Introduction
The story is narrated by John Dowell an American soldier recounting his nine-year experience relationship between himself and his wife, Florence and an English couple, the Ashburhams. Dowell and his wife Florence experienced a couple of problem when she decided to cheat on her and feign her heart problems so that she could avoid fulfilling conjugal duties. The book explores the notion of Britishness by Dowell describing the English couple as “good people”. He criticizes the well mannered English couple’s good manners of being not good because his wife is receiving him so he has nothing to believe in. The novel comprises of four parts, each describing the Britishness in the events that took place in the novel.
Dowell describes the Ashburhams, Edward and Leonora as well mannered but boring couple as well. The Britishness is described by Dowell who is an American soldier on a mission with his wife Florence. He describes Edwards revolves around where to get the best soap, the best brandy and the best everything. The British are perfectionist; they want everything perfect and fine. Dowell goes on to describe Edward as constancy, has courage and brave, the qualities we see with British men. British are known for their hospitality, Dowell is surprised to the way Leonora call strangers “nice people” without getting to know them (Ford part I sec IV).
Main body
Dowell recalls them days they spent together with the English couple the Ashburham’s as boring. They spent most of their time drinking wine, throwing parties and going to small excursions for fun. That’s what the British like to do, they find time for themselves and friends to enjoy time together and mostly wine parties unlike the American Couple see it as a waste of time because they are used to working and no time left for them. But at the same time the British are reserved individuals, all the time Dowell and his wife Florence spent with the Ashburham’s hanging out a lot; they never got to learn anything about them. Dowell inability to understand the events that are happening while on the train, he ironically laughs at act of violence among, the British find it strange and awkward and creates a dramatic irony. The British are rich in culture and well informed of the events surrounding them. While at the museum, Leonora is offended by Florence’s remarks that Americans are hardworking, sober and industrious that makes them very different from the Irish and Italians and sees them as uninformed. Dowell’s situation is described as morbidly comic, he is ignorant and naive that only aspire a strange fascination to the outside observer (Ford part I sec IV).
Edward was a man with many affairs. Some years back, Edward was caught kissing a servant girl at the back of his car. Political enemies publicly announced his adultery that caused him extreme embarrassment. The next year he had an affair with La Dolciquitta, they ran away with her for a week, bought her an expensive tiara and lost an enormous fortune on gambling. Despite all this, Leonora still forgave him and paid off his debts. The reputation of British men is that majority of them cheat on their wives as expressed by Edward. They move to India but he starts up another affair with the wife of an army officer, Mrs. Basil and later on to a young girl called Maisie whose husband was serving in the army as well. British women are often seen as submissive, Leonora decided to find his husband as safe woman that will not get him into trouble. She agrees to humor Edward and they bring Mrs. Maidan with him to Neiheim (Ford part I sec V).
Maisie Maidan is expressed in the story as a comic tragic figure. Edwards takes advantage of her young and naive personality that she is deceived to believe that Edward is brave and gallantry. In the story of the two women, Leonora and Florence are brought out to be strong as they control the dynamics of almost all the occurrence in the story. We see that they both seek to control Edward’s romantic life and at the same time to protect Dowell’s emotional life. Leonora seeks power through money and financial control whereas Florence manipulates men through sex and deception. Dowell does not have much left to do either than sitting and passionately sympathizes with the situation (Ford part I sec IV).
We see Britishness in Leonora way of keeping secrets. Although his husband Edwards cheated on her with Florence, Dowell’s wife, she never told anything until Florence was dead. She reveals the deception the deception Florence had practiced on him for the entire duration of their marriage. Florence’s suicide was an act of selfishness. She learned that Nancy and Edward were having an affair, followed them to the park and quietly watched the events unfold. Edwards’s sweared to Nancy that she is the only woman she cares more than anyone else in the world. Florence hidden in the bushes was deeply hurt by those remarks and ran back to the hotel. Florence was fueled by vanity, she could not bear that Edward did not love her and that her husband Dowell should know about her degrading relationship with jimmy that led her into taking her own life that night (Ford part III sec 1).
