The Go-Between by L.P. Hartley
Reviewed by Joe Porter
The Go-Between was first published in 1953, the same year in which this reviewer was born; therefore it is a very recent book!
The book opens with the main character, Leo Colston, finding old diary lying at the bottom of a cardboard box. Leo is in his sixties and he hasn't seen the diary for over fifty years. Leo opens the combination lock on it and sees the words 'Diary for the year 1900'. He is initially reluctant to open the diary because the events recorded therein are those responsible for his unhappy life and his disappointment with the twentieth century. When he does eventually does unlock the diary, he is also unlocking the memories of his stay at Brandham Hall, which was to cause Leo to suffer a crisis of confidence and a loss of trust in his fellow human beings. This was an experience that was to affect him for the rest of his life.
The bulk of the novel is told in retrospect. Leo looks back to the year 1900. He remembers his first few months at boarding school, where he is relentlessly and systematically teased and bullied. He is mindful of the schoolboy code that dictates he should sort out his own problems, so he does not report the bullies. The chief perpetrators among the boarding-school bullies are Jenkins and Strode on whom Leo decides to take revenge. He decides to put curses on them. He cuts his finger, dips his pen in the blood and writes the curses in his diary. He leaves the diary in his locker with the door ajar. He knows the bullies will read what he has written.
The curses have near-fatal consequences on the two bullies. That night Jenkins and Strode go onto the school roof and Jenkins slips. Strode makes a grab for him, but both boys go over the edge and are taken to the school sanatorium where they are found to be suffering from concussion.
Jenkins and Strode had indeed read the curses, and had told everyone about them to try to make Leo look foolish. When the bullies have their accident, Leo is given hero-like status among his peers. He is seen as a magician who is able to cast spells.
Leo reminisces on the measles outbreak at school. This caused the term to end after seven weeks instead of the usual thirteen. Leo takes credit for having caused the outbreak with his magic spells. This second triumph is causing Leo to be a little over-confident.
Leo's mother receives a letter from Mrs Maudsley. Leo is invited to Brandham Hall in Norfolk to spend the summer with his school friend, Marcus. There is a gulf in social class between Marcus's family and Leo's. Leo's inferior social status will work against him later in the novel.
When Leo arrives at Brandham Hall, he is both impressed and intimidated by the size of the place. The Maudsley family and their guests inhabit a different world from Leo. He feels out of place in their company. He thinks he '... should have more in common with a Hottentot child than with these grown-ups and people in their late 'teens and early twenties.' He does not understand what they do all day: 'What they thought and did all day was a mystery....' In this company, Leo begins to feel self-conscious and inferior.
The entry in Leo's diary for Wednesday 11th July states, 'Saw the Deadly Nightshade- Atropa Belladona.' That the deadly nightshade is both beautiful and poisonous is highly symbolic in the story. Leo describes it as being '... the picture of evil and also the picture of health.' He decides not to report his find to Mrs Maudsley lest she should have it destroyed. He intends to visit the plant again. This scene foreshadows the relationship Leo will have with Marian, Marcus's older sister.
Marian is kind to Leo. It is she who takes him to Norwich to buy him summer clothes because he was too warm in the clothes he had brought with him to Brandham Hall. When Marian is discussing with her mother about taking Leo to Norwich, she, Mrs Maudsley, suggests that the shopping trip should take place after the arrival of Hugh, who is later referred to as Trimingham. Marian disagrees. Leo has no idea who Hugh or Trimingham is, but he experiences a pang of jealousy. While in Norwich, Marian proposes Leo should have an hour to himself to explore the cathedral. When he meets Marian later, he glimpses her parting company with someone who raises a hat to her... obviously a man.
Back at Brandham Hall, everyone comments on the colour of Leo's new summer clothes, discussing whether they are the colour of a cucumber or Lincoln green. The clothes Marian selected for Leo are green; a colour associated with inexperience!
A bathing party is arranged. Leo goes along to watch as he doesn't yet have his mother's permission to swim. On the way to the river Marcus explains to Leo that Trimingham is very ugly and has a disfigured face due to being injured in the Boer War. Marcus says that his mother wants Marian to marry Trimingham. Leo cannot understand why Mrs Maudsley would want her daughter to marry a man who does not even get the title of 'mister' when the others refer to him.
When the bathing party arrive at the river a farmer, called Ted Burgess, has just dived into the water. Ted leaves hurriedly when he hears Marian's voice.
The next day, a Sunday, Marcus is not feeling well and does not come down to breakfast. At breakfast, Leo sees Trimingham for the very first time. He is shocked at the sight of his disfigured face. Leo tries to place him on the social scale. He decides the 'misterless' Trimingham ranks below a gentleman and above a farmer like Ted Burgess. He cannot understand why Mrs Maudsley makes such a fuss of him. Leo also decides that there is no way he could possibly like Trimingham.
