# XI explained — The Return

> Chapter companion for The Return by Walter de la Mare.

## What happens

Lawford wakes from a troubled sleep and is confronted by Sheila about his strange behavior the previous night. He struggles with his altered appearance and the fear that his mind is affected. Later, he encounters his daughter Alice, who fails to recognize him, leading to a painful confrontation and Alice fainting. Lawford flees the house in despair.

## Themes in this chapter

### Identity and Transformation

Lawford's changed face and the failure of his own daughter to recognize him highlight the crisis of identity and transformation.

### Isolation and Alienation

Lawford feels isolated from his family, especially Alice, and is alienated by his own appearance and the disbelief of others.

### Sanity and Madness

Lawford questions his own sanity, and Sheila and others treat his condition as a mental disturbance, blurring the line between reality and delusion.

## Character check-ins

### Arthur Lawford

Wakes lethargic and haunted, questions Sheila about the previous night, struggles with his changed face and mind, longs for Alice, and ultimately flees after Alice faints.

### Sheila

Brings Lawford breakfast with composure, reveals Mr. Danton was there, expresses concern about his mind, and later confronts Alice, leading to Alice's fainting.

### Alicia

Mopes due to being kept from her father, fails to recognize Lawford in the nursery, realizes the truth, and faints in distress.

### Mr. Danton

Mentioned as having visited the previous night; Sheila confirms he was there and did not believe Lawford's story.

### Dr. Simon

Briefly mentioned as having visited; Sheila tells him Lawford is in a quiet sleep.

## Key lines

> He could not bring himself to stand before the glass and deliberately shave. He even smiled at the thought of playing the barber to that lean chin.

Lawford avoids looking at his reflection and finds the idea of shaving his unfamiliar face absurd.

_Highlights his aversion to confronting his changed appearance._

> She mopes, dear, rather. She cannot, of course, quite understand why she must not see her father, and yet his not being, or, for the matter of that, even if he was, at death’s door.

Sheila says Alice is sad and confused about being kept from her father, even though he is not actually dying.

_Reveals the family's secrecy and Alice's distress._

> Alice stood gazing stirlessly on and on into this infinitely strange, infinitely familiar shadowy, phantasmal face.

Alice stares motionless at Lawford's face, which seems both alien and hauntingly familiar.

_Captures the moment of recognition and horror._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se/chapters/xi
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_return_se/chapters