Told by an Idiot: Analysis of Major Characters
"Told by an Idiot" explores the complex lives and relationships of the Garden family, with a particular focus on the interactions and developments of its major characters. The patriarch, Aubrey Garden, is a liberal clergyman in search of spiritual truth, whose shifts in faith profoundly affect his family dynamics. His devoted wife, Mrs. Garden, embodies patience and resilience but ultimately asserts her own needs in the face of his relentless quest. The character profiles include their daughters: Victoria, focused on family and social grace; Rome, who grapples with personal beliefs and love; Stanley, an independent activist; and Una, the nurturing and content youngest sister.
The sons also represent diverse responses to their upbringing: Maurice, a rationalist and journalist, and Irving, the financially successful sibling who prioritizes wealth and stability. Each character's journey reflects broader themes of faith, identity, and the quest for meaning, enriched by their individual responses to familial obligations and societal expectations. Through these intricate portrayals, the narrative delves into the challenges and triumphs of navigating personal truth within a familial framework.
Told by an Idiot: Analysis of Major Characters
Author: Rose Macaulay
First published: 1923
Genre: Novel
Locale: London, England
Plot: Historical
Time: 1879 to the early 1920's
Aubrey Garden, a liberal clergyman. When the story begins, he is fifty years old, distinguished-looking, and melancholy, with bright blue eyes. Earnest and intellectual, he is a spiritual Don Quixote, forever questing after “the truth.” His wife and children react with varying degrees of loyalty, sympathy, and ironic tolerance to each spiritual crisis; his switching of faiths usually causes a switching of jobs and living situations. In his intense devotion to various religions, he names his children for their symbols. When he dies in 1914, he has realized that for him, only a combination of all religions equals truth.
Mrs. Garden, his loyal, patient wife. In her mid-forties, she is devoted to her family, adapting serenely to Aubrey's perpetual quest for truth until she finally gets her fill of switching and announces her intention of staying at home while he worships. She secretly grieves over Maurice's unhappy marriage and his perpetual war with society but remains remarkably tolerant of her children's quirks. Even at her death from cancer in 1903, she refuses to burden her children with guilt by bequeathing the care of their bereaved father to them.
Victoria Garden, the eldest daughter, named for her father's temporary victory over unbelief. At the age of twenty-three, she is slim and graceful, with thick chestnut hair and gray eyes. Lively and affectionate, she adores parties, dresses, music, beaux, and aesthetics. She marries Charles Carrington, bears five children, and runs with energy and vivacity a warm if not intellectually stimulating household.
Rome Garden, the second daughter, named (ironically, as she vacillates between agnosticism and atheism) for the Catholic Church. At twenty years of age, she is pale and slender, with fair hair and intense blue-green eyes. Although she never marries, she falls in love with a married man, Francis Jayne. Contemplating adultery from a “civilized” rather than a moral perspective, she witnesses his murder and never loves again. Even when facing death at sixty-four from cancer (she has told none of her family and is planning suicide to forestall the pain and “uncivilized” messiness), she maintains a detached and ironic view of life, bordering on nihilism. It is from her outlook that the novel takes its title.
Stanley Garden, the third daughter, named for a dean whom her father had admired. Vigorous, stocky, athletic, and independent, she is in her teens when the story begins. An avid reader and worker for social causes, she eventually marries Denman Croft, bears two children (neither of whom shares her political interests), and divorces him for infidelity. She embraces social causes with her father's fervor and fluctuation. As the story ends, she is heading eagerly for Geneva to work for the new League of Nations, optimistic that it can save the world from further war.
Una Garden, the youngest daughter, named for the One Person in whom her father had once believed. Fifteen years old at the outset, she is plump, physically vigorous, cheerful, and attractive, with brown hair and blue eyes. The “least clever and the best balanced of the Gardens,” she marries a farmer, settles in the country, bears several healthy children, and remains “attuned to the soil,” her contentment a powerful foil for Rome's ironic detachment.
Maurice Garden, the older son, named for a prominent theologian. In his early twenties, Maurice has light, straight hair, a long chin, and thin lips; his glasses make him look scholarly and serious. A rationalist who respects some religions but has no faith, he becomes a radical journalist. He marries the catty Amy Wilbur, fathers two disappointingly shallow children (his son becomes a second-rate novelist whose writing is more esteemed than his intellectual father's erudite prose), and divorces Amy once the children are grown. In late middle age, he finally achieves a truce with life.
Irving Garden, the younger son, named Irving because Aubrey had been an Irvingite, or member of the Catholic Apostolic Church. Handsome, dark, and urbane, Irving is in his middle teens. With his flair for business, he becomes the only financially successful Garden, sharing wealth and opportunities with his siblings. He marries Lady Marjorie Banister and settles down to rear a family, enjoy life, and make more money. Although he views war and politics only as they affect his finances, he remains genial and affectionate.
Imogen Carrington, Victoria's youngest daughter, one of the “new” generation. Tomboyish and imaginative, she becomes a poet and novelist, never exactly sure what the “proper role” for women should be, and she usually imagines herself as a boy. Like her Aunt Stanley, she is in love with life; like her Aunt Rome, she falls in love with a married man. At the end of the story, she departs with her lover (half in grief, half in joy) to live out her dreams for a year in the South Pacific.