Ethics and Modernity: Women in Evelyn Waugh‟s A Handful of Dust

International Journal of Management and Humanity Sciences. Vol., S (3), 3943-3949, 2014
Available online at http://www.ijmhsjournal.com
ISSN 2322-424X©2014
Ethics and Modernity: Women in Evelyn Waugh‟s A Handful of Dust,
Scoop and Black Mischief
1
2
Sarah Esmaeili, and Hossein Pirnajmuddin
1- MA in English Literature
2- Associate Professor, University of Isfahan
*Corresponding author E-mail: pirnajmuddin@fgn.ui.ac.ir
Abstract
An exploration of Evelyn Waugh‟s fiction shows a transition from the works that
begin with “looking outward at the fallen world and end looking inward at the fallen
man.” Also, many critics regard Waugh as one of the major twentieth century authors
for whom class distinction and ethical norms were of highest importance. Reading
the three novels Black Mischief, A Handful of Dust and Scoop with a consideration of
Waugh's misogynistic attitude in his real life, one can suggest that whenever he
implies a moral lesson in his fiction, there is a female character with a central role.
Waugh associates the immorality and amorality of the modern ambiance of his
fiction, at least in the three novels discussed here, with women, white or non-white. In
fact, through combining his misogyny, racialism and moral consciousness Waugh
provides a fictional world in which women are symbols of corruption and immorality.
Waugh‟s satirical attitude towards modernity – his representation of it as decline and
decadence − goes hand in hand with his attitude toward „modern‟ women who seem
to epitomize the ethical decay of modern times.
Keywords: Amorality, Class Distinction, Ethical Norms, Immorality, Misogyny, Racialism.
Introduction
th
According to David Bradshaw (2008), during the first half of the 20 century, the war experience
accelerated social and moral decay; in Huxley‘s words, it was ―stupid‖ to present such a ―comic synthesis‖ of
war and the ―social tragedy‖ tragically (as cited in Bradshaw, 2008, p.132). Thus, satire for authors like
Huxley and Waugh was a means to portray the tragic-comic condition of the modern post-war world. In fact,
what Waugh thinks the Victorians had but the modern era lacks is ―a common ideology based on shared
morality and shared Englishness‖ (Showers, 2010, p.26).
Once in an article in 1950 for the Daily express Waugh wrote: ―Men: go to the university, read philosophy,
history and classics and ride horses. Women: go to Europe, learn the French and English Languages, study
architecture and modesty‖ (Linklater, 1986, p.13). In Waugh‘s opinion, women seem to be associated with
appearance while men deserve to accumulate high culture and status, ‗history and classics‘ for example.
Misogynist or not, Waugh ―wrote well on women‖ (p.13). The point is that Waugh makes a distinction
between men and women, though he regards them both worthy of education and progress. But while he
associates men with classics and philosophy, he talks of women in relation to ‗modern‘, supposedly less
intellectually demanding, activities, like architecture and learning modern languages. He actually wants to
indicate that women are more interested in the classy stuffs and actions. Additionally, he uses the term
modesty for women to show the necessity of this virtue for them, while in his novels women are not ‗modest‘
at all.
Discussion
In Titled Eccentrics, Terry Eagleton (n.d.) refers to Waugh‘s preoccupation with the upper class people
and regards his novels as examples of ―upper class novels‖ (p.82). Eagleton also notes that Waugh‘s
aristocratic characters are always ―loathsome, hardly supermen‖ and most of the time with no concern for
morality (p.82), adding that for this reason he has always been criticized for his ―snobbery and sycophancy‖
(p.83). For Waugh one of the main reasons to defend aristocrats, especially catholic ones, is that they act as
Intl. J. Manag. Human. Sci. Vol., S (3), 3943-3949, 2014
the advocates of the old unfashionable Victorian values and ideals. Actually, whenever one faces Waugh‘s
―leveling things out moralistically‖ (Wolf, n.d. p.158), there are the women of upper classes at the center.
