The Simple Life

This week we read Evelyn Waugh's A Handful of Dust. It described the deterioration of the marriage of a British couple. While quite satirical, the under lying sadness of the realities these people faced was heartbreaking.

The husband, Tony, is an all-around good guy. He takes care of his family. He goes to church every Sunday. He loves his little boy and even his wife (although some may disagree with me on this point). He takes care of his home which is out of the current fashion of the time. He lives a simple life and doesn't get involved in the scandals and gossip of London, yet he finds himself in the middle of one when his wife begins an affair with a man in London.

Tony was the most sympathetic in the story to me because he seemed the character most removed, if you know what I mean. He lived and stayed in the country, in his little house. He, at times, seemed to not care what was happening around him. Even when his wife wants a divorce, he takes the blame and puts down it was he who had the affair just so she could get alimony. And then he dies and his house gets left to some relatives who will make it into something else. Tony was a good guy who got a raw deal. All he wanted was a simple life. He wasn't too happy and wasn't too miserable either.