“Well,” said Augusta faintly to herself when she had got her breath back a little, “I am glad that it is over; anyway, I do hope that I may never be called on to nurse the head of another publishing company.” (chpt 10)
Although Augusta has newfound trauma of someone flailing and dying in front of her, she seems relieved that he is dead. She has conflicted feelings about the stress of looking over a dying person and then witnessing said person’s death. On the one hand, I think she is glad that Mr. Meeson can no longer antagonize her now that he’s dead, but there’s also the weight of undergoing that stress. I think if Haggard cared more about character development Augusta would, realistically, be more deeply affected by the events she had gone through. I do believe that it is realistic that she would feel a sort of relief, as she rightfully didn’t care too much about him.
If this was written in a more serious matter, could this novel have been something a lot more than it is? I think the tone of this novel seriously affects its effectiveness in creating a story with three-dimensional characters. Honestly, I think there was a lot of potential in this concept, even if Haggard didn’t take it too seriously. I kind of wish he did, Augusta could be such an objectively better and iconic character.
One response to “QCQ #8”
I think you’re right about character development and it’s interesting to think about what a serious or realistic treatment of the same scenarios might look like. Still, there are definitely serious ideas to be taken from the satiric tone, perhaps especially if we think about the joke being at Augusta’s expense.