According to Eagleton, for those aristocratic characters like William Boot in Scoop and Tony Last in A
Handful of Dust that try to maintain their status in a ―reduced circumstance,‖ poverty is a threat (p.83). These
characters are not able to maintain the style of life of the aristocrats when they encounter reversals of
fortune. At the end of A Handful of Dust and Scoop the houses of the heroes are occupied with Tony‘s
relatives and the old nannies of Boot Magna, respectively. Actually, it seems that the female characters are
more accustomed to such class separation and can easily adjust their lives in terms of the social class they
belong to. Besides, the women are more successful in achieving social status, like Mrs. Stitch in Scoop who
uses her social stance to help her friends and in fact to get more friends of different classes. Barbara Seal in
Black Mischief does not leave her money for her son and tries to use her friends, who are socialites too, to
find a respectable job for Basil.
Many critics regard A Handful of Dust as a new phase in Waugh‘s writing. According to Garnett, the novel
is a ―system of emblematic oppositions, representing savage modernity in conflict with traditional civilized
values, moral chaos ranged against moral order‖ (as cited in O‘Keefe, 2012, p.128). Moreover, the reader is
faced with Mrs. Beaver and Brenda who fight for their goals and desires. Mrs. Beaver makes use even of her
son to make more money from women like Brenda and as a designer tries to manipulate whoever she can.
In fact, for the women of upper-classes, the question of morality is not vital as that of money and social
status is.
In A Handful of Dust, Waugh provides the reader with man‘s ―moral turpitude‖ (Brown, 1966, p.7), that is,
to use Waugh‘s terms, a product of the ―disintegrated society of today‖ (as cited in Brown, 1966, p.7). There
are different reasons for Waugh‘s choice of Dickens in this novel. Not only his father always read Dickens in
the house, but also during his travels to the British Guiana, which later inspired him to write Mr. Todd‘s story
and A Handful of Dust, he always read Dickens. As Lobb (2003-2004) points out, another reason for
choosing Dickens as the author that Tony is compelled to read aloud to Mr. Todd is that Dickens is the ―great
chronicler of the corruption of London‖ (p.134). However, it should be added that Waugh was always a critic
of Dickens‘ ―sentimental and hypocritical‖ morality and called it ―nonsense,‖ what Marlow says in Heart of
Darkness (p.135). Moreover, as Jerome Meckier suggests, Waugh‘s treatment of Conrad and Dickens is
alike (as cited in Lobb, 2003-2004, p.135).
As Rose Macaulay notes, A Handful of Dust is a ―social novel about adultery, treachery, betrayal, tragic
and sordid desolation‖ (as cited in Stannard, 1984, p.23). Regarding Waugh‘s personal life, A Handful of
Dust is a mirror of the immorality of the real life of the author and his unfaithful wife. Generally, according to
Christopher Hollis, A Handful of Dust is a ―transitional novel‖ (Bottley, 1983, p.37). It is the start of a new
trend of Wauvian writing. In his letter to Kathrine Asquith, in 1934, Waugh writes about the novel and the
difficulty of its writing. Besides, he regards the characters of A Handful of Dust as the ―normal people‖ who
are in contrast with the ―eccentrics‖ of the earlier novels (Bottley, 1983, p.37). Some critics call this novel
Waugh‘s highest achievement. As Bottley suggests, through writing A Handful of Dust, for the first time,
Waugh really identifies with one of his characters, Tony Last, who is betrayed by his wife. It should be noted
that even though Tony acts as an advocate of the Victorian moral codes of honesty, chivalry, gentleness,
etc, he cannot remain loyal to them. For instance, by pretending to have an affair with the prostitute Milly in
order to facilitate his divorce, he negates the Victorian ideals of honesty and fidelity. No need to mention,
Tony‘s gentility and his Victorian upbringing do not allow him to treat Milly as a prostitute. He neither
disrespects her nor touches her. Besides, the secular environment of the novel is more evident in Tony‘s
habitual portrayal of courteous behavior though it is not surprising when the vicar himself reads the
repetitious sermons to the church-goers. These disorders — especially the moral disorder of the modern
period that the author implies — leave the characters with no model to obey. There is no established rule or
pattern in the novel that the characters can adjust their lives or behaviors to. One of the main examples
could be John Andrew who is not only motherless but also fatherless, and as a result a child without a rolemodel. Hence, he finds Ben, the Stable man as his model for masculinity and takes every word of him very
serious. By choosing the character of Ben who has no respect for the other gender and race (obvious in his
treatment of nanny or Jews and Black people), Waugh provides the reader with a failed family in which the
roles have changed and there is no longer any moral and emotional order that can bind the members
together. By introducing the character of Jenny Abdul Akbar and John‘s interest in her, Waugh provides the
boy with a surrogate mother who despite being described as an exotic and seductive woman, compared with
Brenda shows more concern for John‘s death. In this sense, Waugh puts the blame on both sides: both Tony
and Brenda. However, by repeating the sentence ―it was nobody‘s fault‖ he seeks to emphasize the
characters‘ irresponsibility and insensitivity. It is obvious that Brenda is taken to be more responsible for the
death of their son. Through focusing on Tony‘s behavior, which corresponds to the Victorian ideals more
than that of Brenda, Waugh presents her as the main culprit for the family‘s decadence and fragmentation.
