52 pages • 1 hour read
Evelyn WaughBrideshead Revisited
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1945A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Aloysius
Through most of Book 1, Sebastian carries his teddy bear, Aloysius, whom he speaks to as if it were a real companion. Aloysius becomes a sort of emblem of Sebastian himself among his Oxford classmates; they view this choice to carry about a totem of childhood as a charming, albeit foolish affectation. Only Anthony seems to see Aloysius differently. When he invites Charles to dinner, where he warns him that Sebastian is too self-absorbed to ever truly care for him, he says that if Charles mentions this warning, Sebastian will immediately turn to speak to his teddy bear. This is precisely what happens, which not only lends Anthony’s words credibility but also suggests that Sebastian is incapable of dealing with interpersonal conflict, self-reflection, and emotions.
Aloysius also represents Sebastian’s privilege; while others would likely be mocked for clinging to a symbol not only of childishness but of childish sentimentality, Sebastian’s charm (a product of his aristocratic gaiety, which operates in ignorance of the struggles of the other classes) renders the choice amusing. This inability to reckon with real troubles, however, and to leave behind childish modes, will ultimately prove disastrous for Sebastian as the age of the aristocracy wanes.
Julia’s Tortoise
When she is courting Rex Mottram, Julia has the shell of a living tortoise emblazoned with diamonds in the shape of her initials. She expects her family to be delighted by the gift and is annoyed when none of them react positively.
The most critical reaction comes from Mr. Samgrass: “‘What will you do when it’s dead?’ asked Mr. Samgrass. ‘Can you have another tortoise fitted into the shell?’” (159). Yet this reaction is not the one that offends Julia the most. Samgrass’s turn toward the practical reveals that he does not understand that the impracticability of the gift is the point: by spending an egregious amount on an outlandish object, Julia proves that she can spend an egregious amount on an outlandish object. Practical considerations, such as how to make the expense last beyond the lifespan of the tortoise, would defeat its purpose.
The tortoise does not even last as long as that, however. Soon after Charles leaves Brideshead, Cordelia writes to report that the tortoise has disappeared; the family expects it has buried itself. Their indifference to the disappearance further signifies their lackadaisical attitudes toward financial loss. The moment is comedic, as if the tortoise itself is ashamed of the flagrant excess shown by the Flytes.
Charles’s Art
After a short stint at Oxford, Charles travels to Paris to begin training as an artist. The novel offers virtually no attention to Charles’s art education; the people he meets during his time in France are almost nonexistent in the text. Rather, Charles’s time abroad is an extension of his English life.
His career as an artist is, moreover, an extension of English social mores. Charles’s decision to become an artist is a rebellion against middle-class pragmatism, but his favored subject, English country houses (relics of The Decline of the Aristocracy), shows his longing to preserve this world. Charles’s art is thus emblematic of the social climbing he so disparages in others like Rex. It is a manner of accessing the world he wants to belong to.
Charles’s art does not give him the access he seeks; as a painter of country houses he remains on the periphery of the upper class’s world. Ultimately, his art is a disappointment to him. His career becomes largely controlled by the wife who bores him, and his travels through South America allow him to access just enough passion to gain critical acclaim—but not enough to prevent discerning viewers like Anthony from seeing through the thin veneer of charm to the soullessness beneath. Charles’s art therefore also symbolizes his fundamental conservatism, and his inability to live the kind of rebellious, unconventional life he wants to live.
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By Evelyn Waugh