After breakfast, the Maudsley family and their guests begin the half-mile walk to church. Whilst in church Leo reads the memorial inscriptions on the wall. The memorials are dedicated to a succession of Viscounts called Trimimgham. The eighth Viscount died in 1894, and since this was 1900, Leo surmises there may be a ninth who is still alive.
On the walk back from church, Trimingham introduces himself to Leo, who responds by saying 'How do you do, Trimingham?' Trimingham tells Leo he may call him 'Hugh'. When Leo asks if he is Mr Trimingham, the latter explains that not all men are called 'mister'. Leo realises he is speaking with the ninth Viscount Trimingham!
When the introductions are over, the conversation turns to Marian. Leo confides to Trimingham that he would do anything for Marian. Trimingham asks Leo what sort of things he would do for Marian. Leo tells him he would be prepared to defend her if she were attacked by a dog, and he would run errands, carry things and take messages for her. Trimingham replies 'Would you like to take her a message now?' Leo assents, and Trimingham asks Leo to run to Marian to inform her she left her prayer book in church and he, Trimingham, had picked it up. This errand foreshadows the role Leo will play in the story; the role of 'go-between'.
Later, as Marcus is in bed unwell, Leo goes exploring on his own. He comes across a farm where he climbs up a straw-stack and slides down it. In so doing, he gashes his knee. The farmer, who turns out to be Ted Burgess, comes to his aid. Ted asks Leo if he will take a letter to Marian. Before writing the letter, Ted swears Leo to secrecy. He tells Leo he must say nothing about the letter, and he should only give it to Marian when no one else is watching.
When Marian asks Leo to take a letter to Ted, Leo's role as the go-between is firmly established. Leo has no idea what the letters contain, although he does speculate on the contents. He does sense, however, that the letters are very important to Marian.
One day when he is carrying a letter from Marian, he notices the envelope is not sealed. He is in two minds about whether to read it or not. He compromises by just reading the words he can see without removing the letter from the envelope. He is horrified at what he reads!
The Go-Between is a novel in which the theme of growing up is explored. Leo is a naïve child in the adult world. He is ruthlessly exploited by a woman he loved and trusted. This causes Leo to have a few rude awakenings about what the adult world is really like. Leo's self-awareness and self-consciousness also develop in the course of the novel.
At the end of the epilogue, Leo, although now in his sixties, is still trying to come to terms with the events that beset him in the summer when he had his thirteenth birthday.
Recommended further reading:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (published 1860-61 in serial form, and 1861 as a three-volume novel)
Click here to search for 'The Go-Between' on Amazon UK
The Go-Between was first published in 1953, the same year in which this reviewer was born; therefore it is a very recent book!
The book opens with the main character, Leo Colston, finding old diary lying at the bottom of a cardboard box. Leo is in his sixties and he hasn't seen the diary for over fifty years. Leo opens the combination lock on it and sees the words 'Diary for the year 1900'. He is initially reluctant to open the diary because the events recorded therein are those responsible for his unhappy life and his disappointment with the twentieth century. When he does eventually does unlock the diary, he is also unlocking the memories of his stay at Brandham Hall, which was to cause Leo to suffer a crisis of confidence and a loss of trust in his fellow human beings. This was an experience that was to affect him for the rest of his life.
The bulk of the novel is told in retrospect. Leo looks back to the year 1900. He remembers his first few months at boarding school, where he is relentlessly and systematically teased and bullied. He is mindful of the schoolboy code that dictates he should sort out his own problems, so he does not report the bullies. The chief perpetrators among the boarding-school bullies are Jenkins and Strode on whom Leo decides to take revenge. He decides to put curses on them. He cuts his finger, dips his pen in the blood and writes the curses in his diary. He leaves the diary in his locker with the door ajar. He knows the bullies will read what he has written.
The curses have near-fatal consequences on the two bullies. That night Jenkins and Strode go onto the school roof and Jenkins slips. Strode makes a grab for him, but both boys go over the edge and are taken to the school sanatorium where they are found to be suffering from concussion.
Jenkins and Strode had indeed read the curses, and had told everyone about them to try to make Leo look foolish. When the bullies have their accident, Leo is given hero-like status among his peers. He is seen as a magician who is able to cast spells.
Leo reminisces on the measles outbreak at school. This caused the term to end after seven weeks instead of the usual thirteen. Leo takes credit for having caused the outbreak with his magic spells. This second triumph is causing Leo to be a little over-confident.
Leo's mother receives a letter from Mrs Maudsley. Leo is invited to Brandham Hall in Norfolk to spend the summer with his school friend, Marcus. There is a gulf in social class between Marcus's family and Leo's. Leo's inferior social status will work against him later in the novel.
When Leo arrives at Brandham Hall, he is both impressed and intimidated by the size of the place. The Maudsley family and their guests inhabit a different world from Leo. He feels out of place in their company. He thinks he '... should have more in common with a Hottentot child than with these grown-ups and people in their late 'teens and early twenties.' He does not understand what they do all day: 'What they thought and did all day was a mystery....' In this company, Leo begins to feel self-conscious and inferior.