Ironically, the one who is punished more is Tony who seems to be less guilty than Brenda.
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In A Handful of Dust, like the previous two novels, Vile Bodies and Decline and Fall, Waugh presents the
reader with couples who have problems in marital life. Here, as Kelly notes, like the other two novels, there is
no emotional commitment or physical intimacy that could be regarded as Waugh‘s attempt to level all events
or emotions to meaninglessness, something that is quite relevant to the title. The character‘s lives are all
reduced to ‗a handful of dust.‘ There, love becomes something financial. John Beaver shows love for an
upper-middle-class woman in order to climb the ladders of progression; or, Brenda asks Tony to sell his
beloved house, Hetton, so that he could be able to pay her alimony.
In fact, in Waugh‘s early novels like Decline and Fall, Vile Bodies and A Handful of Dust the emotional
relationships are all based on financial ones. As Ward notes, one of the central themes of A Handful of Dust
is money and financial affairs. Indeed, the Wauvian women are mostly money-lovers. From the very
beginning of A Handful of Dust, the reader becomes familiar with the Beaver family whose name regarding
Waugh‘s concern with the use of titles implies ―beavering‖ and ―honest hard work‖. Waugh starts the novel
with Mrs. Beaver‘s conversation with her son, John Beaver. Here, we see Mrs. Beaver‘s desire in the
financial benefits she can make through a fire in one of her flats without any regard for its injured inhabitants.
Brenda is one of the other central characters who are fond of money and expensive life in London. This love
of money is even dominant in the little child, John Andrew, who talks of his nanny — the only woman who
truly grieves after his unfortunate death — in financial terms: ―she is paid to‖ (A Handful of Dust, p.21).
However, Waugh has made Tony in this respect the opposite of the others. The novel is regarded to be a
―tragic-comedy of manners‖ and a novel about adultery and familial degeneration (Milthorp, 2009, p.122).
The comedy of manners turns into a tragedy when John Andrew dies and after a while, Brenda asks for
divorce. Milthorp categorizes this novel in the same line of the novels like Madame Bovary, in terms of the
familial breakdown and fragmentation. This breakdown, however, has always something to do with money
too.
A Handful of Dust is a ―gloomy view‖ of a ―corrupted‖ society (Biedermanne, 2011, p.3). In Waugh‘s view,
it is a humanist work that ―contains‖ all he wants to say about ―humanism‖ (p.3). The ―moral decay‖ of the
modern era along with the meaninglessness of human life and affairs in the ―inter-war‖ period, beautifully
represents the Eliotic theme in The Waste Land. The world Waugh describes is a wasteland, where the
―antiquated life‖ of the gothic mansion, Hetton, is fading away under the shadow of modernity. One can hear
Waugh‘s voice in the character of the stationmaster who by his ironic reference to other women‘s love for
London predicts Brenda‘s betrayal. Accordingly, Waugh‘s novels provide the reader with many horrors. Here,
horror of modern life, especially whenever it overshadows the traditional roles of the women and makes
them such rebels as Brenda.
Although it is difficult to pin down Katchen‘s complex character in Scoop, there is a great difference
between her and the other European wives of the three novels, i.e. Brenda, Marjorie, Jenny, Prudence,
Mme. Ballon, etc. She is the only woman who remains loyal to her man — though it is not certain whether he
is her husband or not — who had once left her with no money. In fact, this man uses Katchen as a means to
keep the illegal properties belonging to the Ishmaelite government. (Incidentally, the stones he tries to steal
instances the pillaging that colonialism involved.) His plan is to escape to Germany — to his legal German
wife. This of course entails endangering Katchen‘s life. Actually, here the white man uses Katchen in his
colonialistic adventures without her awareness. She does not know anything about her nominal husband‘s
affairs even after her arrest. Also, Katchen and William are another couple whose relation is financially
based. Katchen‘s love for money is emphasized from the very beginning of her acquainting with William
when she sells him the stones of her German fiancé. By representing these two simple-minded figures,
Waugh highlights the shallowness of their relation. Actually, Katchen‘s relationship — either sexual or
emotional — with William seems to be like playing children‘s games. She continually abuses William‘s love
and fleeces him.