When Leonora learned what happened in the park that night, she tried as mush as she could to separate Edwards and Nancy. She describes Nancy as innocent, funny and honest, virtues characterized by Britishness. Nancy being sent to a convent school at a young age illustrates Britishness in the family setting. The British prefer their children brought up in a more stable home and preferably sent to convent schools. Leonora and Edward agreed to b Nancy guardian ever since her parents left her, little did she know that Nancy would turn out to be his husbands mistress. Leonora breaks down because she knew that she could trust his husband. Leonora also went to convent school, a British custom (Ford part III sec II).
The British also have a custom of arranging marriage for their children. Leonora was life after school was cloistered in her parent’s home. Her marriage to Edward was arranged was arranged by her parents. The two admired each other but we can’t say that there was a spark in there. On the other hand, Edward’s parents wanted him to marry one of the Powy’s daughters, Leonora family. Edward admired Leonora’s clean mind, the truth and her efficiency but at the time, he did not feel anything for her but Leonora learned to love him. When they married, problems arose in their family when each one of them had different opinions regarding finances. Edward was always a sentimentalist, wished to build an expensive and elaborate Catholic church on the property as homage to his wife. The Britishness is revealed when he mentioned the Catholic church, a denomination most common in British community For the English Novel of adultery, 1910-1914 were very crucial transition years, a period when “The Good Soldier” walked a line between utter condemnation of and sympathy for adulteress. In the novel, Ford is able to suspend his own judgment, by letting the actors dismiss or condemn the actions. In British culture, adulteress has always held a very unique place. The novel represents instability, challenge to the order and morality of the society Ford part III sec III).
Dowell describes Edwards of that of desire and regrets. Edward had all the manners and virtues that are associated with the British people. In this novel, he was a hardworking, sentimental and efficient professional man. On the other hand the British are seen as being skeptical. This is illustrated where Edward claimed that he had no thought of being unfaithful to his wife but later he could not stop thinking about the nurse-maid in the railway carriage. He got into trouble with the law for going out with a maid, we thought he would learn from this and stop his adulteress behavior, nevertheless he grew more estranged from Leonora, he still went on to look for a woman that would provide him “comfort” as he would describe. Leonora’s went on trip with Edward thinking that the vacation would improve their marriage but unfortunately while on the trip, he took off to bed with the La Dolciquita, Spanish mistress of the Russian Grant Duke (Ford part III sec IV).
The narrator Dowell, references the English people as “good people” in some sections of the novel. He explores their background, secrets and desires of the Ashburnhams. By good, Dowell refers to their position in the society. They are well dressed, well-groomed and well-mannered; they are assumed to be a safe couple almost to that of Dowells. This character is common with British people as being “good people”, upright and trustworthy. At least that the first impression someone has before he gets to spent time with them. Dowell was surprised to find out that the people he described as good are instead the ones who betray, deceive and make a fool out of him (Ford part III sec IV)
Dowell frequently mentions religious as a motive for thoughts and a. actions. He believes that that fervent Catholicism could be the reason why Leonora and Nancy behaved in “queer ways”. He is critical the way the British rules force people into what they call normal roles that prevent them from acting their passion. These rules of being good forces people to assume false appearances, to quell their feelings rather than enjoying life as it comes. This portrayed when Leonora failed to leave his husband after learning that he was unfaithful, he actually even provided him a mistress to prevent him from being in trouble. When she took control over the family finances that prevented Edwards from accessing the funds, she pities him and gives him an allowance (Ford part IV sec IV).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Good Soldier assumes faithfulness in marriage to basic level of human morality. Ford does not condemn the adulteress in the story, , he describes every nature of it in a more passionate way. At the end of the novel, he does not give justice to Leonora for his husbands cheating. Dowell reflects the sadness and misery of their lives; however we are obligated to accept the judgment that Dowell makes, he compares himself to the Edward. The adulteress character may not b quite similar but they are virile, courageous and passionate. Florence feigned a heart condition to avoid conjugal relations with her husband and this transforms Dowell into sexless male nurse throughout the 10 years. He suffers an emotional breakdown when he learned that he wasted his years and top it all his wife was cheating on her. Dowell narrative tale suffers from his state of confusion and bewilderness.
Work Cited
Ford, Madox F. The Good Soldier. Oxford university Press, 1999.