The entry in Leo's diary for Wednesday 11th July states, 'Saw the Deadly Nightshade- Atropa Belladona.' That the deadly nightshade is both beautiful and poisonous is highly symbolic in the story. Leo describes it as being '... the picture of evil and also the picture of health.' He decides not to report his find to Mrs Maudsley lest she should have it destroyed. He intends to visit the plant again. This scene foreshadows the relationship Leo will have with Marian, Marcus's older sister.
Marian is kind to Leo. It is she who takes him to Norwich to buy him summer clothes because he was too warm in the clothes he had brought with him to Brandham Hall. When Marian is discussing with her mother about taking Leo to Norwich, she, Mrs Maudsley, suggests that the shopping trip should take place after the arrival of Hugh, who is later referred to as Trimingham. Marian disagrees. Leo has no idea who Hugh or Trimingham is, but he experiences a pang of jealousy. While in Norwich, Marian proposes Leo should have an hour to himself to explore the cathedral. When he meets Marian later, he glimpses her parting company with someone who raises a hat to her... obviously a man.
Back at Brandham Hall, everyone comments on the colour of Leo's new summer clothes, discussing whether they are the colour of a cucumber or Lincoln green. The clothes Marian selected for Leo are green; a colour associated with inexperience!
A bathing party is arranged. Leo goes along to watch as he doesn't yet have his mother's permission to swim. On the way to the river Marcus explains to Leo that Trimingham is very ugly and has a disfigured face due to being injured in the Boer War. Marcus says that his mother wants Marian to marry Trimingham. Leo cannot understand why Mrs Maudsley would want her daughter to marry a man who does not even get the title of 'mister' when the others refer to him.
When the bathing party arrive at the river a farmer, called Ted Burgess, has just dived into the water. Ted leaves hurriedly when he hears Marian's voice.
The next day, a Sunday, Marcus is not feeling well and does not come down to breakfast. At breakfast, Leo sees Trimingham for the very first time. He is shocked at the sight of his disfigured face. Leo tries to place him on the social scale. He decides the 'misterless' Trimingham ranks below a gentleman and above a farmer like Ted Burgess. He cannot understand why Mrs Maudsley makes such a fuss of him. Leo also decides that there is no way he could possibly like Trimingham.
After breakfast, the Maudsley family and their guests begin the half-mile walk to church. Whilst in church Leo reads the memorial inscriptions on the wall. The memorials are dedicated to a succession of Viscounts called Trimimgham. The eighth Viscount died in 1894, and since this was 1900, Leo surmises there may be a ninth who is still alive.
On the walk back from church, Trimingham introduces himself to Leo, who responds by saying 'How do you do, Trimingham?' Trimingham tells Leo he may call him 'Hugh'. When Leo asks if he is Mr Trimingham, the latter explains that not all men are called 'mister'. Leo realises he is speaking with the ninth Viscount Trimingham!
When the introductions are over, the conversation turns to Marian. Leo confides to Trimingham that he would do anything for Marian. Trimingham asks Leo what sort of things he would do for Marian. Leo tells him he would be prepared to defend her if she were attacked by a dog, and he would run errands, carry things and take messages for her. Trimingham replies 'Would you like to take her a message now?' Leo assents, and Trimingham asks Leo to run to Marian to inform her she left her prayer book in church and he, Trimingham, had picked it up. This errand foreshadows the role Leo will play in the story; the role of 'go-between'.
Later, as Marcus is in bed unwell, Leo goes exploring on his own. He comes across a farm where he climbs up a straw-stack and slides down it. In so doing, he gashes his knee. The farmer, who turns out to be Ted Burgess, comes to his aid. Ted asks Leo if he will take a letter to Marian. Before writing the letter, Ted swears Leo to secrecy. He tells Leo he must say nothing about the letter, and he should only give it to Marian when no one else is watching.
When Marian asks Leo to take a letter to Ted, Leo's role as the go-between is firmly established. Leo has no idea what the letters contain, although he does speculate on the contents. He does sense, however, that the letters are very important to Marian.
One day when he is carrying a letter from Marian, he notices the envelope is not sealed. He is in two minds about whether to read it or not. He compromises by just reading the words he can see without removing the letter from the envelope. He is horrified at what he reads!
The Go-Between is a novel in which the theme of growing up is explored. Leo is a naïve child in the adult world. He is ruthlessly exploited by a woman he loved and trusted. This causes Leo to have a few rude awakenings about what the adult world is really like. Leo's self-awareness and self-consciousness also develop in the course of the novel.
At the end of the epilogue, Leo, although now in his sixties, is still trying to come to terms with the events that beset him in the summer when he had his thirteenth birthday.
Recommended further reading:
Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (published 1860-61 in serial form, and 1861 as a three-volume novel)
Click here to search for 'The Go-Between' on Amazon UK
by SonoftheRock
Hello, I am Joe Porter, a.k.a. 'The Son of the Rock. Welcome to my Squidoo Lenses Book Reviews. I hope you enjoy reading them. If you feel motivated t... (more)
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