Waugh's characterization of women as sexual predators and commodities is another aspect of his
misogynistic attitude in writing. As Linklater suggests, Waugh had a complicated personal life. As a youth, in
his 23s, he ―had proved himself unsuccessful with women, men and suicide‖ (1986, p.13). Also, he regards
Waugh‘s interest in men ―more romantic than carnal‖ during the Oxford Years (Linklater, 1986, p.13). After
leaving Oxford, he fell in love with a woman named Olivia Plunket, but it was a failure. Anyhow, his first
marriage was a failure too, where his wife, She-Evelyn, betrayed him, with a BBC news announcer, a friend
of Evelyn Waugh.
Waugh frequently associates women with sexuality. Normally, the Wauvian literary She-Evelyn-like
characters such as Brenda, Prudence and Katchen do not know what they actually want. For this reason
they are always depicted as bored, like Brenda, wandering and simpleton-like Katchen, and naïve Prudence.
According to Linklater, Waugh portrays many of his female figures as ‗sexual predators‘ (e.g. Brenda,
Prudence, Katchen, Mrs. Stitch, and Jenny) or ―Bright Cruel Girls‖ (e.g. Brenda) or procuresses (like Margot
in Decline and Fall and Mrs. Beaver in A Handful of Dust) who are adept in manipulating others (1986, p.13).
These are the Bright Cruel Girls that Waugh tries to portray as the epitomes of the modern world and the
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modern women. The only group of women Waugh sympathize with are the nannies, for instance the nannies
in Boot Magna, or John Andrew‘s nanny.
To elaborate the above point, as an example, Prudence is not like the other western women, even her
mother, in the novel. She does not pay attention to issues like class and social status and there is no
―separation and snobbery‖ in her behavior (Showers, 2010, p. 60). She finds the first man of her life, William,
an ―effeminate and under-sexed‖ person to whose desires she is not responsive enough (Linklater, 1986,
p.13). Besides, Prudence is another female figure whose sexuality is emphasized by Waugh; the ―bath
water‖ scene in the novel provides the reader with a ―high class girl‖ that has ―reduced‖ herself to a ―furtive
encounter in a dirty room‖ (Showers, 2010, p.61). In fact, as Garnett notes, she acts under the spell of Basil‘s
charm and is ―lured by the siren of Basil‘s worldliness‖ (as cited in Showers, 2010, p.61). Here it seems that
Waugh has given Basil a kind of feminine charm that has made that "grand girl" degenerated, like a piece of
flesh he likes "to eat" (Black Mischief, p.180). Actually, this comic and somehow degenerative scene not only
foreshadows the tragic ending of the novel, but also implies that the European, especially women (i.e.
Prudence) become savages through settling in a savage and barbaric ambiance. On the other hand, as
William says, Prudence is very young to arouse serious emotions and indeed this is the very reason that
makes this character very naïve in comparison to the other female characters — especially the European
ones — in the three novels. Although the naivety of the girl has nothing to do with her unfortunate destiny in
the cannibalistic feast, Waugh means to punish her sexuality and the absurdity of her affairs with the few
men she knew in her life.
Additionally, using the symbols of fertility and barrenness in relation to the scenes of Prudence‘s reading
of The Panorama of Life, Waugh presents another picture of the girl‘s preoccupation with sexuality. She
writes:
When the earth proclaims its fertility, in run-ning brooks, bursting seed, mating of birds and frisking of
lambs then the thoughts of man turn to athletics and horticulture, water colour painting and amateur
theatricals. Now in the arid season when nature seems all dead under the cold earth, there is nothing to think
about except sex. (Black Mischief, p.238)
This of course is meant to capture the banality of ‗modern‘ times and ‗modern‘ women. More pointedly,
one should notice the sharp contrast between Prudence‘s naivety and the ―strained literary abstrusivenss‖ of
the books she reads. In terms of theme and style this book is written in the Lawrencian ―conflation of
sexuality with nature‖ (Showers, 2010, 110-111). ―How out of tune with Nature is the spirit of man!‖ (Black
Mischief, p.238), says she. Thus, the reader faces her preoccupation with sexual drives. To increase the
effect of these reading scenes, Waugh makes a difference between her personal panorama of life and the
literary panorama of life she reads eagerly.
