I: The Kindling of Love explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Love and Marriage as Social Contract

  The chapter introduces the budding relationship between Anna and Mynors, with undertones of social expectation and the role of money. Anna is aware that her fortune may be seen as Mynors' motive, yet she believes her own self has awakened his desire.

• Class and Social Mobility

  The crowd at the Park includes a cross-section of society: potters, miners, housewives, and the respectable. Beatrice Sutton's social standing is noted, and Anna's peculiar position as an heiress marks her for special attention.

• Industrial Landscape and Provincial Life

  The description of the valley with its furnaces, smoke, and sooty sheaves emphasizes the pervasive industrial environment. The contrast between the idle Park and the never-ceasing 'Doing' of industry is a key backdrop.

Characters to notice

• Anna Tellwright

  Anna is the older sister of Agnes, who waits for her after Sunday-school. She walks with Mynors to the Park, feeling both fluttered and self-conscious about his attention, aware of the gossip her money might provoke.

• Henry Mynors

  Mynors is the morning superintendent of the Sunday-school. He teases Agnes, waits for Anna, and walks with her to the Park. He mentions he will visit Anna's father on business, causing her perturbation.

• Willie Price

  Willie Price is the secretary of the Bible-class, standing somewhat apart and pulling his moustache. Agnes likes him for his wistful, doll-like quality.

• Agnes Tellwright

  Agnes is a twelve-year-old girl who wins a prize book and waits for Anna. She walks between Mynors and Anna, chattering and asking questions about furnaces.

• Beatrice Sutton

  Beatrice Sutton is stylishly dressed and has an air of leadership. She approaches the group, kisses Agnes, and invites Mynors to supper.

• Mrs. Sutton

  Mrs. Sutton is a grey-haired, benevolent woman who emerges from the girls' door and invites people to the sewing-meeting. She is a distant relative of Mynors.

Key passages

• “The yard was all silent and empty under the burning afternoon heat, which had made its asphalt springy like turf, when suddenly the children threw themselves out of the great doors at either end of the Sunday-school—boys from the right, girls from the left—in two howling, impetuous streams, that widened, eddied, intermingled and formed backwaters until the whole quadrangle was full of clamour and movement.”

  The Sunday-school yard was quiet and hot until children burst out of both doors, creating a noisy, swirling crowd.

  This opening sentence sets the scene of the Sunday-school dismissal, full of energy and contrast.

• “She had the just and unshakable self-esteem which is fundamental in all strong and righteous natures; and she knew beyond the possibility of doubt that, though Mynors might have no incurable aversion to a fortune, she herself, the spirit and body of her, had been the sole awakener of his desire.”

  Anna had a deep, confident self-worth and believed that Mynors was attracted to her personally, not just her money.

  This reveals Anna's inner conviction about Mynors' motives, despite potential gossip.

• “Out beyond the municipal confines, where the subsidiary industries of coal and iron prosper amid a wreck of verdure, the struggle is grim, appalling, heroic—so ruthless is his havoc of her, so indomitable her ceaseless recuperation.”

  Beyond the town, coal and iron industries thrive in a landscape scarred by mining, showing a harsh but resilient natural world.

  This passage personifies nature's struggle against industrial exploitation.