Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Family

of the war trilogy is parallel to the burial of Fortuna. Incidentall y, Waugh later writes a short story titled “Basil Seal Rides Again or The Rake ’s Regress” (1963). In this short story, he re -introduces several British ladies who appeared in his previous works and now who are living in the United States after the war. Waugh tenderl y, and a little ironicall y, depicts these old Fortunas, who once spun the wheel of fortune, clinging to the wheel with their men in a changing world, and now are enjoying the rest of their lives in tranquillit y. It shows, in the opposite sense, how deepl y Waugh loves Fortuna, but he clearl y recites the last words to her in the Sword of Honour trilogy.

the Sword of Honour trilogy, is the same t ype. Although it sounds tender -hearted that she entrusts her baby to her sister -in-law for evacuation, in fact she spends all of her free time enjoying parties in wartime London. She always calls her baby “it” (SHT 660), never by name . Helena in Helena seems to have better intentions towards her son, compared with these women. However, her motives rather require his reliance on her than embrace him with love. Her impression in the novel is mainly th at of the Empress Dowager of the Roman Empire, who has the proper stern

characteristics needed for the position. Waugh uses these mental distances between Waugh ’s heroines and their children – most of them are sons – to point out these women ’s characteristics.

Secondl y, the theme of deconstruction of the famil y more drasticall y explains the necessit y of Fortuna ’s burial in Waugh ’s novels. Based on the social system of marriage and famil y, British societ y supported a standard of construction of the fami l y in literature in the nineteenth century.

However, there appears a tendency to resist that standard in the twentieth century. Many of Waugh ’s novels also deal with the broken families which have no functions to support warm relationships. His Fortunas pl ay

significant roles in this context. Waugh ’s heroines, who betray their husbands, mislead their lovers, and abandon their children, exactl y

symbolize Fortuna, who plays with the men trapped on the wheel of fortune without worrying deconstruction of the famil y. It is highl y considerable that Waugh writes Fortuna ’s burial in this context: deconstruction of the famil y.

However, Waugh brings a solution to the theme of deconstruction of the famil y in the Sword of Honour trilogy. Douglas Lane Patey also

comments on this point:

In adopting Trimmer ’s child, Guy fulfils (ironicall y) Mr Goodall’s words in Men at Arms about another Catholic who perpetuates his famil y by returning to his engaged wife: ‘Explain it how you will, I see the working of Providence there ’. . . . Taking up parental responsibilit y, Guy begins to fulfil the task of emulating his father – and brings to resolution the theme of broken families (and the broken selves who spring from them) that had haunted Waugh ’s fiction since Decline and Fall. (305-06)

Patey’s anal ysis is persuasive, given the following scene. At the end of the Sword of Honour trilogy, Guy is remarried to an ordinary Catholic woman after Virginia’s death. He lives with his wife and a boy who was born to Virginia. The story ends, hinting that Guy will nurture this boy as his son.

This last scene shows that Guy awakens to having a fami l y and becoming a father, after various hardships and sacrifices during wartime. Because he has no blood relation with this adopted boy, fatherhood will demand more conscientiousness and effort: as it were, Guy ’s new ordeal of paternit y.

However, it is his last decision on his pilgrimage; and also it shows

Waugh’s solution to the prolonged theme of deconstruction of the famil y in his works. This is emphasized in the revised version, the single volume of Sword of Honour (1965). Although Guy has two other chi ldren of his own, in addition to this adopted son, in Unconditional Surrender, he has no

children of his own in this revised edition. The revised version more clearl y

throws Guy’s fatherhood into relief. In this way, Waugh proposes a solution to the theme of deconstruction of the famil y. It is even possible to associate Guy’s famil y with the Hol y Famil y: a father, a mother, and a child with no blood relation with the father. This issue of the association with the Hol y Famil y is discussed in detail in Chapte r VIII of this dissertation .

Guy’s life should be recalled here again for conclusion. In Men at Arms, Guy went to the front in high spirits, dreaming of becoming Sir Roger, a crusader in the twentieth century. However, after experiencing the more callous aspects of war and a world “where priests were spies and gallant friends proved traitors and his country was led blundering into

dishonour” (SHT 468), the onl y thing he receives is the boy born to his wife and another man. If he has no child carried by his second wife, this

illegitimate boy will naturall y inherit the Crouchback famil y as the onl y heir. It can be readily supposed that Waugh writes this ironical situation to describe the religious moment when Guy realizes his role in life after the war: awakening to his vocation. Virginia ’s death is essential for Guy to pursue the way to paternit y and a hol y famil y. Her death, the burial of Fortuna, is the inevitable process for Waugh to write the reconstruction or restoration of a British famil y in the post -war world.

Chapter VIII: Consistency in Catholicism: The Second Vatican