Another interesting point is related to the distinction Waugh makes between the main narrative of Black
Mischief and the inter-narrative of Prudence‘s book in order to include a new voice through which he can
ridicule both books. For example, one can regard William and Prudence‘s first emergence in the second
chapter where Prudence uses the terms she has learnt from the book in her conversation with William. In
order to do this and to achieve the desired affect she assumes different voices like ―sophisticated‖,
―gramophone record‖, ―American‖ and ―vibrant-with-passion‖ (Black Mischief, p.45). One could consider the
sexual effects different voices could have and the way Waugh tries to express Prudence‘s efforts to achieve
such effects. All these happen while the male figures − like William, Basil and Seth − are generally
represented as asexual.
There are contradictory ideas about Waugh‘s ability to create sexual scenes. While to McDonnelle, cases
like Basil and Prudence‘s bath scene instance the author‘s explicitness in describing sexual affairs, Hitchens
(2003) refers to Waugh‘s ―lamentable inability‖ to write about sex (p.109). Some regard Waugh‘s satire in a
―conservative and moralistic" mode that aims to ridicule human follies in order to expand morality and ethics.
For example, about the description of the bath scene that is attacked by many catholic critics, Waugh asserts
that while in certain situations representing such immoral actions might ―encourage‖ people to practice it, in
his own case this representation has a ―contrary‖ effect (Greenberg, 2006, p.121).
Again, in A Handful of Dust, Waugh associates women with sex. Lack of intercourse in Tony and Brenda‘s
married life transforms her from a passionate woman to an ―imprisoned princess of fairy story‖ (A Handful of
Dust, p.41). Actually, both Brenda‘s selfishness and Tony‘s indifference makes their unemotional relationship
balanced, however, the tragedy begins to strike when Beaver‘s intrusion opens their eyes to the facts.
Besides, there is no reference to Tony and Brenda‘s intimacy throughout the novel. The only cases are those
when she tries to be coquettish in order to get what she wants: ―She turned her lips away and robbed against
his cheek like a cat‖ (A Handful of Dust, p.16).
By providing scenes like Brenda‘s asking Marjorie about John Beaver‘s sex-life, Waugh depicts her as an
exotic woman. Moreover, Brenda‘s having an affair with Beaver, whom she confirms as a "second rate and a
snob‖, and ―cold as a fish" (A Handful of Dust, p.51), could be relevant to the idea of European women‘s love
affairs with the ―black gigolos‖, though Beaver is white (Bush, 2004, p.86). In fact, as Bush suggests, it was
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―chic‖ at that time to have illicit and interracial intercourse; women in particular, were attracted to black
gigolos, an example of whom is satirized by Evelyn Waugh in the character of Felicity Cardover in Decline
and Fall (p.86). Also, this association recurs in Black Mischief when Prudence thinks of seducing the Black
Emperor, Seth, to dance:
Why, he dances beautifully, reported Mrs. Schonbaum.
I often wonder what they would say back home to see me dancing with a man of color.
(Black
Mischief, p.102)
Waugh describes Brenda as an imprisoned princess in Hetton to imply the woman‘s repressed sexuality.
Finally, Brenda finds a chance to start a new way – a ‗modern‘ way – of life through her migration to London,
after years of boredom and solitude she starts to experience romance, sex, and fun for which she used to
long for at Hetton:
It had been an autumn of very sparse and meager romance; only the most obvious people had parted or
come together, and Brenda was filling a want long felt by those whose simple, vicarious pleasure it was to
discuss the subject in bed over the telephone. For them her circumstances shed peculiar glamour; for five
years she had been a legendary, almost ghostly name, the imprisoned princess of fairy story, and now that
she had emerged there was more enchantment in the occurrence, than in the mere change of habit of any
other circumspect wife. (A Handful of Dust, p.56)
Though the novel is not a morality play, it could be suggested that Tony is to some extent the stereotypical
cuckolded man who never blames his wife and keeps on trusting in her. In fact, this ―over-indulgence‖ in
Brenda makes Tony a ―figure of fun‖ (Ward, 2008, p.681). Of course, committing adultery and such
temporary whims are not something new in Brenda‘s family. It has happened before for Marjorie, of whose
relationship with Robin Beaseley, Allen is not so harsh and ―pretended not to notice and it all blew over‖ (A
Handful of Dust, p.127). Interestingly enough, he tries to convince Tony not to ―be mediaeval about it‖ and
take it easy (A Handful of Dust, p.127). Actually, Waugh provides the reader with modern men who remains
modern and open-minded even when their women betray them. In fact, men like Allan find any serious
reaction in such situations mediaeval and primitive. However, Tony acts quite in a mediaeval manner and
states that he does not want Brenda back again.
