Social Decay in Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust

Social Decay in Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust

A.VEERARAGAVAN                                                        Dr.R.PALANIVEL

Ph.D., Research Scholar                                                              Assistant Professor

Department of English                                                                English Wing / DDE

Annamalai University                                                                  Annamalai University

Annamalainagar                                                                           Annamalainagar

Waugh’s picture of society employs a simple story and focuses on one couple, Tony and Brenda Last. Tony is devoted to his country house, Hetton Abbey, and to traditional social values; Brenda longs for the excitement of London and begins an affair with a worthless young man named John Beaver. When the Lasts’ young son, their only child, is killed in a hunting accident, Brenda demands a divorce. Tony at first agrees, but changes his mind when he realizes that the settlement would require him to sell Hetton. He joins an expedition to find a lost city in Brazil, and, when the expedition goes disastrously wrong, is rescued and captured by the illiterate Mr. Todd, who forces him to read aloud the novels of Dickens over and over. Tony is presumed dead, Brenda marries an old friend, and a cadet branch of the Last family inherits Hetton.

The character of Brenda Last may have derived from Waugh's own experiences with women. Waugh, like Tony, found himself the victim of an unfaithful wife who chose to leave him.DavidWykes aptly says,

That novel could never had existed without Waugh’s divorce, but it seems irrefutable that the analysis of love’s possibilities that it presents, and specifically the idea that a woman could cease to love a completely lovable husband, and turn to, and sincerely love an ‘ugly and low born’ non entity, existed in Waugh’s mind when he was an undergraduate, long before he knew he would really need it, so to speak.

Part of the intense pain he felt when his wife abandoned him came from the realization that a nightmare he had earlier imagined had now come true. (35)

 The biographical context helps to illuminate the themes he intended to develop through her character and its role within the novel. We are first introduced to Brenda through Mrs Beaver's description of her, in a typically opinionated and sweeping character dissection: 'She was Brenda Rex, Lord St Cloud's daughter, very fair, under-water look. People used to be mad about her when she was a girl.

Mrs. Beaver is an obsessive gossip, but her description of Brenda, focusing solely on her appearance, suggests the superficiality of society. The use of marine imagery in 'under-water look', with its suggestion of movement and instability, hints at Brenda's infidelity--a motif that permeates the novel. Brenda also sleeps in the room at Hetton aptly named 'Guinevere', an allusion to King Arthur's legendary unfaithful queen.Brenda's yearning for social activity is shown from the outset. This particular reference comes after Tony has, predictably, refused an invitation to a social gathering, much to Brenda's disappointment.

As the novel progresses, her trips back to Hetton become far less frequent. London becomes her real home and Hetton is a mere inconvenience. Waugh shows that Brenda has no trouble in distancing herself from her family attachments. The most shocking moment in the novel occurs when she is told the news of the sudden death in an accident of her son John Andrew. Her immediate reaction betrays her true state of mind. Only the name 'John' is mentioned, so Brenda initially believes it to be that of her lover, John Beaver. On realising that her son, not her lover, has died, she exclaims: 'John ... John Andrew ... I ... oh, thank God... (119). Here, Waugh uses the pauses to give the reader an insight into the exact thought processes of Brenda. Her relief that the person concerned is 'only' her son, and not her lover, conveys to the reader not just how important John Beaver has become in her life--he has become closer than her son--but how this is a perversion of the natural, maternal instincts traditionally valued and expected. Brenda is quick to realize that what she has said is severely immoral, but nevertheless we must remember that her performance of 'bursting into tears' comes after, not before, her expression of relief. Therefore, a hierarchy of importance for Brenda, and the social world she has joined, is established.

Brenda's selfish behaviour towards Tony may be modelled on that of Waugh's wife.While admiring Waugh’s art Stephan Jay Greenblatt aptly says, “In A Handful of Dust Waugh returns to England to tell a seemingly simple story of the failure of a marriage.… What might have been a rather dull “bedroom farce”, however, is transformed by Waugh into a terrifying and bitter examination of humanism and modern society, which is the culmination of his art” (21- 22).  Brenda appears unaware that she is treating Tony badly, and seems surprised at his apparent reluctance to agree to a divorce: 'It makes me feel rather a beast.' Brenda is expecting Tony to part from her in a passive manner, and not be at all affected by the divorce proceedings. In this assumption, Brenda reveals her lack of any serious spiritual consideration behind marriage, and furthermore shows herself to be entirely devoid of empathy for others' emotions. She exploits Tony's caring nature by demanding an extortionate divorce settlement which would force him to give up Hetton as he could no longer afford to maintain it. Ironically, Brenda demands the money in order to finance her new relationship. Here, her calculating nature is clearly evident. Brenda proves herself to be fully prepared to make Tony sacrifice the house he holds so dear, and the traditional values it symbolises, in order to pay for her own selfish ends. What makes this situation even more farcical is the protective stance adopted by Brenda when Tony confronts her on the phone: 'Tony, don't be so bullying. The lawyers are doing everything. It's no use coming to me.'

