The Heat of the Day

“War had made them idolise day and summer; night and autumn were enemies. And, at the start of the concert, this tarnished bosky theatre, in which no plays had been acted for some time, held a feeling of sequestration, of emptiness the music had not had time to fill. It was not completely in shadow—here and there blades of sunset crossed it, firing branches through which they traveled, and lay along ranks of chairs and faces and hands.”

Bowen blends a detailed sensory description of the outdoor theatre with war-related diction, like “firing” and “ranks,” to introduce The Experience and Limbo of Wartime. Throughout the novel, life in wartime London seems static and surreal compared to the city’s normal rhythm.

“He took two or three more pulls on his cigarette—perhaps to steady himself, perhaps not—before, still frowning with concentration, unloading more ash on to the Chinese tray. His mind was, where she was concerned, a jar of opaquely clouded water, in which, for all she knew, the strangest fish must be circling, staring, turning to turn away. She glanced at her wrist watch, glanced again at her letters, felt nervous, bit off a nervous yawn.”

Bowen uses the motif of cigarette smoking to add detail to the social interaction (See: Symbols & Motifs). Stella’s thought process about Harrison reflects her uncertainty as to who he is and whether or not she can trust him, as his mind is like “opaquely clouded water” and his presence leaves her feeling “nervous.”

“She then turned full on him, from less than a yard away: they were eye to eye in the intimacy of her extreme anger. There is actually little difference as to colour in the moment before the blow and the moment before the kiss: the negligible space between her and him was now charged, full force, with the intensity of their two beings.”

This passage reflects The Effect of War on Personal Relationships, with Stella and Harrison’s encounter presented as driven by both a sense of antagonism and an erotic charge. While Stella experiences “extreme anger,” the eroticism of the language of “the negligible space between her and him” and “the intensity of their two beings” implies that Stella’s feelings toward Harrison may be more complicated than she is willing to admit.