AmyEJ]

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boo27 wrote:

Has anyone else noticed that Ginny is constantly saying that she is happy to have Vivi home, yet her actions and anxiety say the exact opposite.

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Yes, definitely.  It's also similar to the handling of her mother:  she's never said anything negative about her and in fact speaks highly of her, yet Ginny sold her things and describes her death without emotion. 

And I agree that much of this is because she doesn't feel comfortable in her own skin, as you already mentioned, boo27. 

[ladytoad]

Everyman wrote:

On page 73 she says "It is difficult for me to explain to you..." Who does she thing the "you" is? For whom is she writing this? It was quite usual for 18th and 19th novelists to speak directly to the reader, but most modern first person narratives don't move out of the page and address the reader that way.

We aren't told why she is writing this, whether she just started writing when Vivi decided to come home or whether she has been recording events of her life prior to this, or what her intent or purpose is. But it's interesting that here she reaches out to whomever she thinks her reader is to be and says it's hard to explain to us. It struck me as a bit incongruous, and not explained. 
 

I, too, have been intrigued by Ginny speaking directly to the reader. In other places, she writes "between you and me," which is kind of funny given how many of us are reading the book!

[lmpmn]

What a great catch!  As I began the story and started to wonder if Ginny was "off" I immediately remembered "The Yellow Wallpaper" from reading it in college.  However, I didn't put that together with the yellow bedroom of her childhood and the creeping around.  Very good!  I think even if it wasn't intended, it's still appropriate to compare the stories and women in them.

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Mselet wrote:

Ginny's "creeping" to spy on Vivi is reminiscient of the protagonist in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's short story, "The Yellow Wallpaper."  As the character descends into madness, she begins to "creep" around her room.  Ginny's creeping in hallways and on landings, to spy in Vivi, shows us just how peculiar she is, but also hints at a shadow of madness.  Ginny even mentions in her flashback that her room was painted yellow.  I wonder if it was a direct nod from Poppy to Gilman.

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[lmpmn]

It seems as if Vivien was very manipulative in planning her way out of the house.  She put Ginny up to asking Maud and Clive for her.  It's safe to assume, I think, that she's still manipulative and possible used to getting her way.

[crazyasitsounds]

I got the impression that Ginny is lonely (or, if not lonely, simply alone) & just doesn't want to deal with memories of other people, objects that remind her of other people, or places that belonged to other people. I found it sad that she's letting the house decay without a second thought, though. The fact that the walls are crumbling around her is a little bit depressing.

Vivi has to be looking for something. I don't believe for a minute that she's just looking for "anything of Maud's".

I knew Clive couldn't possibly be as one-dimensional as Ginny had described him in previous chapters. But at the same time, it's strange that Ginny & Vivi's memories of him are so opposed. Vivi's version probably has a lot of truth to it--if Clive were partial to Ginny, I don't think Ginny would notice. But it's interesting that both sisters have the impression that their parents just left Vivi alone to figure her life out.

[kmensing]

Ginny realizes Vivi is looking for something specific--what could it be?

I’m amazed that Vivi thinks Ginny is the favored child. All this time, from Ginny’s point of view, we’re lead to believe that Vivi was the favorite.

Will Ginny realize that Bobby has taken advantage of her when she realized he took the hearth stones from the fireplace?

Ginny/Maud tension is brought up again when Vivi asks if there is anything left in the house that belonged to Maud. Ginny has kept nothing and thinks nothing of it, even when she points out to Vivi that she shouldn’t be resentful of Clive.