The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
"The Girls of Slender Means" is a novel by Muriel Spark set in post-World War II London, focusing on the lives of girls residing at the May of Teck Club, a hostel for young women of good background. The narrative revolves around the trivialities of love and money, reflecting the characters' preoccupations with gossip, flirtation, and superficial pursuits. Key figures include Selina Redwood, a self-centered young woman who thrives on attention from men, and Joanna Childe, who aspires to a life dedicated to poetry following a failed romance. The story takes a dramatic turn when an unexploded bomb detonates, trapping some girls on the roof as they await rescue. The contrasting reactions of the characters during this crisis highlight their varying moral and spiritual conditions. For instance, while Selina prioritizes her possessions, Joanna displays selflessness and faith. Ultimately, the novel concludes with themes of spiritual redemption: Nicholas, inspired by Joanna's faith, embraces Christianity and dies as a martyr, while Joanna's character embodies a deeper spiritual richness. Thus, "The Girls of Slender Means" presents a nuanced exploration of personal values amid the chaos of life, culminating in an unexpected yet hopeful resolution.
The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 1963
Type of work: Novel
The Work
The Girls of Slender Means illustrates Spark’s belief that what may seem like trivialities are actually important events on the path to salvation or damnation. Certainly, in 1945 there is not much serious conversation at the May of Teck Club, a hostel in bombed-out London where some forty girls, mostly students and office workers of good background, can be appropriately housed. Spark can easily summarize the subjects of discourse at the club as being love and money, the latter needed to buy clothes and cosmetics in aid of the former. Except for a few such as Jane Wright, who has ambitions in the publishing business, and Joanna Childe, who, after one failed love affair, has decided to devote her life to poetry, the girls’ major amusements are gossip and flirtation. The greatest success at the latter is the beautiful, self-centered Selina Redwood, who collects men of all sorts, including Nicholas Farringdon, an irresolute young man, most recently the author of a book in favor of atheism.
The title that Spark chose for this book is particularly apt. In the first sentence, she points out the obvious meaning: The story is set at a time when everyone in England had limited means. When the girls’ most exciting adventure turns out to be wriggling through a bathroom window to sunbathe on the roof, however, it is clear that a slender bodily structure is indeed the means to satisfaction. Right at the point when one of the girls is stuck in the window, the comedy turns to drama. An unexploded bomb detonates, destroying the fire escapes, and when a gas main ruptures, a number of girls are trapped on the top floor. Then, of course, the slender ones can slip up to the roof, from which they can be rescued. Meanwhile, the firemen are working frantically to open a blocked-off hatch, so that the remainder can be rescued before the building collapses. At the moment that the last one, Joanna Childe, is on the ladder, the end comes, and the young woman dies in the ruins.
Less important than the matter of who lives and who dies is Spark’s description of the girls’ behavior during those critical minutes. For example, the slim Selina slips back into the house, not to help the others, but to rescue a prized Schiaparelli dress. On the other hand, Joanna calmly recites the appropriate psalms and waits until last to climb the ladder, missing her own chance to escape by only a few seconds. For Nicholas, who has been on the roof throughout the rescue effort, this episode is a turning point. Inspired by Joanna’s faith, he commits himself to Christianity, becomes a missionary, and later, when the survivors have returned to their everyday lives, dies a martyr’s death in Haiti.
The conclusion suggests still a third interpretation of the title. Most of the girls, though they are not as evil as Selina, nevertheless are spiritually impoverished. In contrast, Joanna has so rich a faith that she is able to escape from her self. Among Spark’s characters, Joanna is one of the few saints. Moreover, because it concludes with spiritual triumph both for Joanna and for Nicholas, in the context of Spark’s vision, The Girls of Slender Means is a novel with an unequivocal happy ending.
Bibliography
Bold, Alan Norman. Muriel Spark. London: Methuen, 1986.
Hynes, Joseph, ed. Critical Essays on Muriel Spark. New York: G. K. Hall, 1992.
Kane, Richard C. Iris Murdoch, Muriel Spark, and John Fowles: Didactic Demons in Modern Fiction. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988.
Page, Norman. Muriel Spark. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990.
Randisi, Jennifer Lynn. On Her Way Rejoicing: The Fiction of Muriel Spark. Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1991.
Richmond, Velma Bourgeois. Muriel Spark. New York: F. Ungar, 1984.
Sproxton, Judy. The Women of Muriel Spark. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1992.
Walker, Dorothea. Muriel Spark. Boston: Twayne, 1988.
Whittaker, Ruth. The Faith and Fiction of Muriel Spark. London: Macmillan, 1982.