Waugh is making use of what at the time was the relatively modern technology of the phone to highlight the way in which modern morals are about to destroy the traditional values represented by Hetton. Jane Nardin aptly says, “Reggie’s absorption in a supposedly significant past distracts him from truly significant present responsibilities… It’s no accident that Reggie is going to search for meaning in a desert. His rejection of the present in favor of the past makes him a worse man, just as the well-meaning Tony’s sterile preoccupation with the restoration of Hetton blinds him to such important present problems as his wife’sUnhappiness” (124). He also exposes the amorality of a society that would give legal support to Brenda's adultery. Law should be associated with justice, yet the legal system here seems false and squalid.Tony Last's ideals and values differ greatly from those of the London 'set'. The helplessness of his position with Brenda, as he struggles to comprehend the alien values, or lack of them, of others, generates much pathos. It takes him several days to comprehend what is really going on as he has got into the habit of loving and trusting Brenda. Tony's simple trust is thoughtlessly abused by others. Although Tony cannot be fully identified with Waugh himself, Waugh's own painful memories of divorce surely lie behind these scenes.

Throughout the novel, Tony is almost the lone representative for traditional moral values that are essentially a reduced version of medieval feudalism and chivalry. His stance is at odds with the one evident in London society, and his self-isolated, reclusive existence in his beloved Hetton reflects this. However, his fundamental naivety signifies a weakness in these moral values, and it is for this reason that they cannot provide a credible opposition to the urban savages.Paul A. Doyle aptly says, “It is implicit in Waugh’s view that humanism is not enough. Man must seek the spiritual to balance his existence. “Secular goodness unaided by spiritual belief dooms modern man to an essentially incomplete life” (128). Still, this naivety does help generate sympathy from the reader, as we consider him to be a man of integrity and principles: 'Tony supposed Beaver must be fairly lonely and took pains to be agreeable to him.'

The suggestion here is that there is in Tony a co-existing elevation of fundamental moral values and personal naivety. The painful irony here is that Tony is doing his best to welcome the man who will eventually destroy his marriage. It is his charity which is the making of his own downfall. There is a scathing indictment of a society which would bring such unhappiness to a man of such simple, albeit hapless, grace.The distinction between Tony and contemporary society is evident throughout the novel. He distances himself from the socialite ethos of London by residing in Hetton, where he seeks to uphold the moral values so lacking in the country as a whole. Perhaps a fair reflection of his quest can be seen in his battle to maintain the house, with, as already mentioned, its symbolic resonance. Although the running costs are extortionate, his devotion to Hetton means he will never willingly desert it: 'But I don't happen to want to go anywhere else except Hetton.'

His commitment towards Hetton is indicative of his commitment towards the values of the past--much like the seat of the Marchmains in Brideshead Revisited, although in a less elegiac, nostalgic and emotive manner. When he declares defiantly that he will not give up Hetton in the divorce proceedings, he is also taking a stand for the values so lacking in society.Much can be made of Tony's adventure into the Brazilian jungle. The obvious irony here is that Tony finds himself equally lost in both Brazil and the social scene of London. Waugh alerts us to the alarming similarities of events in both England and Brazil, with the two locations seemingly juxtaposed in terms of 'savagery'. While in Brazil, Tony is the captive of the eccentric Mr Todd (notably suggestive of the German for 'death'), yet in England he is essentially consigned to Hetton. Outside Hetton, he is vulnerable, unwitting, and very much 'lost'. A similar fate awaits him if he were to dare to venture far from the control of his captor in Brazil. Tony's hallucinations further conflate the two locations: 'She [Brenda] said she would come back that night but she didn't. I expect she's staying with one of her new friends in Brazil.'

Here, Waugh juxtaposes London society and Brazil, and we begin to realise that they are not altogether different. The savagery of the jungle, manifested in the hostile conditions and wild beasts, mirrors the predatory social climate of London. A more ironic blending of London and Brazil comes in the description of Polly Cockpurse as a 'chattering monkey'. Waugh also uses his chapter titles to bring London and Brazil closer together. The title of the first chapter, 'Du Cote de Chez Beaver' complements that of the penultimate chapter, 'Du Cote de Chez Todd'. In terms of the plot, we see Tony driven from one death trap into another. This emphasises both the dangers of London and the futility of Tony's cause--there is probably nowhere where this bearer of chivalric values can find sanctuary.

A final comment should be reserved for Tony's role as a 'King Arthur' figure. There is much Arthurian imagery throughout the novel, for instance in the naming of the bedrooms, and the presentation of Hetton as Tony's fortress, his Camelot. However, in spite of these links, Tony is clearly no King Arthur. He is likeable, yet lacks the strength and wisdom of that king. The reader sees a man who could have offered a form of chivalric resistance to the onslaught of degraded social values, but ultimately is conquered by a combination of his innocence, naivety and ineptitude.A Handful of Dust is one of Waugh's funniest novels, but also one of his bleakest. He removes social facades and shows society for what it really is, satirising corruption, hypocrisy and self-interest through a whole range of deftly drawn caricatures. The autobiographical element, which lends pathos as well as absurdity to Tony Last's fate, merely serves to heighten the sharpness of the satire.

Works Cited

Doyle, Paul A. Contemporary Writers in Christian Perspective.Michigan: W.B.

Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1969. Print.

Greenblatt, Stephen Jay. Three Modern Satirists: Waugh, Orwell, and Huxley. New

Haven: Yale University Press, 1965. Print.

Nardin, Jane. The Myth of Decline in A Handful of Dust. The Midwest Quarterly,

1977. Print.

Waugh, Evelyn. A Handful of Dust. London: Penguin Books, 1951. Print.

Wykes, David. Evelyn Waugh A Literary Life. London: Macmillan Press Ltd., 1999.

Print.