Jenny‘s coquetry at Hetton is another example of women‘s making use of their sexuality. ―No, I‘ll stay
here. I like just to curl up like a cat in front of the fire, and if you‘re nice to me I‘ll purr, and if you‘re cruel I
shall pretend not to notice-just like a cat ... Shall I purr, Teddy?‖ (A Handful of Dust, p.85) Here she tries her
best to seduce Tony through her mixture of Oriental and western charms. But to the reader‘s surprise, she
fails with Tony and the only man she can hunt as a predator is John Andrew. Comparing Jenny to other
women of the three novels associated with sexuality, it might come to the reader‘s mind that Waugh has
chosen her, as the Oriental woman to portray such exaggerated unlady-like actions. Though she is not in
reality an Eastern woman, the author endows her with features which imply an Oriental quality. In other
words, she is the manifestation of Waugh‘s both racial and gendered biases.
Waugh‘s presentation of Black Bitch in terms of morality and sexuality is a bit ambiguous. On the one
hand, by choosing the insulting name of Black Bitch for General Connolly‘s native wife, and focusing on the
other characters‘ insistence on calling her so, even after she becomes the Duchess of Ukaka, Waugh
highlights his racialist and misogynistic tendency toward the native women. By utilizing the term bitch for a
loyal and simple woman who is faithful to her husband in spite of his mistreatments, the reader faces
Waugh‘s extravagance in his depiction of these women. On the other hand, it might be noticed that by
comparing innocent Black Bitch with the famous Azanian prostitute, Fifi—for whom Waugh uses the title of
―Mme‖— Waugh tries to extricate the ideas of sexuality and morality from any racial and national
connections. Actually, by describing the sexuality and amorality of women of the two races, Fifi and
Prudence, he seems to be more misogynistic than racist. However, there is no justification for his naming of
the Duchess other than his racism. By mixing the two adjectives, black and bitch, he tries to associate not
only the woman with immorality and adultery — in fact there is no scene or reference implying her
dishonesty or sexuality — but also the raced women.
According to Reeve-Tucker, Waugh‘s ―dissatisfied English characters‖ are mostly young men. However,
this dissatisfaction is not limited only to the male characters. At least in A Handful of Dust we see Brenda
Last who is dissatisfied with the life she has. Of course she is the only central women in the three novels that
have such desires. It seems that Waugh tries to accuse women of the potential reasons for men‘s
degeneracy and the prime sources of moral decay. In general, it could be suggested that the male
characters of these novels are most of the time bachelor heroes or those under-sexed men who are either
cuckolded like Jock, John Boot and Tony Last, or uninterested in women like Basil, John Beaver and Seth.
These central male figures are either escaping from women or are led by them to the alien places. For
example, Basil is escaping his mother‘s controlling behavior. In A Handful of Dust, Tony escapes from
Brenda — the one who has escaped from him and his real mistress, i.e. Hetton — in search of a new Hetton,
a new feminine embrace, a new mistress, which ends in endless wandering. Tony is generally represented
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as an asexual man. He is not attracted to women. Even his relationship with Brenda is cold enough to make
an imprisoned princess out of her. After Brenda‘s return from the first trip to London to see Beaver, she
becomes more reluctant to spend her time with Tony: ―don‘t say anything about bed, because I can‘t move‖
(A Handful of Dust, p.43). Nonetheless, a week before John‘s death, Brenda and Tony spend the night in
Guinevere, for Brenda was determined to devote herself to her family that weekend. Seemingly, no room is
named King Arthur. Tony‘s room, his room since his childhood, is named Morgan le Fay. Tony and Brenda
do not sleep in the same room. Besides, there is ample evidence in the novel showing that Brenda and Tony
live together out of habit, not love.
