Amaryllis at the Fair · Chapter
IV explained
After the midday meal, Mr.
What happens
After the midday meal, Mr. Iden settles into his armchair to read the newspaper and then nap, while Mrs. Iden and Amaryllis clear the dishes. Mrs. Iden shakes her fist at him through the window, muttering her resentment. Iden feigns sleep, watching mice feed on crumbs from his trousers, despite setting traps for them elsewhere. The narrative reflects on the worn panel of the wainscot, a mark of thirty years of his head resting there, symbolizing the family's two hundred years of unhappiness and the torture of thought.
Themes in this chapter
The Passage of Time and Loss
The worn panel on the wainscot, ground down by thirty years of Mr. Iden's head, symbolizes the slow erosion of time and the accumulated suffering of the Iden family over two centuries.
Family Conflict and Misunderstanding
Mrs. Iden's silent gesture of shaking her fist and her muttered complaints reveal deep marital resentment and misunderstanding.
Individual vs. Society
Mr. Iden's inconsistent behavior—trapping mice in one place while feeding them in another—highlights the complexity and contradiction of human nature against societal expectations.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Iden
Reads the newspaper, then feigns sleep while watching mice feed on his trousers; his head has worn a mark on the wainscot over thirty years.
- Mrs. Iden
Shakes her fist at the sleeping Mr. Iden through the window, muttering her hatred of his inactivity.
- Amaryllis Iden
Brings her father the newspaper and helps clear the dishes; she steals in later to retrieve her book.
Key passages
“That panel was in effect a cross on which a heart had been tortured for the third of a century, that is, for the space of time allotted to a generation.”
The worn spot on the wall is like a cross where a heart has been tormented for thirty years, the length of a generation.
Reflects on the suffering of Mr. Iden and the family's history.
“So he hated them and persecuted them in one place, and fed them in another.”
He kills mice in the cellar but lets them eat from his trousers.
Highlights Mr. Iden's contradictory nature.