Despite the seemingly carefree lifestyle she endures in retirement, Daisy still struggles with the chaos of her past. She deals with her unsettling past by following the routine of her life. But in this chapter the turmoil under the facade is evident with language and metaphors used.
Retirement the edited version
- Sheilds' uses words like "The real and illusory whirl about her bedroom in smooth-dipping waltz-time- one, two, three."
- “The synapse collapse; well, let them. she engarges on the available material, extends, shrinks, reshapes what’s offered; this mixed potion is her life.(282)
- The use of “mixing” action words are strong throughout these two chapters. The author is using them to conjure the theme of her mixed up emotions, her mixed up sense of who she is, and the way everything seems in order on the front and yet below the surface she is in turmoil
- she edits her life story(283)
- She's afraid to put her hand under Magnus Flett's covers for fear of uncovering decay.(306)Meaning she was afraid to uncover more turmoil in her life.
- When Daisy goes to meet her father-in-law, she puts it off, because she fears what she may find there. She acts cheery and glosses over the whole visit.
- Wants the Reverand to leave and yet she is polite and says "So good of you to come."
It’s as if Daisy is looking for herself in her fathers.
Great niece thinks she’s content
- (269) In the winter time she is convinced her aunt has such an orderly life
- In fact, Daisy feels her life has no substance, this is described in the furniture at the home in Florida; the chairs are lacking in weight, hollow, lightness and loose jointed
(293) Victoria wishes her great-aunt had troubles that she could save her from when really her aunt sits amongst troubles of her past
Plume
- Cuyler Goodwill is building an off center stone formation. He decides he wants it torn down.
- He has been working with stone for years and should have it perfected, and yet this simple rock formation is not right, its off, and this upsets him
- Shows that the characters in the book are not quite right with where they are, no matter how they may appear to the outside world
Turmoil
- Daisy seems like she has it all together, she has her routine down pat, and yet she feels mixed up
- Daisy recieves conflicting advice about traveling to the Orkney Islands from friends and family
- "Each of them believed they lived on a fragile planet. Not one of them knew what the world was coming to." (288)
- memorized Woodsworth, "not because her professor required her to, but becasue she felt a longing to take the oracular, rhythmic lines of William Woodsworth into her body (296) She’s comforted by routine and regularity
Alice thinks her mother's life was ideal(Chapter 9)
- This reveals a sense of uneveness in her lifestyle
- Daisy's daughter knows that her mother's life must have not been completely perfect, she suspects turmoil but has no sense of what kind of turmoil her mother was faced with (315)
- Reverand Rick says "But I can't go on living a lie" and Daisy replies "why everyone does."
She is not "at ease" as the title of the chapter would suggest
- Helps the reader follow the common theme found in the novel; that Daisy does not know fully who she is
- Creates an unsettling, haunting feeling about the character
- Opens the readers eyes to the facts; sometimes things are always as good as they seem
- teaches the reader a lesson about the implications of life, through the eyes of Daisy
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