In Scoop, again, Mrs. Stitch, under the spell of ‗her Stitch services,‘ mistakenly changes the course of lives
of two men, William and his namesake, John C. Boot. Here, of course, William does not try to fly from his
hometown which is inhabited by the nannies that are among the loving female figures in Waugh‘s works.
Significantly, John Boot tries to escape from the memory of his fiancé. He asks Julia Stitch‘s help: ―I‘ve got to
get far away or else go crazy‖ (Scoop, p.10).
One can suggest that the male explorers of these novels, with the exception of William, travel to the far
places not merely for a colonialistic experience, but most of the time for its fun (Basil) and for freeing
themselves from the hands of their women (Tony and John Boot). In this regard, Basil, Tony and John Boot
are Huckle Berry Finn figures who escape from the feminine rule and mischief to find a refuge in Azania,
Demarara and Ishmaeilia, respectively. As a matter of fact, all these controlling women are of high power in
society or desire social and economic power. Waugh implies that these new women are totally different from
the Victorian women who used to remain within their bounds and commitments.
Using women as tools to distract men‘s attention and, in fact, to control their actions is not infrequent in
Waugh‘s fiction. In their decision to impede Seth‘s extravagance in his modernizing project, Youkoumian tells
Basil: ―if we can fix Seth with a woman our modernization will get along damn fine‖ (Black Mischief, p.142).
Basil‘s suggestion that ―There‘s always Fifi‖ (p.142) is very much like Brenda‘s friends‘ idea of a woman for
Tony: ―There is always Old Sybil‖ (A Handful of Dust, p.82). However, Basil, himself is not an exception.
Cynthia Seal, a controlling and powerful woman, tries to impede Basil‘s mischief by referring to the ―heaps of
jolly girls coming out‖ that ―he hasn‘t had the chance of meeting yet‖ (Black Mischief, p.82). When Basil tells
her about his new adventure, she suggests: ―You are to meet some new girls‖ (Black Mischief, p.84).
Therefore, these men could be problematic for both men and women; and whenever this happens the only
alternative is to fix them with women. However, the problem with Tony, as Brenda says, is his inability to
forget about the habit of loving Brenda and living with her:"Tony‘s been used to me [italics added] for seven
years. It‘s rather a sudden change" (A Handful of Dust, p.89). Finally, she chooses Jenny Abdul Akbar and
sends her to Hetton in her own absence. Providing his female characters with immoral roles and positions
such as prostitutes and pimps, Waugh foregrounds his extravagant misogyny. In other words, by
representing asexual men like Tony, William Boot, and Seth in opposition to the exotic and capricious
women of both races, he intensifies his subjectivity and gender biases. However, neither Tony nor Seth is
interested in the women others have chosen for them. In the morning when John asks Jenny about the plans
for the day, she says: ―I don‘t know yet. I havent been told‖ (A Handful of Dust, p.90). Her response
unconsciously brings forth the idea that she is totally acting based on Polly and Brenda‘s plan acting as a
prostitute who is paid to do what she is told to. To sum, women are most of the time portrayed as sexual
tools in these novels. Whenever a man is starting a mischief or is needed to be out of the way, the first cure
is to fix him with a woman. There is no difference between the western or Oriental women in this sense; and
in fact, here what is dominant is sexuality.
Conclusion
Generally, Waugh‘s prejudiced representation of women — whether white or non-white — by
characteristics like immorality, exoticism, infidelity, superstition, weakness and considering them in the
general category of subaltern — regardless of their race and class — highlights his general misogynistic
outlook. Regarding women as sexual predators while the male figures are generally asexual, Waugh tries to
provide the reader with a picture of the women whether white or non-white as exotic individuals who always
try to abuse men through their coquettish manners. Besides, by characterizing the female figures as
commodities in the hands of men, the author once again emphasizes his misogynistic attitude that has its
roots in his real life. In these novels, whenever one of the male characters has to be controlled, the others
decide to fix him with a woman. In fact, looking from an ethical point of view, it could be suggested that for
Waugh, ‗modern women,‘ regardless of their progressive roles and functions, are sexual objects whose
actions corrupt the whole masculine world of these novels. The world, Waugh intimates in these novels,
would be ethically better off without these women.
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Intl. J. Manag. Human. Sci. Vol., S (3), 3943-3949, 2014
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