# XXXVI explained — Memoirs of a Midget

> Chapter companion for Memoirs of a Midget by Walter de la Mare.

## What happens

The narrator returns to Beechwood Hill and meets Mr. Anon in the overgrown garden at Wanderslore. Their conversation is tense and emotional, touching on love, loneliness, and the narrator's desire for independence. They share a moment listening to a nightjar, and the narrator pleads for understanding and peace, while Mr. Anon expresses his jealousy and longing.

## Themes in this chapter

### Love and Obsession

Mr. Anon's intense feelings for the narrator and his jealousy dominate the conversation, highlighting the theme of obsessive love.

### Solitude and Self-Discovery

The narrator reflects on her loneliness and desire for independence, seeking to understand herself apart from others.

### Nature and the Sublime

The overgrown garden, the nightjar's call, and the glowworm create a sublime, almost mystical atmosphere that mirrors the characters' emotional states.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown (Narrator)

Returns to Beechwood Hill and confronts Mr. Anon about his gloominess and their strained relationship.

### Mr. Anon

Meets the narrator in the garden, expresses jealousy and despair over her lack of love, and shares a poignant moment listening to a nightjar.

### Mrs. Bowater

Convoys the narrator through the garden and then leaves them alone, taking a stroll through the grounds.

### Fanny Bowater

Referenced by Mr. Anon as having called him something, causing tension in the conversation.

## Key lines

> I trod close in Mrs. Bowater's track as she convoyed me through a sea of greenery breaking here and there to my waist and even above my hat.

I followed closely behind Mrs. Bowater as she led me through a dense, overgrown garden where the plants sometimes reached up to my waist or even taller than my hat.

_Describes the lush, wild state of the garden at Wanderslore._

> There is only one truth that matters: you do not love me. Why should you? But that's the barrier.

The only important truth is that you don't love me, and that's what stands between us.

_Mr. Anon expresses his belief that the narrator's lack of love is the core issue in their relationship._

> I prayed not to think any more, not to be exiled again into—how can I explain my meaning except by saying—Myself?

I wished to stop thinking and avoid being cast back into my own isolated self.

_The narrator longs to escape her own consciousness and find peace._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se/chapters/xxxvi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/memoirs_of_a_midget_se/chapters