Early Autumn · Chapter
VI explained
The oppressive summer heat settles over Durham, slowing life to a tropical languor.
What happens
The oppressive summer heat settles over Durham, slowing life to a tropical languor. Aunt Cassie and Anson resist the weather through duty, while Sabine succumbs to inertia, playing bridge nightly at Pentlands with Olivia, John Pentland, and the increasingly forgetful old Mrs. Soames. John Pentland's patient protection of Mrs. Soames moves Olivia and even touches Sabine. Olivia reflects on her approaching fortieth birthday and the bleak future ahead. When Mrs. Soames is absent, bridge moves to Brook Cottage, where Olivia and O'Hara form a brilliant team; Olivia is drawn to him but avoids being alone with him, ashamed yet unable to give up the happy evenings. She tells Anson she has resumed riding with Sybil, implicitly reassuring him about Sybil and O'Hara. Later, Jack dies quietly in his sleep. Olivia finds John Pentland on the terrace, weeping, and they share a silent grief. After the household's commotion subsides, Sybil comforts her mother, and they hear distant music.
Themes in this chapter
Loneliness and Isolation
Olivia feels trapped in a melancholy future of bridge with old people; John Pentland is described as 'alone as he had always been, surrounded by the tragic armor of loneliness' after Jack's death.
Repression and Rebellion
Olivia represses her feelings for O'Hara, avoiding being alone with him, yet she cannot give up the happy evenings; she tells herself she is a 'wicked woman' for being in love.
Hypocrisy and Secrecy
Sabine tears aside veils, revealing Mrs. Soames's drug use, while Olivia feels that such truth 'riddles a world which at its best was not too cheerful.'
Characters to notice
- Olivia Pentland
Plays bridge nightly, reflects on aging and her loveless marriage, feels drawn to O'Hara but avoids being alone with him, tells Anson she rides with Sybil, and later grieves Jack's death while supporting John Pentland.
- Sabine Callendar
Settles into inertia in the heat, plays bridge at Pentlands, shows unexpected patience with old Mrs. Soames, and reveals Mrs. Soames's drug use to Olivia.
- John Pentland
Insists on playing bridge with old Mrs. Soames to protect her, drives to see her when she is ill, and later grieves Jack's death on the terrace, weeping.
- Sybil Pentland
Rides with O'Hara in the mornings, plays double patience with Olivia, and comforts her mother after Jack's death.
- Anson Pentland
Resists the heat through duty, works on the Pentland Family history, is told by Olivia about her riding, and stands helplessly during Jack's death.
- Mrs. Soames
Plays bridge poorly due to vanity and poor eyesight, is protected by John Pentland, and is revealed by Sabine to be a longtime drug user.
Key passages
“Heat, damp and overwhelming, and thick with the scent of fresh-cut hay and the half-fetid odor of the salt marshes, settled over Durham, reducing all life to a state of tropical relaxation.”
The oppressive, humid heat of summer, smelling of hay and marshes, slowed everyone in Durham into a lazy, almost tropical state.
Opening description of the chapter's atmosphere.
“She had been a great beauty once and she was still, with all her paint and powder, a vain woman.”
Old Mrs. Soames had once been beautiful and remained vain, using makeup to preserve her appearance.
Character description of Mrs. Soames.
“There was a curious, unsuspected soft spot in Sabine, as if in some way she understood the bond between the two old people.”
Sabine, usually hard and cynical, showed unexpected tenderness, perhaps understanding the connection between John Pentland and Mrs. Soames.
Insight into Sabine's character.
“She felt suddenly that Anson and Aunt Cassie might be right, after all. There was something dangerous in a woman like Sabine, who tore aside every veil, who sacrificed everything to her passion for the truth.”
Olivia momentarily thought that Anson and Aunt Cassie were correct: Sabine's relentless honesty could be destructive.
Olivia's reflection on Sabine's nature.
“He played as she knew he would play, aggressively and brilliantly, with a fierce concentration and a determination to win.”
O'Hara played bridge exactly as Olivia expected—with aggressive brilliance and a strong will to win.
Description of O'Hara's bridge style.
“She was ashamed at the game she played—of seeing him always with Sabine or riding with Sybil and giving him no chance to speak; it seemed to her that such behavior was cheap and dishonest.”
Olivia felt guilty for only seeing O'Hara in group settings, denying him a private conversation, which she considered cheap and dishonest.
Olivia's internal conflict about O'Hara.
